Day 2 Wednesday November 26, 2008 - 03:30 pm - 04:15 pm

Ubaydli Ubaydli (Chief Executive Officer )
Al-Nadeem

• Cofounder, partner, and the CEO of Al-Nadeem Information Technology (NIT) Bahrain
• Diploma in Mathematics from the American University of Beirut
• Founder and a board member of Bahrain Internet Society (BIS)
• Member of the Board of Trustees of Ibn Khadoun National School (Bahrain)
• Chairman of Bahrain Qualitative counsel for ICT Vocational Traaining
• Board member of eMAgazine (published by eGovernment Authority. Kingdom of Bahrain

Challenges Facing Alignments of IT with Business

The paper discusses the Multilevel, integrated business and (IT) management that is aimed at fully integrating the capabilities of IT with business strategies and management's expectations, and vice versa. Although the need to integrate business and IT strategy has long been advocated, until now a practical framework did not exist. We shall seek to contribute to the discipline of IT value management. Our framework will include the planning of and setting goals for IT, and the evaluation of results, integrated with the business context.

First approaches to IT planning and evaluation, and their limitations, are discussed in the paper. We will then elaborate on the concepts of the Balanced Business Scorecard in two case studies. By investigating the benefits and limitations of the framework, and comparing them with other common frameworks, we will conclude that the Balanced Business Scorecard can be a valuable contributor to implementation of an integrated business and IT planning and evaluation process.

Changes driving business transformations the means for succeeding in an ever-increasingly competitive, global environment are constantly being explored by executives. The paper will also focus on the challenges and opportunities for companies that are tremendous. To compete in this new environment requires new methods. To compete in this environment demands the transformation of business.

In essence; IT can alter the basic nature of an industry. The effective and efficient utilization of information technology requires the alignment of the I/T strategies with the business strategies, something that was not done successfully in the past with traditional approaches. We shall shed light on the new methods and approaches which are now available. The strategic alignment framework applies the Strategic Alignment Model to reflect the view that business success depends on the linkage of business strategy, information technology strategy, organizational infrastructure and processes, and I/T infrastructure and processes.

In this paper, we look at why it may not be sufficient to work on any one of these areas in isolation or to only harmonize business strategy and information technology. One reason is that, often, too much attention is placed on technology, rather than business, management, and organizational issues. The objective is to build an organizational structure and set of business processes that reflect the interdependence of enterprise strategy and information technology capabilities. The attention paid to the linkage of information technology to the enterprise can significantly affect the competitiveness and efficiency of the business. The essential issue is how information technology can enable the achievement of competitive and strategic advantage for the enterprise.

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