Those who have visited CXOToday.Com in the last few days would have read an article on Aligning IT & Business Strategy and if it can pay off? If not, please do read it here and resume reading this post.

In a nutshell, the aforesaid Article unearths some interesting facts around IT and Business Strategy alignment basis a research done Bain & Co. As you must have read, Organizations that have gone ahead with an accelerated IT focus have been proven to be performing better than those who are waiting for the D-Day for IT and Business Alignment – These are the folks who keep thinking its a perfect world, I really hope the statistics shown in the article rings the alarm.

Though the facts presented are interesting and rings a wake-up call for Enterprises that are hell-bent on alignment, it is important NOT to forget about the flexibility of the IT organization.

The industry that I work on i.e., Enterprise Marketing Management, solutions that are less than a decade old in age pose a huge threat on the Flexibility - To cite an example, there are a few Solutions available in the market that addresses ONLY the Campaign Management aspect of Marketing Automation. Campaign Management Solution in real-sense should be able to take Customer/Marketing Related data by means of accessing disparate systems and via through Web Services(to ensure its future ready) and be able to provide the output to relevant Communication Channels for engaging in dialogues with Customers and pull each communication’ response back for Analysis and Business Intelligence.

What I have presented above is just a Plain-Vanilla Campaign Management Solution, not the one you want to consider if you are ROI/Top-Line and Bottom-Line focused. If you are, give the deserved Importance to the Analytics aspect of Campaign Management.

Though this equation looks quite Commonsensical, a few enterprises have gone ahead and invested in such Plain-Vanilla solution as the Look ‘N Feel of the solution blown the Naïve Business Users away – Investments that are essentially made around the “WOW” factor of the User Interface alone, these investments are neither fruitful on a Long-term basis nor Flexible to accommodate future requirements/other Organizational needs.

Acknowledge the fact too-much-of-analysis-will-lead-to-paralysis and wisely accelerate your IT organization by keeping flexibility aspect intact and the solutions that you are investing in ready for future requirements.