Building the bridge between business and IT

IT has become a key business function for almost every organisation. More and more businesses across industries have realised that new business opportunities and channels to the market are created by technology developments.

However, despite this general agreement on the importance of IT, another headline hits the news: many ERP implementation projects fail, causing loss of money and profitability, internal mistrust and a bitter aftertaste. Why? Well, mostly because of a disconnection between business and IT, characterised by silos; little shared understanding or focus; and lack of common business goals.

This divergence is not only hugely frustrating but also extremely counterproductive. Think about how much money has been wasted and how many promises have gone unfulfilled, when the result of investing in, for instance, a new ERP system, turns out to be just the opposite of what was expected. Imagine how many dead-end paths have been followed when a new system turns out not to support business procedures, resulting in missed opportunities to drive revenues, grow market shares and increase speed of business. The cost of not bridging the gap between business and IT becomes evident.

Generally speaking, IT-enabling projects always face the challenges of taking two viewpoints into account – the business point of view on the one side, and the IT outlook on the other.

From the business point of view, the focus is to identify the business challenge and understand how a given solution will address specific needs. From the IT point of view, it is about understanding the technology best fit. This whitepaper will help you to understand the nature of the challenge, the fundamental issues involved and will give you the foundations for bridging the gap between business and IT.

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