The alignment of business and IT has been a chief management concern for more than two decades. Two recent surveys revealed that it continues to be a top priority for CIOs in 2009. A contributing issue is the lack of functional relationships between business and IT units, complicated by the complexity of the service delivery mechanism. There is also the attitude that a quick application fix, if implemented, will be the magic bullet that solves the problem and increases confidence and collaboration within the business units receiving the IT service.

Enterprise architecture is a relatively new discipline within IT and even newer within traditional business management paradigms. Studies show that EA wasn’t widely practiced as a formal function by most companies until early 2000 (75 percent of all EA programs are less than six years old¹).

Irrespective of the business space your organization might be in, you will find that information technology has become an essential and critical component for the success of your organization. Understanding and implementing new solutions aligned with the overall business vision and strategic plans of your organization, while maximizing the return on new investments and fully leveraging existing assets, heavily depends on how well you understand your organization’s entire IT investment portfolio in addition to strategic intents.