Case Study Report - It Alignment with Business Strategy and Organization and Sustainable It

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In another journal article the authors (Shankar Babu Chebrolu and Lawrence Ness, 2013) argue that greater IT delivery capability is achieved by the alignment of the IT and Business stake holders. They presented the empirical evidence to support their argument and proposed a research model which will observe and measure the relationship of the strategic alignment in IT Companies and their impact on the IT performance. The research findings proved that the strategic alignment has no or very small negative correlation with the IT Performance in both small and large organizations.

(KARIM DOUMI, SALAH BAÏNA and KARIM BAÏNA, 2013) proposed a model to evaluate the organization strategy with respect to the strategic alignment where IT alignment in business was evaluated using a framework which was based on the Capability Maturity Model (CMM). It was proposed that the managers can use two factors (internal factor and functional factor) to evaluate the alignment between the strategic objectives and the information systems relationship. Internal factor measures the gap between the process and strategic level whereas the Functional factor measures the gap between the processes and information systems level. This framework was implemented in Moroccan public administration.

We also found that the firms which lack the IT and business alignment may face the issue like: Time and Budget constraints; IT investments are not paid off; Uncertainty with the principles and IT strategy; Business requirements are not met by most of the IT organizations; Finance reports are inappropriate and doesn’t available at the proper time; No satisfaction for the service provided by IT; Security controls are not implemented properly; IT Budget is not optimized or reduced.

The successful technological companies have been focusing beyond achieving the alignment between IT and business strategy. Targeting and achieving alignment is not only required for making profits and strengthening the competitive edge over the competitors but people, profit and planet is a major concern for them for sustainable future and that is why these companies are focusing on Sustainable Strategy provided that it is fully aligned with the organization’s overall strategy. “Green IT” is a crucial initiative to drive business value form sustainable IT.

In a case study (Curry and Donnellan, 2014) have examined the efforts that Intel IT has done to transform its operations with Sustainable IT, resulting in the avoidance of significant CO2 emissions and cost savings. Intel IT helped the business in delivering their objectives through the use of Sustainable IT to reduce the environmental impacts of IT operations, and help transform the overall Intel organization by: aligning all IT processes and practices with the core principles of sustainability, which are to reduce, reuse, and recycle; and to find innovative ways to use IT in business processes to deliver sustainability benefits across the enterprise and beyond (Curry and Donnellan, 2014). This strategy has enabled Intel to achieve cost savings of over “$114 million” and avoidance of “87,500 metric tons” of CO2 emissions until 2014. In recognition of its achievements in supporting IT sustainability, Intel IT had received InfoWorld 15 award for 3 times for consecutive years. Intel was named to Computerworld’s 2010 and 2011 lists of ‘Top Green-IT Organizations.’ (Curry and Donnellan, 2014). Intel is focusing on the target of reducing the Direct Green House Emissions by 10 percent on a per unit basis by 2020 (2014 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT, 2014).

Intel also acknowledge the efforts of their green teams by presenting excellence awards to employees who help in reduce Intel’s environmental impact by developing innovative projects. In 2014 winning projects saved 53,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, 29 million kWh of energy, 100 million gallons of water, and over 5,000 tons of waste (2014 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT, 2014).

Intel Energy and Sustainability Lab drives the research agenda in the application of IT to enable a high-tech, low-carbon economy with strong alignment to the European Union’s 2020 sustainability goals (2014 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT, 2014). Development of “Living Labs” is one of successful project of Intel ESL.

Intel claims that they are committed members of Climate Savers and Green Grid, and have adopted an internal IT goal to manage their IT Energy footprint which contribute to Intel’s energy reduction of 5% per year from 2007 – 2012 (IT@Intel Executive Insights Intel Information Technology June 2011, 2015).

Intel has collaborated with the city of San Jose, California, on a pilot project aimed at improving air quality, noise pollution, traffic flow, environmental sustainability, energy efficiency, and health for local residents (2014 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT, 2014).

By remaining aligned to Intel’s highest priorities, Intel IT is driving business outcomes through our ability to leverage social, mobile, analytics, cloud, and the IoT trends in Intel’s processes. As we move up the IT leadership pyramid, we are helping Intel disrupt instead of being disrupted in this time of transformation, and we are earning the right to influence decisions as a trusted partner (Achieving Intel Transformation through IT Innovation 2014–2015 Intel IT Business Review – Annual Edition, 2015)

On the other hand still many companies face barriers in bringing up sustainability in long term goals because they are still underestimating the costs of environmental risks. But these barriers can be eliminated as many companies are showing growing success in aligning the profit with the environmental, social and economic sustainability in the day to day operations.

Since many years, numerous projects have been implemented by aiming at energy efficient and environmentally friendly operations. Sustainable Strategy Alignment is the key strategy for successful business today and companies should align their business strategy with the corporate sustainability strategy. Hence to optimize the value that IT contributes to the organization we need IT alignment and there should be an alignment plan to synchronize the IT sustainability and business strategy.

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IV. Case Analysis

Preparing for the Case

IT Sustainability Program Office was established in 2008 with the objective of managing sustainable IT initiatives within Intel IT and across the extended enterprise. Managing IT footprint and establishing the corporate sustainability practices were