Benchmarking strategic alignment of business and IT strategies: opportunities, risks, challenges and solutions

Business and IT strategy alignment is a complex dynamic process in which organizations are in a position to enable extensive IT capabilities to achieve their business objectives. This interdependence is amplified by the COVID-19 crisis, which makes the integration of IT and business strategies more important than ever. This paper mainly aims to contribute to the understanding of strategic alignment from a practical perspective, as well as to demonstrate the applicability and robustness of the Strategic Alignment Model (SAM). Moreover, potential opportunities and risks associated with the strategic alignment of business and IT strategies are analysed. Findings are discussed after a qualitative analysis of 31 participants (semi-structured survey and interviews). Results indicated several difficulties affecting the strategic alignment implementation transcend the business and IT strategies like communication, corporate culture, governance, resource prioritization, and effective leadership. The study contends that there is a need to align and harmonize different agendas and interests within an organization and improve the understanding of the value of Strategic Alignment.