Clint Eastwood's new movie, "Gran Torino", brought back memories of my first car, also a '72 classic...a '72 Buick Apollo.  (Go ahead, you can laugh.)
 
What's a Buick Apollo?  Think Chevy Nova but without the cool name, cool reputation, or cool...anything.  Among its problems, it pulled hard to the right.  I had to steer into a constant left turn just to keep the car headed straight.
 
My friend Mike ridiculed me.  He told me I seriously needed a front-end alignment.  I had no idea what he meant, so I just kept turning left...and kept accepting the poor performance.
 

Just like my '72 Buick, most IT organizations are also woefully mis-aligned...they pull one way, while rest of the business is headed in a different direction.
 
I hear the complaints often.  IT isn't responsive.  They're unable to deliver projects on time and within budget.  They care more about technology than the business.  They are difficult to communicate with.
 
IT professionals do care, but these are real issues and they make it hard for IT to get and stay in sync with the business.  Business-IT alignment resolves these issues.

 

 

So whether your IT organization resembles my '72 Buick Apollo, or it's more like Clint Eastwood's sleek '72 Gran Torino, alignment can significantly improve performance...for IT and for the business.

 

Here's to 2009...the year of building more efficient, effective, high-performance businesses!!