Real-World Disconnects and Their Real-World Results

Recent surveys by IT analysts identify the business/technology disconnect as a top CIO concern. This should be no surprise. One group that's always recognized the critical role that the disconnect plays is the practitioners who run up against it every day: CIOs; the project/program management office (PMO); business professionals, including executives, managers, and analysts; and technology professionals, including enterprise architects , developers, and process-focused IT analysts.

There's no more compelling evidence of how seriously these soldiers in the field take the business/technology disconnect than the stories that they tell firsthand. These anecdotes, which run the gamut from engineering systems to enterprise resource planning (ERP), are powerful proof that the disconnect isn't just the stuff of analyst reports and magazine articles; it's real, and it's out there giving business and IT professionals headaches even as you read this.

One more thing before we get to these real-world examples: Until now, our discussion of the disconnect has been relegated to a superficial level. But the whole purpose of this chapter is to help you sink your teeth into what this means in a real business environment. This means fleshing out the definition of the business/technology disconnect a bit more. When I talk about the disconnect, I really mean misalignment between three key areas:

- Business, which refers to things like the business objectives, drivers, strategy, and so on

- Process, which refers to business processes; the things that the enterprise "does"

- Technology, which includes the business applications and underlying systems that companies use to support their processes

The anecdotes that make up the rest of this chapter come from in-depth interviews with respected business and technology leaders who have grappled with the disconnect on a day-to-day basis for much of their careers. Consequently, their real-world examples span beyond any individual technology fad or era. This broad range of experiences gives us a unique look at some specific gaps that exist between business, process, and technology ”and also some insight into what type of approach companies should follow to close them.