Strategic alignment: ITIL perspective

The literature suggests that organizations cannot be competitive if their business and information technology strategies are not aligned. Yet achieving strategic alignment continues to be a major concern for business executives. A number of alignment models have been offered in the literature, primary among them the Strategic Alignment model (SAM) and IT Governance (via ITIL). As there is no published research that attempts to present how effective ITIL V3 is to align business and IT in strategic level, this paper reports on determining aligning roles of ITIL by applying it to the SAM framework. In this regard, the ITIL Strategic Alignment model is proposed to describe ITIL V3 approach of strategic aligning business and IT. The primary aims of this paper are to demonstrate that ITIL has conceptual and practical competencies to strategic alignment of business and IT. It is described that ITIL uses IT as a mean to meet business strategies and goals, support business maturity and recognize new initiatives for the business.