This issue of Cutter Benchmark Review focuses on a topic of great interest to both information systems (IS) professionals and executives in other areas: strategic information systems alignment. For the purpose of this issue, we define alignment as the fit, or correspondence, between business and information systems strategy.

With some variation amongst sources, alignment often ranks at the top of the list of key issues for IT executives. Thus, despite the fact that we have been discussing and trying to achieve alignment for the past couple of decades, strategic IS alignment remains an elusive goal. Elusive as it may be, the issue of strategic IS alignment is perhaps most real now, with the growing emphasis on strategic agility and the echoing mantra that firms should stop trying to implement long-range positioning strategies, but rather seek and seize opportunities to create a series of short-lived competitive advantages.

Tackling this point head-on, one of our contributors asks a critical question: "Should executives of a firm in a highly dynamic industry increase alignment by trying to understand industry trends and predicting the future state of the industry, because the industry dynamics make alignment more important? Or, should they recognize that it would be overly difficult to sustain alignment under such conditions and therefore focus on business and IT agility rather than alignment?" I think this question captures the essence of the difficulties associated with achieving alignment. Alignment depends on both the organization's strategic posture and its intent; the roadmap to alignment is never cookie-cutter.

Of course, difficult issues that have no clear-cut answer are what we enjoy here at CBR. As we do every month, the Cutter office issued a survey designed to take stock of organizations' experiences with strategic IS alignment. We then invited our two expert authors to analyze the data and comment on the results. Our academic contribution in this installment is provided by Rajiv Sabherwal, University of Missouri Curators Professor and the Emery C. Turner Professor of Information Systems at the College of Business Administration of the University of Missouri-St. Louis (USA). Rajiv is one of the foremost academic experts on the subject of strategic IS alignment and IS strategy. Providing our view from the field is Kenneth G. Rau, Managing Partner of The Winchester Services Group and a Senior Consultant with Cutter's Business-IT Strategies and Sourcing & Vendor Relationships practices. Ken is an internationally recognized authority on IT strategic planning, governance, control, and performance measurement, having conducted research and consulted in these areas for more than 30 years.

In this issue of CBR, Rajiv brings to bear his considerable experience in information systems strategy to frame the survey. He reminds us right away that we no longer should think about IS alignment with business strategy in a sequential manner, but rather that IS strategy and business strategy are interlocked and mutually influence each other. He also produces a model of alignment, its determinants, and its consequences, which he uses to articulate his contribution. Rajiv then provides a point-by-point examination and in-depth analysis of the results of the survey, addressing the factors that affect strategic alignment and the relationship between alignment and management practices. He closes his article with seven actionable guidelines that I am sure you'll find immediately applicable.

Ken opens his contribution by discussing the challenges firms find when surfacing organizational goals and objectives, and he identifies some techniques to do so. I found his four categories and examples to be particularly effective and interesting. He then proceeds to discuss some techniques to align IS initiatives to these (now clear) business goals and objectives. With the basic alignment structure in place, Ken introduces complementary factors and focuses on a critical issue: maintaining alignment once it has been achieved. In this section, he discusses the potential role that the balanced business scorecard and service-oriented architecture can play. With the basic structure in place, Ken evaluates the survey responses and distills his thinking about the three steps your organization should take in the pursuit of constant alignment: (1) ensure you understand the goals and objectives of your organization; (2) align your IS organization structure, roles, and sourcing infrastructure orientation to complement your organization's strategy and; (3) realign your IS function should a change in organization strategy occur.

Perhaps the biggest difficulty in the pursuit of alignment today lies in the speed at which business and operations move, as well as the hyperactive evolution of the competitive landscape in many industries. In this context, it becomes very difficult to achieve, let alone maintain, tight alignment between (a constantly evolving) business strategy and (a constantly developing) information systems and technology landscape. Our two contributors recognize this inherent difficulty and provide a set of guidelines ranging from traditionally useful approaches (e.g., surfacing business goals and objectives) to more innovative tactics (e.g., making alignment integral to IS management and the IS/business relationship).

I hope that you will find the ideas and suggestions in this issue of Cutter Benchmark Review to be helpful as you continue the never-ending alignment exercise.