Takes Two to TANGO

With insurers moving as fast as they can to stay competitive, alignment between the IT department and the business units remains an imperative at the top of most companies' dance cards. Implementing the right choreography of technology and business strategy enables successful enterprise performance and a sense of teamwork that eliminates project missteps.

Is there anything more fulfilling (and difficult to do) than creating a lasting partnership? Such relationships have been complicated–while the IT department has moved to the grown-ups' table, business units have been slow to recognize the full value IT can bring to their own business strategy and performance. “Instead of the age-old practice of having a business strategy and then having IT map itself to the business strategy, the fact people are valuing the need for alignment is a reflection of the fact things have changed and a partnership is expected,” says Piyush Singh, CIO of RLI Corp. “The traditional way of having a clearly defined business strategy before you did an IT strategy is no longer viable due to the pace of change in today's world. Both sides need to work more in tandem. Once that is agreed upon, then you start getting into what is the best way to achieve alignment.”

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