Business transformation apraisal model

Business IT alignment has been rated as a top concern of executives during past decades. The empirical studies revealed clear evidences that companies with their business aligned with the IT tend to outperform their competitors. However strategic alignment is not a trivial achievement and it is not a static stage, but a continuous journey which constantly transforms the business having as driver the way IT usage can be leveraged in order to obtain business value. This study examines existing knowledge on strategic alignment and what is needed for achieving a reliable foundation for execution. An aggregated business transformation model is proposed to be used as an extendable base to change the business using a process governed by highlighted strategic initiatives and composed of five steps. First step is business IT alignment maturity assessment using Luftman framework and benchmarking. Second step is generation of current business model and its expected evolution using Osterwalder Business Canvas. Third step consist of IT landscape analysis focusing on identifying manual actions that can be automated, integrations which can be improved or removed and other bottlenecks. Forth step involve service redesign focusing on process streamlining, optimization, standardizations and customer experience improvements. Last step, the fifth step, includes prioritized implementation of alignment projects. The Business Transformation Appraisal Model (BTAM) was applied in a study case for a multinational industrial maintenance company headquartered in Finland. Due to confidentiality reasons this thesis presents just the alignment maturity assessment results and benchmarking followed by suggestions of improvement. The objective of the study is to identify if theoretical models can bring value to a clear industry case in order to pinpoint the alignment strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and present an actionable list with opportunities for improvement and prioritized actions