Better alignment between business and IT is one of the main reasons for introducing agile working; closer to the business and adopting faster to changing business requirements. Introducing Agile could also make the relationship between business and IT fragile unless IT is able to change from a supporting role to a proactive business partner.

Although the agile approach for software development is already here for about 10 years, it seems to get serious attention nowadays. Lots of books hit the market and lots of talks are going on. Recently, we in ISDC organised our own Agility round table with a select group of guests and Jurgen Appelo, Agile expert, so as to learn together about Agility and share best practices.

The need for agility is nothing new; it’s fueled by nowadays business dynamics and, interesting enough, sparked by the ever increasing possibilities and impact of information technology itself. But what does this seemingly endless search for agility in business / IT alignment actually mean? Are we aligning on the wrong level, is the relationship between Business and IT per definition fragile? Look what’s happening nowadays with, for example, iTunes kind of platforms. Everybody, so also business people, can buy and sell small applets. And once service buses grow mature from enterprise into the internet, these single stand-alone components are able to connect to each other and more complex business frameworks will appear just for rent in the cloud!

Personally, I believe that the role IT departments will change more and more to a strategic level where it just fuses into the overall business picture, focusing on sustainable architectures and smart sourcing of information services and technological expertise, acting as a strong proactive business partner.