Stop repeating the IT-to-business alignment mantra and get on with making IT a crucial business enabler and a valued strategic partner. IT doesn't align with the business; IT is the business! To this point, IT functional groups need to explicitly understand how their work fits in with the broader goals of the business. Start by abandoning the nebulous and ill-conceived alignment and become integrated. Revisiting the original 20-year-old mission statements (if you still have them) will also be an eye opener in terms of how far I&O has evolved in the last two decades. There should be no I&O employees, just employees of and contractors to the business that provide technology-enabled capabilities to the business.

and are senior analysts at Forrester Research, where they serve Infrastructure and Operations Professionals. They will both be speaking at Forrester's upcoming , November 9-10, in Miami, FL.