Read - Bringing Business and IT Together, Part I: An Imperative for Data-Driven Business

Read - Bringing Business and IT Together, Part II: Organizational Alignment

Read - Bringing Business and IT Together, Part III: Measuring the Gap

This is the fourth and final article in a series describing a process to understand the root causes of business/IT misalignment and act to improve business/IT alignment. Eliminating the business/IT divide, improving communication, and fostering collaboration is essential to create a culture in which analytics will thrive. The first article of the series, Bringing Business and IT Together: An Imperative for Data-Driven Business, set forth a mandate that the business/IT divide must go away, and that managing the gap isn’t enough. The second article, Bringing Business and IT Together, Part II: Organizational Alignment, describes a continuous organizational alignment (COA) approach based on a three-dimensional framework that encompasses elements of working relationships, organizational effectiveness, and alignment activities. The third article, Bringing Business and IT Together, Part III: Measuring the Gap, describes a technique to measure business/IT disconnects in multiple dimensions and at a sufficiently granular level to identify the causes and make the necessary changes.  This article describes how to use the measurement survey, analyze the results, and take the actions needed to narrow and eventually eliminate the business/IT divide.

The third article in the series described a survey that measures factors of business/IT alignment across three dimensions—organizational effectiveness, working relationships, and human behaviors. To make that survey useful, we need to understand how to use the survey to collect measurement data, and how to analyze the data to get to the action.

USING THE SURVEY

Using the survey and using the measures is not an event but a process as illustrated in figure 1. The survey process is designed to address five key points: (1) Measurement is a process. (2) Its purpose is to collect data. (3) Collecting data is pointless unless it is used to gain understanding. (4) Understanding is pointless unless it is used to take action. (5) Action to align business and IT is continuous and not a one-time event.

Identifying the Survey Group: The participants that you choose will influence the nature of survey responses and the resulting measures of alignment. If only IT people participate you can be certain that analysis will show that most alignment problems result from business behaviors. And if only businesspeople participate the reverse is likely. If you survey only managers, be assured that your problems will appear to stem from implementation and sustaining activities - certainly not from management. Choose the survey group deliberately and carefully. Seek an appropriate balance between business and IT participation. Include people at all levels from executives to staff. Include everyone from recently hired people to "old-timers." Try to get a sample group that is a truly representative cross-section of the company or organization that you want to measure. Some key points when identifying a survey group: (1) Include both business and IT people. (2) Include people from multiple levels of the organization. (3) Group size depends on company size. (4) Incremental or parallel surveys may work best in very large organizations.

Figure 1. The Survey Process

Collecting the Data: How many people should be invited to participate? That is a tough question to answer. Do you expect a low rate of response from a large group, a high response rate from a small group, or somewhere in between the two extremes? 

Ideally, thirty to forty people make a manageable set of respondents. But in a very large organization that may not be enough to offer a representative sample. The rate of responsiveness varies widely between companies, so consider that also when identifying a group. Too small a response isn't especially valuable. But responses from a cast of thousands will turn your measurement activity into a data management project. 

Many variables influence the way that people respond to surveys. Under whose sponsorship or authority is the survey being conducted? What information should you provide when sending the survey? Under whose name should the survey be sent? 

How you distribute a survey also needs to be considered. A geographically dispersed company will find email easiest, and it may be less constrained by schedule and labor considerations even when all participants are in the same location. But group meetings give an opportunity for discussion and are certain to improve the rate of response. 

Conducting the survey in a group also offers the opportunity to impose a time limit that requires rapid, first-impression responses. These are often more meaningful for the first-time measures when you're getting started because they capture reaction-based rather than reasoned responses. Instinctive reactions generally drive behavior in relationships until we begin to measure and observe that behavior. Un-timed and reasoned responses, however, may be more effective on a continuing basis. The process of responding, the thought that it initiates, and the knowledge of measurement and observation all have a role in behavioral change. 

Finally, before distributing the survey, consider the demographics that you need to support analysis of the data - separating business responses from IT, for example. Ideally, survey responses should be anonymous - it encourages honest answers and improves response rate - but you must include some demographics or analytical value will be limited. 

Consolidating and Aggregating the Data: Once survey data has been collected it needs to be prepared for analysis. If you use a paper survey, data entry is the logical first step. Using a spreadsheet or other electronic survey medium eliminates data entry, but you may still need to check that each survey is complete and contains only valid data. Missing and invalid data are sure to skew the results. 

To give the context of the measure that is useful for decision making it is also helpful to collect some statistics (metadata) about the survey process. Expressing, for example, the following statistics gives the users of measurement valuable insights: 

• The survey was sent to 60 people representing business and IT equally. 

• 55% of those who received the survey responded - 15 from IT and 18 from the business. 

• Two surveys were removed from the pool due to missing or invalid responses. 

• The measures reflect responses of 31 people - 15 from IT and 16 from the business. 

• Only one executive response is included in the pool. The remainder is evenly divided between management and staff. 

Figure 2. An Example of Measurement Results

At a minimum, use a spreadsheet or similar tool to consolidate responses and publish the results for information and analysis. Consolidated measures will look something like the example shown in figure 2. The decisions that you make about demographics significantly affect your ability to aggregate and summarize the data, which in turn affects its value for analysis. For more extensive understanding capabilities go beyond spreadsheet analysis, and load the measures into an OLAP tool dimensioned by your various demographics. Separating business perceptions from those of IT, analyzing differences in perception between management and staff, distinguishing departments that work effectively with IT from those with difficult relationships, comparing perceptions of long-term employees with those of recently hired, and much more will provide deeper insights into the actions that are needed, but it all depends on the demographic data associated with each survey that you collect. 

USING THE MEASURES 

Aggregation and summarization make the step from data to information. For analysis and application, this is a shift of thinking from measures to metrics. Applied as metrics the data helps to answer questions such as: Where are we today? How has it changed from the past? How effective are the actions that we've taken? Where is progress being made? Where do problems still exist? Where are the most severe or immediate problems? 

Analyzing Survey Results: The purpose of data analysis is to gain insight that helps to prepare for action - making and implementing decisions. Three basic principles help to find hot spots that are candidates for action: 

• Consistently low responses are indicators of weaknesses in organizational alignment. 

• Consistently high responses show strengths. 

• Widely-varied responses indicate areas of risk where common understanding and consensus are needed. 

The terms "consistently high" and "consistently low" are relative to the overall average of all responses. 

Where weaknesses and risks are identified, further analysis to understand the root causes is helpful. Remember that the goal is to correct problems, not to treat the symptoms. Drill-down analysis by demographic grouping, by what we think/say/do, and by manage/implement/sustain are helpful to identify root causes. 

Further analysis by various demographics and classifications helps to gain insights and uncover ways to improve alignment. For example: 

• Comparing the differences where differences of opinion and beliefs exist. These are areas where change may have a particularly high impact on alignment. 

• Comparing results between business units may yield interesting information including the ability to see pockets of strength, weakness, and risk. Where some business units are well aligned while other struggle you may find successes and strengths to recognize as best practices. 

• Analysis by organization level (executive, management, staff) identifies differences of opinion - perhaps even differences of reality - that are organizationally based. 

Developing an Action Plan: Measurement without action is futile, and action without deliberation is foolish. Deliberate action begins with goals - knowing what you want to accomplish. Measures provide the baseline from which to establish goals. Remember in goal-setting that the objective is improvement - not perfection. Set ambitious but realistic and attainable goals. Then use the measures and results of the analysis to define an action plan that will: 

• Leverage strengths by propagating them to troubled areas, by ensuring that they are repeatable, and by integrating them into the core values and culture of your organization. 

• Remediate weaknesses by changing the communications, expectations, and behaviors that are found at the root cause of each weakness. Realize that you can't directly change beliefs. By changing communications, expectations, and behaviors in a planned way it is possible to change beliefs indirectly and over time. 

• Mitigate risks, often by instantiating best practices in troubled areas. Similar to weaknesses, risks are addressed by changing communications, expectations, and behaviors. In both instances remember that you can't directly change beliefs. 

Complete the action plan with tactics. Know not only what you want to accomplish but how you plan to achieve it. Be specific about which communications, expectations, and behaviors to change and about how you will change them. Improve the probability of success with attention to the barriers including politics, territorialism, resistance, defensiveness, and culture of "the way we've always done it." 

Taking Action: What more is there to say here? If you've done the earlier steps well, then you know what to do, why you're doing it, and what results you expect to achieve. Execute the plan and begin to change the way that business and IT work together. Don't expect miracles. Expect progress and steady improvement. 

PUTTING THESE CONCEPTS TO WORK

The entire survey and an example of a completed survey with scoring are available as attachments on this page in the top right corner. You’ll see quickly that a survey is primarily a data-gathering tool and the real value is derived from what you do with the data. Conducting and administering the survey is a complex undertaking. Processing the data and analyzing the results can also be challenging. Eckerson Group can help you to meet these challenges. Eckerson Education can conduct a one- to a three-day workshop to help you plan, prepare, and get started. Eckerson Consulting provides even more guidance with services to tailor the survey to your organization, identify the survey population, conduct the survey, process the data, analyze the results, and develop an action plan. Our consultants understand and appreciate the power of healthy analytic culture and the importance of business/IT relationships as a critical element of that culture.