What is IT-business alignment?Executives, management consultants and researchers have long stressed the need for IT and the other business functions to align their priorities and strategies.Information technology is no longer a supporting player within the enterprise but part of the main engine. Indeed, computer technology has driven business growth for decades, with the internet and digitalization transforming both how people work and how they engage with organizations and each other. That makes IT-business alignment paramount to business success."It's the assurance that the technology being delivered enables the business to succeed," said Rebecca Gasser, CIO of Omnicom Health Group, of the benefits of IT-business alignment. "Some of this is foundational like networks and infrastructure, but a lot of this is the technology that provides a competitive advantage to the business," she said.Darren TophamIT-business alignment, although widely recognized as critical today, has not been the norm within most organizations until recent years, said Darren Topham, a senior research director at Gartner, a tech research and advisory firm.In its earliest decades, the IT department focused on delivering computing hardware, software and services as a utility. Under this paradigm, technology was a tool that aided workers in their usual tasks, with reliability and uptime being the main measures of IT's success, Topham said.However, that paradigm evolved over the years, and in particular in the 21st century, as more technology executives teamed with their C-level and business colleagues to use technology to reengineer work, products and services.This led to a slew of disruption, as startups introduced entirely new business models and as legacy companies transformed their own processes and market offerings.CIOs and their IT teams must still deliver utilitarian technology services, Topham said. But they must also now have the capacity to strategize how technology can shape what the enterprise offers for products and services as well as how it delivers those offerings."This is where alignment is manifested," he explained. "It's where everyone from both sides is bringing something to the table for communal benefits. There's no 'them' and 'us.'"Topham added: "The ultimate expression for this is the term digital business."