Strategic IT Alignment: Business Performance During Financial Crisis

Information Technology has become a significant tool for businesses who act in an unsustainable environment. The need for the strategic use of Information Technology in order to add value to businesses is more urgent for Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which have been negatively affected from financial crisis. The strategic use will be achieved by aligning business strategy, objectives, and planning with Information Systems. Strategic alignment has an impact not only on firm's profitability, but on the increase of sales, on the customer's satisfaction, and on the competitive advantage as well. Strategic use of information management increases the knowledge about customers' and market's needs, as well as about the environmental circumstances, and gives the opportunity to businesses to produce new products and services which meet market's needs and increase firm's profitability and competitiveness. A major factor which affects the strategic alignment, except information handling, is the support of information technology by managers and the creation of a related business culture. This paper aims to provide a holistic approach for issues about strategic alignment and ending up to proposes for SMEs in order to implement the alignment process and increase their firm's performance. The analysis of strategic alignment starts with its necessity and importance, as well as the presentation of steps and factors which influence the success of the process, the link with firm performance follows, and it concludes to the presentation of the need to be implemented by SMEs in order to increase their competitive advantage in the current turbulent financial environment.