Adoption of Technology for Business and Alignment of Technology with Business are the twin engines to propel enterprise growth in the digital era. Unless both are firing together, you can neither attain sufficient altitude nor enough speed to stay competitive. Harness the power of this combined force by mastering the simple and proven techniques that help Business and IT achieve their shared mission, which is to make the business successful. Across industries and sectors, enterprises today must straddle two agendas at once: 1. The innovation-driven transformation to digital systems, 2. The preservation of best practices in business management and conduct. In other words, they must ride the digital wave without losing their grip on the business basics required to stay afloat. Only companies that have invested in this alignment between Business and Technology at the level of their culture, strategy, structure,processes, intellect, function and tactics will survive as digital enterprises. These seven dimensions of Business-IT Alignment, or BITA, are the foundation on which a successful digital business is built. Introduction 1 The way Things were… 2 Business-IT Alignment: Platitude or Survival? 3 Redefining IT in the times of BITA 4 The Digital Economy and what BITA has to do with it 5 BITA: An Outside-In View 6 What’s Your BITA Level? 7 Setting the Stage for the Digital Enterprise 8 The Making of the Digital Enterprise 9 The Culture Connection 10 The Strategy Statement 11 The Structure Story 12 The Process Paradigm 13 The Intellectual Interlock 14 The Functional Focus 15 The Tactical Touch List of Acronyms Glossary of Terms

A smart, practical guide to rocket-powered business growth Aligned to Achieve puts sales and marketing on the same page, creating a revenue 'dream team' that will drive your organization to new heights. Smart, practical explanations, case studies, and tips guide you toward action over theory, and dozens of examples illustrate the tangible effects of these changes in action at business-to-business companies. Written by sales and marketing executives who have made alignment work, this book is directed toward practitioners and leaders seeking to crack the code of sales and marketing alignment. Contributions by industry thought leaders and B2B executives provide fresh perspective and nuanced direction, while thoughtful, strategic, and well-supported guidance throughout helps you remove the obstacles standing in the way of your organization's financial and strategic goals. Misalignment between sales and marketing is an age-old problem—frequently lamented, but seldom addressed. As this schism grows amidst the evolving marketplace, its effects on top and bottom line performance are being felt more than ever before. This book shows you how to bring sales and marketing together effectively once and for all, leveraging their strengths to build an unstoppable force for growth. Understand the cost of misalignment and the driving forces behind it Learn strategies for improving your culture, process, leadership, and technology to initiate and support alignment Identify the best places to modify your sales and marketing programs to kickstart collaboration and cooperation between your teams Discover how other companies are uniting their sales and marketing teams into a single force for growth Walk away with practical advice on how to apply recommendation in the real world Misalignment is frustrating for everyone in sales, marketing, and leadership. It's also detrimental to your organization's performance—but the problem is not insurmountable. In fact, most of the obstacles it creates are self-inflicted, and entirely within control of leadership. Aligned to Achieve helps you identify and remove those obstacles, and build a culture of sustainable growth.

Shortlisted for the 2020 Business Book Awards Why do some businesses thrive, while many more struggle and fail? A key reason – and the focus of this book – is strategic alignment. This is the careful arrangement of the various elements of an enterprise – from its business strategy to its organisation – to best support the fulfillment of its long-term purpose. The best-aligned enterprises are the best performing. Most executives recognise that their enterprises should be managed in this aligned way, but lack a robust system of thought to allow them to execute strategic alignment effectively and realise its full benefits. There are thousands of organisations globally that are operating below their potential simply because they are not aligned. This book aims to change that. In Align, Jonathan Trevor provides a blueprint for how strategic alignment can be effectively developed, implemented and sustained. Drawing upon active research at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School (with contributions from the joint works of Dr Jonathan Trevor and Dr Barry Varcoe), Jonathan also provides practical case studies and evidence-based insights – culminating in a thoughtful and compelling message to help leaders everywhere to improve their alignment and enterprise performance.

Most businesses rely on talent to succeed, but none so much as professional service firms. Within this rapidly expanding, trillion-dollar industry, professionals--and how they're managed--are the primary source of competitive advantage. In fact, success in this sector is determined more by the people you pay than the people who pay you. This path-breaking book provides readers with a practical and integrated perspective on how to win in the unique and tumultuous world of professional services. From strategy to organization to culture, it offers customized insights for businesses in which professionals drive bottom-line results and long-term company success. Respected academic Jay W. Lorsch and accomplished practitioner Thomas J. Tierney apply their broad experience to the realities of "Monday morning" decision making. Their work reflects decades of personal experience, combined with a rigorous study of outstanding professional service firms in industries that include law, information technology, accounting, advertising, investment banking, executive search, and consulting. Aligning the Stars explains what differentiates the "best of the best" within professional services. By describing how to attract, retain, motivate, organize, and lead the stars that shape a company's destiny, this book provides valuable lessons for the current and future leaders of every talent-driven business.

Shortlisted for the 2020 Business Book Awards Why do some businesses thrive, while many more struggle and fail? A key reason – and the focus of this book – is strategic alignment. This is the careful arrangement of the various elements of an enterprise – from its business strategy to its organisation – to best support the fulfillment of its long-term purpose. The best-aligned enterprises are the best performing. Most executives recognise that their enterprises should be managed in this aligned way, but lack a robust system of thought to allow them to execute strategic alignment effectively and realise its full benefits. There are thousands of organisations globally that are operating below their potential simply because they are not aligned. This book aims to change that. In Align, Jonathan Trevor provides a blueprint for how strategic alignment can be effectively developed, implemented and sustained. Drawing upon active research at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School (with contributions from the joint works of Dr Jonathan Trevor and Dr Barry Varcoe), Jonathan also provides practical case studies and evidence-based insights – culminating in a thoughtful and compelling message to help leaders everywhere to improve their alignment and enterprise performance.

Explains how companies must pinpoint business strategies to a few critically important choices, identifying common blunders while outlining simple exercises and questions that can guide day-to-day and long-term decisions.

Former Air Force Top Gun, Rob "Cujo" Teschner, builds on his work as the U.S. Air Force's Subject Matter Expert on the fighter pilot Debrief as an instructor at the renowned U.S. Air Force Weapons School. He's adapted the Air Force high-performing team approach to Debriefing and introduces this process to help organizations achieve their all and build contexts where teams can thrive. Among the many important concepts Rob brings forward, he highlights: There's a difference between Taskwork and Teamwork, and most organizations are only focused on the Taskwork at the expense of team skills; Organizations must organize to develop trust; they do this by building Psychological Safety, a condition where people feel safe to talk about the truth; Leaders have to learn to become vulnerable and admit their faults. Only by leading as they want their teams to act will they inspire people to act the same; Institutionalizing the practice of debriefing can increase team performance significantly, allowing individuals and organizations to achieve new levels of success. In the end, the key to an organization's long-term success is its practice of accountability and the degree to which its leaders hold themselves and their teams accountable for the decisions they make. High-performing fighter teams have been practicing this version of accountable leadership since World War I. Debrief to Win is the resource every organization needs in order to start improving NOW. It's also the resource every organization needs to build a context where teams can truly thrive. Debrief to Win is a book that applies to all aspects of human performance, from the boardroom to the dining room, from high-performing professional teams to family teams of only two people. The Debrief is a life skill with far-reaching ramifications. This book offers deep insight into how individuals and organizations can harness this powerful tool for personal and professional gain.

THE WORLD IS CHANGING RAPIDLY- WHY ARE SOME ORGANISATIONS ABLE TO THRIVE DESPITE THESE? The author carefully and analytically explains how the rapid changes underway in the world are impacting on everbody’s attitudes and behaviour. And how this in turn is impacting the world of work. If you are a CEO you need to take note that the attitudes of your workforce and your consumers warrant a big change in the way company brands are managed and built today. Learn why it is important to stay Aligned across audiences to build a sustainable and mentionworthy company brand.