Business-Aligned IT Strategy Case Example: CLP Group, Hong Kong

Motivation

This chapter is about the “know-how” part of IT strategy and management best practices. This case example aims to illustrate a successful practical application of IT strategy principles and concepts by using a proven best practice from the industry. It can therefore be used as a guiding example of how to effectively develop and execute a business-aligned IT strategy.

Kaplan and Norton’s (2004) strategy maps approach (described in Chapter V) has been chosen as the methodology for formulating the business–IT alignment strategy. To that end, the case study requires an in-depth study of the selected company’s business and IT strategies, from which a strategy map of the espoused business and IT strategies are “reconstructed” using the strategy maps principles. The reconstruction process follows the strategy maps methodology (Kaplan & Norton, 2004). The readers can thus adopt a similar approach to help them formulate or “reconstruct” their company’s business–IT alignment process and the resulting business-aligned IT strategy.

Methodology

IT strategies from several companies have been considered as candidates for this case example. The selection criteria for this case study are that the nominated companies must have:

• 1.

  Clear and successful application of key IT strategy and management principles and concepts

• 2.

  Evidence of formulation and execution of the IT strategy with at least two years track record to demonstrate alignment with the business strategy and where true business value has been delivered by the IT strategy

• 3.

  Tangible business value delivered by the IT strategy under study validated by the company’s IT governance process

• 4.

  Consent given by the company’s CIO¹:

  • •

    To make available the firm’s documentation of IT strategy and implementation results

  • •

    To partake in in-depth interview by the author to validate the contents and rationale of the IT strategy, its explicit alignment with the business strategy, and the business value resulted from its implementation

The methodology for constructing this case example is as follows:

• a.

  Nomination of a company’s IT strategy from peer recognition within a country

• b.

  Critical review by the author (Chew) of the nominated company’s business and IT strategies documentations

• c.

  Interview by the author and discussion with the CIO of the nominated company

• d.

  Synthesis² of the case example by the author (Chew) in collaboration with the CIO (using the knowledge and documentations gained from above) using basic principles described in this book

• e.

  The case example produced is reviewed and validated by the CIO and approved by the company for publication

The company selected for the case example in this edition of the book is CLP Group,³ Hong Kong.