What are the most important IT skills and competencies for business alignment?

Today alignment, communication and collaboration are nothing more than buzzwords. Speaking and working together won’t bring about collaboration or alignment. Purpose and value will. Get everybody to write down individually what they believe the goals and needs of the business are. Then compile them all together to see if everyone is on the same page of what the business goals and needs are. Understanding that is validated through an exercise of validation creates the bedrock and foundation for business alignment, which ensures communication and collaboration are working together to achieve the same business outcomes with unified purpose and value creation.

When it comes to successfully aligning technology and business strategies, being able to effectively communicate and collaborate with multiple stakeholders is a key skill. Communication includes listening intently, understanding and clarifying, influencing, negotiating, and resolving conflicts. You should be able to explain how IT solutions will bring value to a business, make sure everyone agrees on what is expected, and create trust and mutual understanding. Knowing how to work in teams, adjust to the views of others, and share knowledge and expertise is also important in this area.

Understand where your business is going and support that strategy by being approachable and flexible. Manage stakeholder expectations and review regularly as stratg 'ies can change quickly.

Having a thorough understanding of business acumen and related domain knowledge are essential IT skills, as they enable IT professionals to align their strategies and solutions with the business priorities and needs. Being in the IT field requires the understanding of how various industries operate in order to effectively implement change. Through my experience working in different industries, I have had to adapt and become adept at understanding the varying nuances of each industry’s business acumen. I have come to understand that an IT professional must be able to identify not only the technical skills necessary, but also the business knowledge and context that varies from industry to industry.

It is imperative for business leaders to have a thorough grasp on IT technologies and how those technologies can drive strategic, creative thinking. Strategic thinking and innovation aid professionals in visualizing, mapping out, and executing IT initiatives that correspond with the business's goals. For instance, in my own experience, I needed to comprehend the company vision and business strategy for effective project planning of digital transformations projects. Additionally, this understanding aided me in mapping out an IT road map that worked in harmony with the business's needs.

Having worked in IT in the planning and execution of digital transformation and infrastructure projects, I understand first-hand the advantages of using agile-style project management and delivery methods. For instance, for a recent digital transformation project within my company, following the agile framework for project management and delivery enabled us to improve upon our existing processes and meet our objectives more efficiently, compared to the traditional waterfall style we had been using. Using agile-style tools and best practices such as scrum, devops, and ITIL allowed us to complete the project faster and to a higher quality standard, while still adhering to budgetary constraints and tight timelines.

A key aspect of business alignment is the ability to analyze and use data to support and inform IT and business decisions. Data analysts must be able to process, visualize, and interpret data from various sources, such as systems, applications, devices, sensors, and customer feedback, to identify and solve problems, generate insights, and provide recommendations. Not only this, but these analysts must also organize and utilize the data in a way that can help the business make better decisions. Using various tools, reports, and dashboards, a well-organized data analysis and decision-making process can be presented to the business in order to help make informed decisions and improve revenue.