10 INTRODUCTION

nified by new network communications, object-oriented programming, and

open systems opportunities. Integrating these new technologies with each
other and existing technologies is one of the biggest challenges facing or-
ganizations.
The problem for companies striving for alignment is far greater than
just overcoming technical system incompatibility. As several chapters in this
book show, the challenge of creating a modular, snap-together architecture
that can be reconfigured at will to support new business strategies is be-
coming an article of faith for many forward-looking CIOs.
However, in their rush to address IT infrastructural issues, IT execu-
tives are perhaps underestimating what they can do with their existing ca-
pabilities. It is an alignment issue that goes deeper than the IT organization
and reflects the business strategy perspective at the center of the company.
Some organizations define themselves as market-driven, frequently chang-
ing their internal resources and capabilities to respond to changing cus-
tomer demands. This may require importing new skills to support the
company in a new strategy. Others take a different perspective, based on
an in-depth understanding of their own internal core competencies and
resources. These companies become market leaders by suggesting products
and services to customers, rather than simply fulfilling existing demand. IT
infrastructures are a key resource that many companies ought to consider.
When reviewing technological infrastructures, it is worth considering
the business strategies it could support, either now or in the future, before
embarking on the long, expensive, and difficult process of replacement.
Take the example of a major U.S. consumer finance organization which
had some years ago decided to use airline control programs (ACP) to deal
with transactions because their business requirements were similar to an
airline in terms of volume, speed, and so on. The ACP platform proved
expensive to modify and became limiting to the firm's business strategy.
The company decided to change to a simpler, more open system, forcing a
major transformation of the IT department.
Because of their difficulties in getting staff, the company eventually
developed its own pool of highly trained programmers, staff who were in
great demand by the airline industry. Why not sell them back to them?
They did this through creating an ACP-based information business to sell.
Simultaneous with this, they worked with IBM to build a new, greenfield
data center. As they developed their own capability to run that, they grad-
ually became less reliant on the consultants' staff and had an additional
supply of income from the sale of the ACP capability. Managing infrastruc-
ture is often a matter of making careful decisions on what and when you
really need to own capability to support business strategy.