If your organization is still concerned about aligning IT with business, it's time to move beyond discussion, according to Mark Hollands, principal of research firm ITR.
While he says there is a clear mandate to align the two, "First and foremost you have to synchronize IT with business and business applications; the key is integration and whether an organization can pull this off is the real issue."
When it comes to planning for the future of IT in organizations, Hollands said a good place to start is 'today'.
He admits predictions and crystal ball gazing is never easy, but believes IT organizations can draw up a roadmap their future with some degree of predictability to safeguard their enterprises five years and beyond.
There is one safe bet, he said, and that is plenty of change between now and the year 2010.
Hollands is a keynote speaker at Computerworld's one-day conference to be held in Sydney on July 27 and will speak on the theme "Mapping the Future of IT".
More than 250 delegates are expected at Sydney's Star City Casino including IT Minister Daryl Williams, Deacons senior associate Andrew Sorenson, Australian Graduate School of Management postdoctoral fellow Anthony Vlasic and information security expert Ajoy Ghosh.
Register online at www.computerworld.com.au/conference, or contact Kathleen_McNamara@idg.com.au for more information.