How can business architecture help you prioritize negotiation issues for IT and business alignment?

1 What is business architecture?

Business architecture is a holistic view of how your organization creates and delivers value to its customers and stakeholders. It defines the core elements of your business model, such as your vision, value proposition, value streams, capabilities, resources, and governance. Business architecture also helps you align your IT strategy and portfolio with your business strategy and goals, by identifying the dependencies, gaps, and opportunities between them.

3 How to use business architecture to prioritize negotiation issues?

To use business architecture to prioritize negotiation issues for IT and business alignment, a systematic process should be followed. This involves defining the scope and objectives of the negotiation, agreeing on criteria and principles, and using business architecture models and tools to analyze the current and desired state of the organization. Issues and gaps should then be ranked according to importance, urgency, complexity, and feasibility, before being grouped into categories or themes. Finally, a negotiation agenda should be prepared that outlines the main topics, questions, options, and expected outcomes of each category or theme, with roles and responsibilities assigned to participants.

4 What are some business architecture tools and techniques for negotiation?

There are many business architecture tools and techniques that you can use to support and facilitate the negotiation process. Capability maps are visual representations of the core functions and skills that your organization needs to execute its strategy and deliver value, helping you prioritize IT projects based on their strategic alignment and value contribution. Value stream maps are diagrams that show the end-to-end flow of activities, inputs, outputs, and value creation for a specific product or service, aiding in understanding customer needs and expectations. Stakeholder maps are charts that display the roles, interests, influence, and expectations of internal and external parties involved in IT projects, helping you prioritize based on stakeholder power and support. Business cases are documents that justify the rationale, benefits, costs, risks, and alternatives of IT projects. They communicate the value proposition and business case of IT projects to compare and contrast them based on their financial and non-financial returns.

5 How to negotiate effectively using business architecture?

Using business architecture to prioritize negotiation issues is not enough to ensure a successful IT and business alignment. To be successful, you must also apply effective negotiation skills and techniques. Establishing rapport and trust with your IT and business counterparts is essential, as is listening actively and empathetically to their needs, concerns, and feedback. Asking open-ended and probing questions can help clarify the issues and gaps, as well as generate ideas for solutions. Framing the issues as opportunities rather than problems can emphasize common goals and interests. Collaborating on solutions that balance value, risks, and trade-offs is key, as is seeking fair concessions and compromises that maintain the relationship between IT and business. Finally, documenting agreements and action plans, as well as following up on implementation and results of IT projects, will ensure success.