The IT application landscapes in many companies have evolved over a long period. This generally leads to a situation where the operative processes are not optimally supported in terms of IT: there is a lack of flexibility, unnecessary complexity and little potential for the future. Further challenges are presented due to the increased concentration on internal and external customers, which has resulted from shorter product life cycles, as well as the effects of globalization. New technological developments – the new generation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and modern architectural concepts (SOA) for example – place additional demands on those responsible for IT.

Information technology is decisive to the competitive advantage of organizations: through automation the speed of operative processes can be increased and by using a flexible IT architecture new business areas can be accessed faster and with more success. More than ever before, IT is now a critical success factor. In order to set up an IT applications strategy which is long term and flexible the adaptation of the overall business strategy, the identification of value drivers and the analysis of operative processes are necessary. The result is a Business Aligned Application Strategy (BAAS), which ensures that the IT applications landscape is consistently in line with the company’s business. The development of a BAAS takes place in three phases: analysis, design and implementation.


Analysis


To start with the existing situation in the established IT landscape must be analyzed. The analysis can be focused on a particular functional area of the company (e.g. purchasing, sales), on a particular business area, or on individual locations. It is carried out in three steps: the identification of the value drivers, the assessment of the IT applications landscape and the documentation of the business processes.


The identification of the value drivers provides transparency concerning the functionalities and data which are critical for the company’s business. A value driver for a stockbroker could for example be real time access to all share prices at all stock exchanges at all times. According to the ability of IT to support these value drivers the first recommendations concerning necessary action can be made.


Within the framework of the assessment of the applications landscape the main characteristics of the existing applications are identified and recorded. This includes references to the supporting business processes, the functional quality of the applications, their operational costs, further developments, technologies used and the life-cycle positions.
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