What is the significance of “Business-Focused IT”?

"Business-Focused IT" brings a whole new meaning to the alignment and governance of IT and radically increases the chances of successful business outcomes from IT projects.  It is based on practical experience, a sustained interest in service quality, and research into the success and failure of IT projects.  By comparing the business experience with the business need we provide a context for all types of IT service and for whatever IT management tools and delivery mechanisms we choose to use both now and in the future. This makes it an ideal management approach for agile development, process automation, SOA, outsourced IT, cloud/utility computing, unified communications and anything that may follow. It tells us how well we are doing in real terms.  It is provides an independent way of checking the implementation of any IT resource based management tools (frameworks, methods, and standards) and much more.  It can radically improve service quality and the service experience, eliminate perception gaps, save money by reducing the possibilities of unnecessary process, and open up more possibilities for business and technology (including the prospect of new industry models).  The drivers for using "Business-Focused IT" are as follows:

• Any perceived service requirement gap or a need for realignment.
• Any business or IT transformation or change.
• A need to improve the business governance of IT.
• A need to accelerate "Lean".
• A need to accelerate the convergence of IT and the business (e.g. through BPM and/or SOA).
• A need to accelerate the commoditisation of IT (e.g. through SOA, cloud computing or other enabling technologies).