Harmonizing the IT department's view of the world with senior management's financial controls and business objectives has historically been a challenge at many companies, largely due to misperceptions on both sides about IT's role and strategic value. With IT organizations pushed to meet tighter budgets, constrained with due-diligence and regulatory requirements such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and where more and more CIOs reporting to CFOs, the need to link IT metrics/controls with the company's overall strategic goals has taken on heightened urgency.
Interestingly, we are at an inflection point where these requirements can now be reconciled. IT automation technology can now enable a more adaptive, "utility" style infrastructure; similarly, IT accounting & compliance packages, coupled with controls and practices, can more carefully manage costs and operational controls. Properly-applied, the worlds of the CIO and CFO can now meet to align IT governance with business strategy ? but only if & when management is willing to follow new processes and overcome some cultural barriers.