The role of enterprise architecture in the business and information technology alignment of a public organisation in South Africa

Abstract

The study focused on Business and Information Technology Alignment (BITA) dynamics, an essential catalyst for improved organisational efficiency and ability to achieve competitive advantage in a thriving market or economy. This implies that the absence of well-suited alignment between business and Information Technology (IT) components of an organisation could limit the organisation’s processes' proficiency, thus culminating in reduced service delivery and profitability in enterprises. To obtain appropriate alignment between the business and IT components of any organisation, a suitable Enterprise Architecture (EA) framework must be used. EA frameworks are designed to achieve the highest possible alignment between different institutions' business and IT components. This implies that the business and IT components' alignment could be a major deciding factor in an organisation's service delivery or profitability. It could also result in inappropriate resource allocation and unsuccessful IT initiatives that could lead to financial difficulty and poor organisational outcomes. For public organisations/governments, this could negatively affect the planning, budgeting, and service delivery capability to the citizens. It was observed that, for major provincial governments (PGs) in South Africa, inquiries that lead to investigating the level of business and IT alignment and determining the efficiency of implementation are limited. Thus, this research aimed to explore the effect of the implemented enterprise architecture (EA) on the business and information technology alignment (BITA) of a public governmental organisation’s businesses processes. A case study of a large provincial government in SA was carried out, and the corresponding findings were presented in relation to the investigating questions. In this research, a qualitative approach with the exploratory design was adopted for this study. A single case study as an investigation strategy was employed to conduct an in-depth organisational study to obtain relevant information to establish the BITA status of the PG that was studied. The qualitative research method was adopted for the study, as it was essential to understand the interpretation of human factors in determining the BITA status of PG’s business processes. Purposive sampling for data collection via semi-structured interviews was conducted with the PG staff at senior and mid-level management of the PG. The PG under consideration findings shows that Human behaviour, the cost of IT investment and the communication gaps between top and lower administration levels serve as a major drawback to business and IT alignment. The findings confirmed that partnerships exist between business and IT stakeholders within the organisation, but these partnerships are hampered by the technical language barrier and trust concerns. This, therefore, negatively affects the overall reduction in service delivery efficiency.