Service models for IT management, IT alignment and IT governance

The working relationship between business and IT is predominantly a product life cycle based approach for meeting IT requirements through the specification of product and production management methods. There is evidence that this is an incomplete and unsatisfactory model. We illustrate how a service based relationship model using new concepts, validated in practice, can improve the business experience and provide more comprehensive methods of alignment and governance. The research method used is based on two overlapping and interacting phases: empirical, situated research and Grounded Theory development. The findings are timely because the convergence with business and the commoditisation of IT are changing the dynamics between the two and changing the nature of the IT supply industry. We discuss the emerging business-focused approach to IT management, alignment, and governance as it applies today and in the context of self-adaptive and self-managing systems.