HOW DOES CLOUD COMPUTING CHANGE THE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT BETWEEN BUSINESS AND IT?

Strategic alignment between business functions of the company and the Information Technology (IT) department has been in the focus of strategic management research for decades. Several studies showed that IT systems could be a source of competitive advantage. However, due to lack of alignment with the company strategy, IT often does not fill this role. Cloud computing changes the way companies use IT. Instead of building own IT systems, companies can use IT as a service, from external providers. In this paper, we analyze the impact of cloud computing on the strategic alignment between business and IT. We conclude that cloud computing changes the role of IT department and use of cloud services can improve the alignment.