Aligning business and information technology domains: Strategic planning in hospitals

This article develops a framework for strategic information technology (IT) management in hospitals, termed the Strategic Alignment Model. This model is defined in terms of four domains-business strategy, IT strategy, organizational infrastructure, and IT infrastructure-each with its constituent components. The concept of strategic alignment is developed using two fundamental dimensions-strategic fit and integration. Different perspectives that hospitals use for aligning the various domains are discussed, and a prescriptive model of strategic IT planning is proposed.