Assessing Digital Technologies Alignment of a governmental organization

Abstract

Digital/Business Strategic Alignment (DBSA), which refers to the deployment of Digital Technologies in harmony with objectives, is a crucial issue for strategic management and is necessary to achieve performance excellence. This research aims to assess the DBSA maturity level of a Moroccan organization. The organization under study is a governmental organization that provides a multitude of administrative services to citizens and businesses. The DBSA maturity level is assessed based on Jerry Luftman's most relevant strategic alignment model. Our empirical study, which focuses on a single case, aims to assess alignment across different dimensions: communication, value measurement, governance, partnership, scope and architecture, and skills. We conducted a quantitative study, the results show that the organization's strategic alignment maturity level is 3 on a scale of 5 and there are significant differences in perception between the digital and business teams related to the evaluation of the criteria of the maturity of DBSA. Thus, several recommendations, confirmed by interviews conducted as part of monitoring the results of the study, are formulated to improve this level of maturity. The objective of this research is not only to evaluate the DBSA of the organization and to compare it with another which is more advanced in terms of technological tools, but also to present an approach and a construct, based on the Luftman model, which could be adopted by any other organization to assess and improve alignment during its digital transformation.

Keywords: strategic alignment maturity model, SAMM, evaluation, dimensions of Digital/Business alignment, Moroccan governmental organization, Digital Technologies

JEL Classification: M15, O33

Paper type: Empirical research