So, on the heels of last week's shocker that most enterprises apparently still view IT as an internal business, there is more evidence that the general perception of work happening over the past couple of years on IT/business alignment is that it hasn't been happening at all. Forrester's Sharyn Leaver asks if "the business" still hates IT, which is sort of one of those "have you stopped beating your wife yet?" questions that we all love. Of course, if you have to ask it, you have some idea of the answer already, and Leaver has a few ideas why this might continue to prove the case.

Number one on her list is exactly that same problem: IT designed into the corporate structure as a designated whipping boy, a resource servant to the rest of the company, essentially set up to fail in the modern provisioning and development environment. She notes that this may not be an IT specific issue; HR, facilities, and accounting may be other departments similarly structured. Although Leaver doesn't make the connection, it seems to me that an embattled CIO might seek allies in these places if seeking to change the status quo (although if you are already one of those poor benighted individuals reporting to the CFO, there's probably no hope for you).

Leaver also notes the request/fulfillment relationship and the typically defensive orientation of IT shops as contributing to the overall problem, but I see those as largely symptoms of the same root issue we're already discussing: IT being handed a role in the organization that doesn't ever allow it to work in partnership on the main line of business of the company. If you're never given a seat at the big table, you're never given the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to positive results, and the attitudes and relationships that develop between the IT shop and other business units is bound to be colored by that fact.