The Impact of Process and IT Modularity for Mutual Understanding among Business and IT

Due to an increasing degree of business specialization, business systems nowadays can be very complex. Often, complex systems need to be managed by more than a handful of people from the business unit. To handle the extensive amount of information in a complex business system, the system needs to be supported by an appropriate IT system. However, for the IT unit it can be a challenging task to implement appropriate IT system in complex business environment. In our research, we argue that mutual understanding among business and IT plays a critical role in the successful management of the business system. To achieve a mutual understanding, the complexity needs to be reduced by a modularization of the system. In our empirical study, based on 119 survey results, we found that process modularity only in combination with an IT architecture which matches the modular structure enables a profound mutual understanding. While modular business processes enable mutual understanding of the business strategy, an IT architecture which match the modular process facilitates mutual understanding of the business process.