The Transformational CIO: Leadership and Innovation Strategies for IT Executives in a Rapidly Changing World

An Overhead Smash

Here's another quick story from another part of the IT universe. My good friend Larry Bonfante has been the CIO of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) for the past eight years. In addition to providing an array of services for nearly three-quarters of a million tennis players and their families, the USTA runs the U.S. Open, which is held over a two-week period in August and draws the largest crowds of any annual sporting event in the world.

If you want to get Larry going, ask him how he feels about aligning IT with the business.

To me the only objectives we have in IT are the objectives of the USTA. One thing that drives me crazy is when people in the industry talk about alignment between IT and the business—as if they're separate entities!

In my mind, there's only one business and that's the business of USTA. IT's a critical part of that business, but we're not aligned with the business because we're a part of the business. What drives us is the mission of the association. Whatever the objectives of my business colleagues are, those are our objectives. We're here to provide solutions and services that will enable the USTA to meet its objectives.

As you can see, Larry is the kind of CIO who gets along nicely with the business. For Larry, the relationship between IT and the larger organization is truly a partnership. The result of this partnership has been some impressive wins—for IT and the business.

For example, when Larry asked for additional funding ...