50 Shades of Governance: Using Conceptual Modeling to Set Up Structures Ensuring Digital-Business Alignment

Within the current technological landscape, novel domains are constantly appearing and act as game changers for organizations. Cloud, data, IT security, and sustainability are domains wherein a clear strategic road map needs to be specified; these can indeed be genuine sources of competitive advantage. This paper explores the application of an i*-centric framework to achieve digital-business alignment. It follows a design science approach to create an artifact supporting the alignment process; to this end, an enhancement of the Model-Driven IT Governance (MoDrIGo) framework to encompass multiple digital governance domains is made and called MoDrigiGo. With the use of i*, the latter introduces governance structures and immediately relates them to the functional execution of business IT services, facilitating a nuanced examination of the alignment of new IT developments with digital strategies. This approach addresses the challenges of coordinating various digital domains both in terms of building adequate governance structures and setting up operational tasks effectively supporting the realization of domain-specific strategic objectives. An illustrative example involving the study of the support for the cloud and data strategies within the deployment of a telemedicine service in a hospital is provided.