To make effective management decisions, it is necessary to understand the the state of business and Information Technology (IT), set clear objectives as well as evaluate realistically the need for, and timeliness of, the application of certain technologies. IT development strategy is a tool to reach understanding between business and IT.

Understanding business challenges and issues, IT provides rational and reasonable plans of action that shows how business challenges will be addressed through automation, what tools are to be used, and in what terms and sequence it can be done.