Business Alignment is the ability of a company to define its products, services and corporate culture into a logical whole such that outsiders can immediately understand the company and feel a sense of familiarity. Think about a restaurant for example. When we walk into a restaurant we want more that anything else to have level of comfort with the place. And what provides this level of comfort? Mostly it is the sense that the business is aligned, and all of the parts are working together. The service style, the decor, the menu and the atmosphere must all align to a single idea. When this happens we immediately feel a sense of comfort and familiarity. It could be a very expensive place, or a steakhouse or a barbecue house, but if it's all aligned we'll feel like we made a good choice. All businesses must align themselves similarly, regardless of the industry. This message came through very clearly in the conference though it was never stated outright. For example, if you are in the Software as a Service market, or as Zach Nelson called it "Service as Software'" then you really need to think about consulting remotely. On premise software required on premise consulting, with all of its attendant expenses from airline tickets to hotel and per Diem. On demand SaaS is by far less expensive for its customers and so should be the consulting. And with remote consulting, the great advantage is that is can be done on-demand. We work when the client sets aside time. We are not dedicated to a single implementation, so we can afford to work with you as you also run your business. How we offer services is just one aspect of how we align the business. Everything from marketing to our sales style and how we handle implementation time lines and work loads has to align with the SaaS model. Working through this is no easy task, but the best businesses do it without fail. The key to alignment is to understand at a fundamental level the purpose of the business and to perform all work with that purpose in mind. Being in the SaaS market changes everything, I really believe that. The This winter we want to go through a complete overhaul of how we set up our business here at SightLines. Our first task is to define our purpose. I know that there are some things that need to be realigned. For example, is there any reason for us to run Windows, any flavor, on our laptops? Or to use Office as opposed to openOffice? We already use Skype, but how about VOIP for our phone system? Do we really need land lines at all? Are we offering the right products and services to the market? At the right price points? Lots of work to do, but it's interesting stuff. | 
