The purpose of the IT Strategy process is to set the direction for the outcomes to be achieved by the use of information technology, ensuring that it supports the business and business strategy to the level desired and funded.

It exists "To set the goals, and decide on areas of change,”¹ for IT capability to support the business strategy.

Definition of an IT Strategy: The collection of goals, policies, and plans that specify how an IT organization should function over a specific period.

Outcomes

As a result of successful implementation of the IT Strategy process:

• The business has an understanding and appreciation of the potential value of information technology to the business. Examples are recognizing information technology’s role in providing the business with the capability to achieve competitive advantage, and ensuring the ability to readily respond to changes in the business environment
• All aspects of information technology strategy (such as infrastructure, applications and services) are aligned with the business strategy, and regularly examined to maintain that alignment
• Information technology strategy is cost effective, appropriate, realistic, achievable, business-focused, balanced, and timely
• Clear and concrete short term goals (which are then to be translated into operational plans) can be derived from and are traceable back to specific long term plans.
  

Scope

The IT strategy should address long and short-term objectives, business direction and its impact on IT, the IT culture, communications, information, people, processes, technology, development, and partnerships.

Includes

• Interacting with business strategy
• Setting strategic goals for IT
• Creating overarching guidance for specific IT functional areas
• Understanding the value, both the overall classes and the specific targets, which the business requires IT to provide or support
• Generating preliminary value propositions for the actual and proposed IT contributions to the business

Excludes

• The creation of the first level of plans to realize the strategy (Portfolio Management, Product Management)
• The creation, recommendation, and adoption of IT architectures for the next layers of detail, like hardware and software (Architecture Management)
• Adjusting the way that the IT undertaking organizes and runs itself to realize the strategy (IT Governance and Management System category of processes) 

 ¹Source: IBM® Academy of Technology Study AR221 (2004), "Enterprise Architecture in the era of on demand". Definition of strategy