By John Swainson

The true value of IT lies in its ability to improve business performance. In fact, as CIOs push more and more technology into the enterprise, they have come to the realization that it’s not enough to manage technology efficiently and effectively. CIOs also need to ensure they are in synch with both the short- and long-term goals of the business. To support these business goals, CIOs are, in effect, creating a 360-degree view of their enterprises’ people, process, technology and ideas.

This enormous task is changing the CIO’s role from a manager of technology in the enterprise to an enabler of technology

for the enterprise. This happens in spite of the many obstacles and issues that CIOs face. For example, CIOs must constantly try to satisfy the demands of their user base. They must be sure to provide a high level of service to users at the right cost and service level. They must also figure out how they can obtain better performance from their applications. Finally, CIOs must align cost savings and IT investments with the overall business strategy.

The key question to ask is, how are CIOs making sense of these sometimes conflicting goals? In my opinion, the process often starts at the architectural level. It can be as simple as asking two vital questions: How do the pieces of my infrastructure interact with one another to support services to the business? And does my IT organization have the insight it needs to make the right decisions— to ensure that the most business-critical services get priority treatment? To answer these questions, CIOs need to sort through some tricky organizational and process-related issues. How is IT viewed at the corporate level? Who really owns the budget? What are the evolving priorities of the business, and how do you stay in touch with these as they evolve?

Being a technologist, I believe that these questions can’t be answered until IT has its own house in order. If IT doesn’t have a very strong process orientation, with the right governance, controls and disciplines in place, no one in the rest of the enterprise is going to take it seriously. Moreover, IT must describe itself in terms of the services it provides to the business — and back that up with a robust, service-oriented architecture that is supported by processes to maintain and improve service delivery. Without this, CIOs will never be able to engage business colleagues on their own terms.

However, when this does happen, I believe that everything else will start to fall into place. Yes, it can be daunting. But this is something CIOs can use to reap big rewards.

Architecture aside, CIOs can also benefit by working on what I see as one of the most difficult legacy issues—specifically, getting a 360-degree insight into the services that IT provides to the business. Doing this allows CIOs to demonstrate the value being provided by IT in terms that are important and relevant to business executives. And once business executives understand the value that can be delivered by a service-centric IT organization, they become champions of the cause.

For example, if a CIO suggests installing a new customer relationship management system (CRM), the CEO and the sales team might not be impressed. But if the CIO promises that system will help sales set goals and encourage data integration that translate into knowing everything about every customer interaction — including how well they satisfy customer demand — the reaction will be quite different. They’ll get excited because the CIO is discussing technology in terms of its business impact. This is how CIOs become agents of change.

CIOs who lead change tend to have two traits in common. One, their companies’ business strategy endorses the role of technology as the enabler of this end-to-end view. Two, these CIOs enjoy strong ties with their CEOs. As a result, when defining priorities, spending and how spending relates to the business, the CEO and CIO are on the same page.

These two commonalities are critical to breakthroughs in both business and IT management. At successful companies, they are woven throughout the business fabric. Once an entire company starts thinking like this, then IT can truly deliver on its full value.

John Swainson is President and CEO of CA and serves on the company's board of directors.