By Karen J. Bannan

Today's IT departments are business enablers, a new survey finds, with CIOs increasingly acting as agents of change and drivers of innovations. In fact, CIOs who find new ways to reuse or enhance existing technology deliver several important benefits to their organizations. They help keep customer satisfaction and productivity high, and costs low. They also inspire their nontechnical colleagues to view IT as a practice that enhances the business.

So finds a study of 400 senior IT executives at enterprises worldwide, conducted earlier this year. The survey, "The Benefits of Practical IT Innovation," was sponsored by Smart Enterprise and conducted by IDG Research Services.

The benefits of practical innovation are profound, the survey finds, affecting the core mission of CIOs. "The days are over when IT could just keep the lights on and bring software rollouts in under budget," says Gary Beach, Publisher Emeritus of CIO magazine. "CIOs must execute flawlessly on two business fronts. First, they must leverage existing IT resources to drive top-line growth and create infrastructures that allow employees to deliver innovative solutions. Second, they must have a relentless focus on running IT more efficiently and at lower cost."

Beach continues: " 'Do more with less' is yesterday's headline. Innovative IT strategies that are firmly grounded in the reality of the business and have built-in flexibility for growth and contraction — that's what matters. 'Practical innovation is key,' is the new headline."

Practical innovation is also simple: CIOs who make changes or enhancements to existing technologies, processes and applications can improve business performance. Consider the auto industry's implementation of in-dashboard GPS systems. While GPS devices have been around for years, they lacked mass appeal until car manufacturers made the systems user-friendly. Now even low-end cars have GPS as an option, adding $1,500 to $2,500 to a car's purchase price while improving driver satisfaction.