In the United Kingdom, where I'm from, there is a candy called Rock. Sold as a souvenir, Rock often has a town name permeating the entire piece-so with Brighton Rock, for example, you can see the letters spelling out Brighton through the candy, from edge to edge. The same way you see that name through a piece of Rock candy, a CIO can see through an organization from end to end. In fact, I can't think of any role other than that of the CIO that touches every single facet of the business. So it's logical and imperative that the CIO's perspective and touch extend to the organization's end customer.

I spend 80 percent of my time focused on issues that have the external customer at their heart. The days are not completely gone when the role of IT was primarily to execute projects, but IT organizations have to do more than that. We've got to look at everything through the lens of customers both internally and externally, and help them get where they need to go with the aid of technology.

Admittedly, I have a different background from many CIOs. I have been a general manager and a CEO at other companies, plus I am currently the CEO of our international business group. Some may say that because of my experience, it's natural-or easier-for me to focus on the customer. But I find it difficult to understand how a CIO can do his job unless he understands the mission of the business and shares in developing it, just as a surgeon can't do his job if he doesn't understand how the whole body works. CIOs who don't participate in and influence what the business is trying to do for its customers only will develop technology that feeds or at best incrementally improves the status quo. If you really understand your business, you can help it leapfrog competitors and create paradigm shifts that differentiate your company.

Geeks, Pricing and RFID
At Best Buy we have to understand how our staff, whether our Geek Squad of computer technicians who make house calls or the blue-shirt staff in our stores, face off with customers every day. By understanding customer needs, we were able to develop scheduling, routing and dispatch systems for the Geek Squad that made them 100 percent more productive.

Here's another example of how important it is to understand customer needs and behavior. One of the critical factors when you grow a company to 1,000-plus stores is your pricing strategy: The prices you set are what allows you to stay ahead and drive value. So we developed a price optimization capability that implements pricing strategies by store location, delivering tens of millions of dollars per year.