(Note that I’m not talking about outsourcing, where you give someone your customized IT to run for you. That becomes very expensive over time and really slows you down because any changes you want to make have to go through contract negotiations. No, I’m talking about a true utility that offers a standardized infrastructure and, as a result, enjoys economies of scale you could never attain on your own. Again, think electric power or telecommunications services.)

Take advantage of those economics and you gain something else: focus.

Imagine being able to concentrate your energies on orchestrating the workflows that define your business and the "secret sauce" IT projects that differentiate your company from the competition.

That, to me, is the best argument for utility computing.

So, where to start? First, take stock of your current infrastructure. What are your cost centers? Your profit centers? The answers should give you a pretty good idea of where you want to be a consumer versus a creator of services. It’s really a question of where you can provide the most value. In other words, where are you using IT as a competitive weapon in support of your business?

Even in areas where you decide to own and operate your own services, think of them as utilities within your own shop. Build them on the patterns of the utility model. Then, if it later turns out that those services become less critical to you—or you find that you need to scale them in ways you hadn’t anticipated—you can move them out to a utility provider without having to re-architect everything.

Simply put, you’ll be keeping your options open.

In summary, my advice to CIOs is this: Let compute-power companies focus on the base layers of compute, storage and core-service composition. Consider that the substrate on which you can build your unique services, your enhanced customer relationships, your real competitive advantage.

Two things will happen. You’ll uplevel your job and your company.

Greg Papadopoulos is chief technology officer and executive vice president of research and development at Sun Microsystems.