3. It’s not just another IT quality initiative. This goes way beyond a Capability Maturity Model-level rating or Six Sigma status. "CIOs are figuring out it’s not so much how IT is done that really makes the difference," says Michael Gerrard, vice president and chief of research for IT management at Gartner. "It’s additional competencies like product development and management and financial capabilities that make the difference." Not to mention IT operations, supplier and human resources management, customer focus, marketing and governance.

It’s about institutionalizing all these business functions and processes in a manner compatible with the larger corporate culture.

And it’s about time.

An Obligation, Not A Choice

Years of being viewed as overhead and run as a cost center -- exacerbated by technology hype and unfulfilled expectations -- have pummeled IT’s reputation. "If we behave as a cost center, we won’t get the most benefit from IT, and we certainly won’t earn credibility," says Doug F. Busch, CIO of Intel.

The sheer size of technology budgets demands more prudent management. "If you look at how much money IT spends here, we’re the equivalent of a billion-dollar business. We have the obligation to run IT like a business," says Busch.

It’s not just the magnitude of the budget, but the influence that IT has throughout today’s enterprise that demands a new way of operating. CEOs and boards of directors have taken note of their dependence on IT, and they will no longer tolerate IT operating by its own set of rules, as a mysterious black box with no apparent business discipline or accountability.

And CEOs are increasingly wise to the alternatives at their disposal should IT fail to measure up. "If your IT department can’t do this internally, the business is going to say, ’We might as well outsource,’ and you’ll be forced through the keyhole," says Joe Gottron, executive vice president and CIO of The Huntington National Bank. "One way or another, IT will be a business."

Number-one barrier: time

Once people grasp its meaning, running IT like a business might not sound so difficult. In fact, if you look at the individual practices (see Pages 60-61) that survey respondents employ, there doesn’t appear to be much new under the sun: sound project management methodologies, regular strategic planning meetings, customer satisfaction surveys, financial audits -- the list goes on. But mastering a handful of practices won’t cut it. CIOs must put multiple processes in place, each buttressing another, and manage them in a rigorous and repeatable manner.