Much has been written on this topic by Terry White. Taking a big picture view we need to be sure that the business and IT executive are "singing from the same hymn sheet".

In his book, What Business Really Wants from IT, Terry says...

Deliver IT without fuss, get involved in business improvements, and give us appropriate leadership!

That's what business wants from IT.

And they're getting pretty tired of technology for technology's sake - they really don't care whether you have 16 instances of your favourite ERP, or one - just make the thing work.

IT people love to fuss - it's what makes them tick. But it also makes them an endangered species - certainly inside any non-IT organisation.

View this series of videos, they take you on a journey through all the things IT should be doing - and some of the things they should stop doing and leave to the professionals. Or just leave.

See Terry's series on What Business Really Wants from IT here...