Standardized implementation blueprints like those used by builders and architects would help IT shops to ensure projects meet business goals.

Delivering the keynote address at the BMC Software Forum in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Tom Bishop, the company"s chief technology officer, said IT shops need to implement best practice IT models, deliver ROI and be geared to respond to rapid change.

Blueprints will achieve this, he said, along with business process improvements.

"We are the only industry that gets away with spending lots of money buying lots of equipment, then buying lots more tools and equipment to tell us what it is we bought; that is crazy," Bishop said.

"IT should evolve like other mature engineering disciplines, building specifications and blueprints for designing systems."