What's the most important measure of the returns you're getting? We know we get two hours per week per employee of improved productivity, based on a 40-hour week. But the proof of the value is in the decision by users to keep using laptops and handhelds. It's not an IT effort or to reduce head count.

How do you deal with device standardization? We try to limit devices to one supplier for laptops and handhelds. But with PDAs and smart phones, you have to be more liberal because they are changing so fast. Every three months, there's something new.

How much of your job requires you to be intuitive about the value of a new technology versus calculating the return on investment? It's not always easy to predict how you would even do an ROI analysis. You could spend a year figuring out ROI, and then you might have wasted a year. [But] you do need to figure out what the business value proposition is.

So you're saying that leadership matters. Leadership matters, yes. If you approach this technology purely from an ROI perspective, you'll be late.