Did I hear someone ask how any of this activity could be measured? As the IT function developed a client relationship management culture, we found that we could now explain all three areas of IT -- plan, build and run -- in terms of how they avoided cost, improved service and increased revenue. And we could demonstrate that every new initiative and contribution we undertook helped the company achieve operational excellence, customer satisfaction and positioning for industry leadership, on a continuous improvement basis.

Of course, my wake-up call came from the business, with an executive telling me what was expected from IT. But this is the 21st century, and it is now quite possible -- it is even expected -- that IT will take such initiatives on its own. CEOs are ever more interested in the IT function as a source of beneficial change. They have come to believe that IT can lead the business to better ways thanks to its cross-functional view of the enterprise and knowledge of emerging technologies. And they aren't likely to think much of IT managers who don't believe that themselves.

Al Kuebler was CIO for AT&T Universal Card, Los Angeles County, Alcatel and McGraw-Hill and director of process engineering at Citicorp. He also directed the consulting activity for CSC Europe. He is now a consultant on general management and IT issues, as well as a graduate school lecturer at NYU, De Paul and UCLA. He is the author of the book Technical Impact: Making Your Information Technology Effective, and Keeping It That Way. He can be reached at .