Mott faces pressure that's a little different from the pressure confronting many other CIOs. HP is making its IT goals public and wants to ultimately use them as a showcase to convince customers that it can achieve similar consolidation and cost savings strategies.

One key area is to improve decision making by centralizing the data, much of which is replicated in various data marts. HP wants a "single version of the truth" -- consistent information to "take people out of the role of gathering information" and instead focus on decision making, said Mott.

"Every question should lead to a decision," he said.