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For many large enterprises, the IT department has long been viewed as a cost centre, a necessary expense focused on keeping systems running and troubleshooting issues. This traditional perception positions IT as a back-office function, concerned mainly with maintenance and operational support, and executives often overlook IT’s involvement while making key business decisions. This mindset needs to change.
In today’s digital economy, technology is a core driver of innovation, efficiency, and competitive advantage. Companies that leverage IT strategically, treating it not just as a service provider but as a business partner, are far more likely to achieve better business outcomes through technology-enabled innovation and value creation.
In this article, we explore how IT’s role is changing from maintenance provider to business partner, the importance of this shift for C-suite priorities, the opportunities it creates, the challenges it faces, and a practical action plan for IT leaders to truly become strategic business partners.
The shift toward IT as a strategic partner
A fundamental shift is underway in how organisations manage technology. Traditionally, IT operations management (ITOM) has centred on the internal efficiency of IT, e.g., keeping servers running, networks secure, and systems updated. In contrast, a broader enterprise operations management (EOM) perspective expands IT’s focus to the overall enterprise, ensuring technology initiatives directly support business operations and objectives (a separate diagram illustrates this evolution). In other words, IT is moving from simply managing IT infrastructure to orchestrating technology-enabled business outcomes. C-suite executives increasingly expect their IT leaders to step up and become advocates for the business outcome, not just the technology outcome, and truly take a leadership role in transformation. Embracing this shift is crucial for competitive differentiation. Companies that prioritise integrating their IT teams into the corporate innovation agenda will gain access to the right technologies, have greater knowledge of the business, and be more open to new ideas, all key ingredients of competitive advantage.
The strategic opportunity for CIOs and IT
IT holds a unique position to drive enterprise transformation. Unlike any single business unit, IT has visibility across departments and processes - it sees how data flows, how systems interconnect, and where inefficiencies or untapped opportunities exist. This cross-functional insight enables IT to play a pivotal role in shaping business strategy rather than simply executing it. By proactively introducing new capabilities - whether improving customer experience, enabling new business models, or optimising operations - IT moves beyond technology delivery to become a core driver of value creation. The most effective IT organisations tightly align technology initiatives with business objectives, ensuring that investments translate into measurable outcomes. As digital transformation continues to blur the lines between technology and business, IT’s ability to lead innovation, enhance competitiveness, and generate revenue will determine its place as a true business partner rather than a back-office function.
Key challenges hindering IT’s evolution
Despite the clear benefits of elevating IT’s role, several challenges can impede the transformation of IT from a support unit to a strategic business partner.
Action plan: Making IT a strategic partner
How can IT leaders break out of the cost centre box and reposition their teams as true strategic partners? It requires deliberate action on both strategic and operational fronts. Below is a two-pronged action plan:
Strategic actions:
- Align IT with business goals
- Co-own and lead digital initiatives
- Engage in business case development
- Align costs with outcomes
- Rebrand IT’s image internally
Align IT with business goals
Begin by tightly coupling IT objectives and metrics with the company’s business objectives. This means understanding the key drivers of revenue, growth, and customer satisfaction in your enterprise and ensuring every major IT initiative explicitly supports one of those drivers. For example, if market expansion is a top goal, IT might prioritise projects that improve scalability or enable faster product launches.
CIOs should engage widely with stakeholders, not just within IT, but with business unit leaders and the C-suite to gain insight into business challenges and to ensure technology plans address real needs.
Co-own and lead digital initiatives
Take joint ownership of major digital business programs. For instance, if the company is launching an e-commerce channel or a data monetisation project, IT and business should lead it together. This sends a message that technology and business are collaborating hand-in-hand to drive the company forward.
In practice, this might involve establishing cross-functional “digital task forces” or committees where IT and business sponsors share accountability for outcomes.
Engage in business case development
Make it standard practice for IT to build or contribute to the business case for any significant technology investment. Rather than focusing on technical specs, frame proposals in terms of ROI, payback period, and strategic impact. Building solid business cases helps shift the conversation from cost to value, for example, showing how a new CRM system could increase sales conversion by X%, or how migrating to the cloud could save CHF Y in operational costs over time. This also helps position IT as a co-creator (and not just an implementer), leading organisations to view technology teams as integral to strategy execution.
Align costs with outcomes
Evolve IT financial management to make the cost-to-value equation more transparent. This might involve implementing chargeback or show-back models where business units see the costs of the IT services they consume alongside performance metrics. When IT spends are linked to business outcomes (e.g. cost per transaction, revenue per user, etc.), it becomes easier to discuss budgets in the context of results. This practice also encourages joint responsibility – business leaders become more conscious of technology costs, and IT leaders become more attuned to optimising spend for maximum impact.
Rebrand IT’s image internally
Change the narrative around IT within the organisation. CIOs and IT managers should proactively share success stories where technology contributed to business wins, for example, how a new analytics platform led to a marketing boost, or how an infrastructure upgrade improved customer satisfaction scores. Regularly communicate these wins in business terms via internal newsletters, town halls, or leadership meetings.
Over time, this consistent messaging helps colleagues associate IT with innovation and problem-solving, not just help-desk tickets. In essence, make sure everyone knows how IT is enabling growth and efficiency.
Operational actions:
- Enhance business-IT collaboration
- Drive innovation through agile methodologies
- Improve operations by adopting devops
- Modernise legacy systems strategically
Enhance business-IT collaboration
Strengthen the day-to-day working relationship between IT and other departments. This can be done by establishing cross-functional teams for projects, embedding IT liaisons within business units, or holding regular joint planning meetings. The goal is to break down the silos; business experts and technologists should be working side by side on solving problems. Improved collaboration ensures IT is aware of real-time business needs, and that business teams understand IT’s constraints and trade-offs.
As a best practice, foster open communication channels: something as simple as IT leaders having weekly check-ins with heads of marketing, operations, etc., can surface opportunities and build trust. When business and IT are transparent, aware of pain points, and aligned on goals, technology can be leveraged to its fullest potential as a business enabler.
Drive innovation through agile methodologies
Encourage an “experiment and learn” approach in IT operations. Rather than long, inflexible projects, use agile techniques to pilot new ideas on a small scale, measure the results, and then scale up if successful. This approach not only reduces risk but also keeps business stakeholders engaged throughout the development process. An agile IT team working on, say, a new mobile app, can show a prototype to business leaders in a couple of weeks and get immediate feedback, ensuring the end product truly meets the need. This continuous delivery of incremental value helps change the perception of IT. Stakeholders see a steady stream of improvements and innovation coming from the tech team, not just maintenance of the status quo.
Improve operations by adopting devops
On an operational level, adopting DevOps can significantly accelerate IT’s responsiveness and innovation. DevOps, the close integration of development and operations, reduces the friction in deploying new software and features. This means the business can get new capabilities faster and adapt quickly to market changes. It also encourages a mindset of continual improvement and collaboration within IT teams, aligning with business needs in real time.
Modernise legacy systems strategically
A practical barrier to IT agility is often the portfolio of legacy systems that consume a large share of resources. Rather than viewing “keeping the lights on” and innovation as mutually exclusive, IT must find a balance. Develop a roadmap for legacy modernisation that is tied to strategic goals: identify which old systems most hinder the business (due to high costs or inability to support new requirements) and prioritise them for upgrade or replacement. The key is to sustain core operations while gradually updating the technology stack to be more flexible and aligned with current business needs. By systematically modernising, IT frees up capacity (and budget) that can be redirected to innovation. It sends the message that IT is not just caretaking outdated systems, but actively transforming the foundation of the business for future growth.
Conclusion
The dual mandate for modern IT leadership is clear: run the business and change the business at the same time.
On one hand, IT must continue ensuring reliable systems, cybersecurity, and efficient support, which is the traditional “keep it running” function. On the other hand, IT is increasingly expected to be a catalyst for change, driving digital transformation and new value creation. Fulfilling this dual role requires more than just new technology; it demands a cultural transformation within both IT and the broader organisation. Executives and employees alike must start seeing IT not as just the fix-it team but as a core partner in innovation. This cultural shift involves trust, openness to experimentation, and a willingness to break down silos between departments. IT leaders, for their part, should embrace a business-first mindset in every project and communication, continually asking: How does this technology effort advance our business goals or competitive position?
By implementing the action plan outlined above, IT can firmly establish itself as both the backbone and the innovation engine of the enterprise – a true strategic partner that helps steer the company towards greater efficiency, agility, and growth.
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