Who are you? A Business partner or an IT Executive?

I have attended various CIO and technology research conferences, which all seem to have top level IT executives talking about how to get a “seat” at the table and how not be seen as a cost center, but rather be a partner with the business. Keynote speaker after keynote speaker harped on this issue and over 5 years the discussion has not evolved into anything meaningful. IT executives should not get complacent using this as “the issue” and being part of a pity party.

If you ran a business that developed a product, lack of acceptance by the customer means that the product that was delivered was not something the customer wanted or someone else is delivering a better product than your business. We should not be going to a conference to figure out how to “make” customers buy it?

For a while now, at least in Health care, we've experienced a surge in “acceptance” doing “Electronic Medical Records” implementation projects. But, what's next? What is in the pipeline that is going to make or keep IT executives relevant?

The question IT executives need to answer is “what have you done for your company lately that will make you a business partner?”