It's simple -- and complicated, Michael: IT has to be able to prove the $$$ and business worth of investments to upper management. C-level executives want to see tangible results of how new investments cut costs, improve uptime and network availability, lower risk and make the company more competitive. To do so, requires stressed-to-the-max IT departments to track and monitor usage, performance, outages, cost to recover from downtime, etc. One thing IT needs to do more of is communicate and collaborate with physical plant managers who know how much the company is spending on power right down to specific servers, as well as rent and leasing. The real issue is that a majority of organizations simply don't know what's on their networks and what is and isn't working properly. Without this knowledge, it's extremely difficult to make a compelling TCO/ROI case.

For me it's having a clear 'Compelling Event' that is bought into by all stake-holders in the business. Once this is agreed and signed up to the Return on Investment is easier to identify and IT is more likely to deliver the benefits you're looking for. The whole business understands why the project and transformation is being carried out so the FUD factor is reduced considerably.

Generally you are aware of an issue or need early on. I start by making senior management aware of the risks involved. Then proceed to educate them on the aspects of the resolution. If a an event happens they have the basis to make a decision. When budegeting resolve the issue they also understand the problem and are equiped to press for the capital.

Michael,

The first thing that any successful IT initiative needs is the perception (or realization) that it's really a business initiative. Which means that you need a business sponsor.

Projects driven from the IT department tend not to be successful, even if they are necessary, unless you have someone from the business side championing it. And this gets back to the points made by Laura and Richard pertaining to ROI. You have to be able to show that a project is either facilitating new revenue, lowering existing costs, or mitigating some business risk (which would otherwise raise costs or lower revenue).

Business sponsors are people with a sufficient level of political clout who are able to add supporters for a project and minimize detractors. And they'll help to build the necessary business case.

Without a compelling story for at least one major business leader or department, then a project will either be squashed outright or simply die on the vine.

-ASB: http://xeesm.com/AndrewBaker