Standards are a journey, not a destination. The imperatives and opportunities presented by standards will not go away. CIOs who have the most experience with standards invest in capabilities that accentuate the benefits and mitigate the costs and risks of standards implementation.

Whatever approach you follow for identifying, selecting, rolling out and measuring standards, it is definitely not a "once-and-for-all" process. There are always opportunities to implement new standards to boost IS performance and business value.

Standards will continue to evolve over time, regulatory requirements are increasing in many industries and geographies, and many enterprises are globalizing.

Some CIOs we talk with note the ever-increasing audit requirements around standards, compliance and other issues. This is an inescapable part of running a highly professionalized IS organization. They say it creates the need to build a set of capabilities and practices that helps with standards implementation and process improvement that, in general, will pay off many times.

But will it?

What are the benefits of standards? Gartner research shows that the average development organization increases productivity by 30 percent in two years through consistent adoption of a standards-based approach.

Yet the cost of implementing standards is hard to estimate. It is embedded in daily work practices, such as documenting activities and following up more thoroughly. A number of CIOs we interviewed said that they deliberately don't try to measure the full cost of implementing and managing conformance standards, as that misses the point; standards should not be viewed as a "bolt-on", but as a fundamental change in the way work is performed.

However, there are direct, tangible costs to implementing and maintaining standards, such as the use of external consultants, experts, assessors and auditors; the procurement of software tools; and training for staff. Interviewees who were strong believers and implementers of standards said that these direct costs typically amount to 2 to 3 percent of their overall IT budget.

Use standards to drive performance improvement. Although IT standards focus on process, ultimately the value comes from people — people understanding and adhering to standards. A standards implementation must be treated as a change initiative — changing IS staff's behaviours.

Business needs from IS include ever greater reliability of services and support for transformational change. CIOs are increasingly focusing on IS process improvement to fulfil these needs. Standards offer a great deal of help, but must be selected and used judiciously.

Before embarking on any significant standards activities, you should assess your process improvement capabilities, identify issues and address them.

Andrew Rowsell-Jones is vice president and research director for Gartner's CIO Executive Programs