Tomorrow's transparency barrier will be insufficient clear cost drivers. Often, IS has a peak-and-valley workload. Address the transparency barrier with activity-based costing. Activity-based costing (ABC) is an accounting technique that aims to help enterprises make better use of their limited resources by increasing their understanding of costs. By tying these costs to benefits, ABC can potentially improve decision making.

Tomorrow's direction barrier will be the annual budget. Annual budgets, it is argued, are no longer appropriate decision-making vehicles because they cannot keep up with the faster-moving business environment. This led to the rise in popularity of the concept of "beyond budgeting" as made famous in an eponymous book by management gurus Jeremy Hope and Robyn Fraser that describes an alternative based on attaining incremental performance goals.

Augment budgeting processes — don't abandon them. The truth is, despite the attractive alternatives, for IT, annual budgets are not likely to be abandoned any time soon. The challenge therefore is to change what we've got, not to throw it out and get something new.

That said, changing the annual IS budgeting process is challenging. It affects so many stakeholders and attacks deeply entrenched tradition. To get over this change hurdle, recognize stakeholders' different perspectives. Point out the barriers the existing approach throws up and work to build consensus for change towards a more nuanced approach. On the other hand watch out for the tendency for micromanagement. The right answer is somewhere between the two with the right amount oversight, the right about of transparency and the right amount of direction.

IS's role is changing as the scope of business services it provides increases. To stay in step with this evolution, IS's financial approaches need to evolve as well. This means its annual budgeting process needs to change to support diversity and ensure alignment. I hope budgets are — or become — something you don't have to agonize over. It's time to revisit IS budgeting to improve IS-business alignment and prepare for maintaining that alignment in the future, as IS's role evolves.

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