Shaking the decision tree

Other models are emerging that blur the line between build and buy. In an SOA, for example, business processes are broken down into coarse-grained application components -- which are beginning to be standardized and offered individually by independent players such as StrikeIron. The major enterprise software vendors, including Oracle, SAP, and Siebel, are also moving toward component-based models, although it remains unclear whether this will result in licensing of individual components to customers.

"I believe we're moving toward a model where the components are being commoditized and eventually I can go buy that service that I need," says DC-Stat's Thomas.

But enterprise IT can never completely escape the past.

"I always say, never start with a blank slate," advises John Pierce, vice president of global solutions for insurance at Patni Computer Systems, provider of on-site and off-site outsourcing services for midsize to large enterprises.

"You can't discount the legacy environment," Pierce says. "It runs your business from day-to-day."

Pierce says it all starts with defining business processes in the right way. "Business processes are often inward-focused versus outward-focused on the customer," he warns.

Increasingly, the asset-management approach to lining up data for decision-making is cropping up in IT environments, Lutchen says. "Spreadsheets are not enough. You need ... a systemic way to collect this data."

Tools such as IT resource planning software (which he describes as "ERP for IT") can help IT organizations assemble a complete picture of assets and requirements such as people, skills, compliance needs, budget, hardware and software, technology architecture, and so on. The best bet, Lutchen advises, is to collect and present the data, with detailed options and consequences, to business stakeholders. Then, let them make the decision.

That approach can help mitigate political battles, but inevitably, politics is the nasty beast always lurking beneath the surface of any technology decision. Do the best you can to empathize with stubborn stakeholders, Motorola's Redshaw advises, and learn to compromise on lower-priority projects. "Sometimes there are emotional battles that aren't worth it," he says. "Focus on the areas where you really feel you can make a difference in terms of saving money."