IT managers are looking for more money at a time when companies want to lower overall operating costs in a tough, competitive environment. Business executives want to make sure that money is being spent where there will be a sure and fast return. Centralized authority and accountability is one way to do that. They have multiple networks, e-mail systems and applications operating across different parts of their operations. People and divisions can't work together as easily as at Cisco, the paradigm of interconnectivity.
Centralization seems to be the answer.
But the answer to these questions isn't in re-creating a controlling IT function a la 1970. The answer lies in a two-pronged approach. First, create a standard technology platform on which the whole company operates. The first is more easily done, but requires hard thought about what needs to be standardized. The approach should consider hardware, software, processes, applications and data.