Overall, measuring performance, testing, and deployment has improved reliability of the entire IT system by a factor of 40 and improved performance by a factor of five. In an e-business, making sure the systems are running, accurate, and fast is half of the battle. You need top-level management commitment. From the board of directors on down, everyone needs to agree upon and commit to changes in business processes and strategies. IT investments should align with business strategy.
Cultural changes have to come first.
Before deploying a brand-new technology, make sure the people who will be using it are comfortable with the idea. Outsource operations and development. Keep communication open. The business and IT teams need to meet frequently to know what's going on. When IT drops a new application, business needs to be ready to catch.