Knowledge management techniques and tools;

Use of modeling methodologies to manage solutions development; and
Innovative delivery models, such as software as a service (SaaS), which automate service delivery to end users.

In combination, these practices balance people, process and technology, fostering collaboration between the IT organization and the business it serves.

The IT leaders’ tendency to focus more on relationships – apparent in their high ranking of customer satisfaction and retention as key business outcomes – extends to how the organization delivers services. While the leaders were no more likely to use outsourcing as a means of IT services delivery than non-leaders, they employ a different style when they do outsource. They said that they build partnerships with outside providers so they can draw on the partners’ expertise to improve service delivery, rather than just treat them as vendors of a service.

Among the IT leaders, 48 percent said that their outsourcing partners improve best practices, compared to 39 percent among the other companies. “Best-practices improvements are critical over the life of an outsourcing relationship,” said De Maertelaere. “By forging a strategic partnership with outsourcers, CIOs can work with providers to help ensure that infrastructure and applications remain innovative and keep pace with changing business needs.”