Once upon a time, the Corporate IT Department was where the magic happened. The Chief Information Officer (CIO) had recently been promoted from reporting to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The IT department was suddenly cool because it had moved beyond making sure all of the corporate transactions were recorded in the financial system to actually making a positive difference in people’s lives, improving productivity, automating boring tasks, informing and empowering front line workers and providing executives with never-before-available business intelligence. The IT Department created the company of the future, found and procured the best third party software, built what could not be bought, and partnered with third party IT consultancies to add targeted expertise. But at some point, the fairy tale ended.
