What are the business and political challenges that are likely to occur as a result of the transformation of IT from a support activity to a partner role? Use examples from the case to illustrate your answer.

2. What implications does this shift in the strategic outlook of IT have for traditional IT workers and for the educational institutions that train them? How does this change the emphasis on what knowledge and skills the IT person of the future should have?

3. To what extent do you agree with the idea that technology is embedded in just about everything a company does? Provide examples, other than those included in the case, of recent product introductions that could not have been possible without heavy reliance on IT.

C IO Steve Olive isn’t handing out any gold stars to IT for providing good PC support or networking service at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. “Consistently reliable and excellent IT service should be a given,” he says. “What businesses need and IT should be providing are innovative solutions to business challenges.” That means creatively applying technology to produce goods more efficiently and at a lower cost, to sell and service more of them, and to do so at the highest possible profit margins.