Chuan He's Profile

Microsoft created its Business Value team several years ago to help organizations such as Naptheon explain the value of high-tech expenditures to chief executive officers and chief financial officers, says Shafeen Charania, director of the team at Microsoft.

If management looks first to IT for sacrifices at the budget altar, then it is clear that IT is only viewed as a cost center - a necessary evil for doing business.

Larger enterprises are pulling back on spending slightly more than smaller ones, according to the study. Forty-nine percent of companies with 1,000 or more employees said they would spend less or nothing on IT in the first quarter, compared to 43 percent of those with between one and 10 workers

Understanding the object of measurement simply requires being specific.

The first step in organizing a Communication Plan is to understand who your audience is and define your plan to meet their needs. Remember that communications is, by definition, a two-way process. It encompasses not only information traveling from IT to other parties, but information coming into IT from these sources as well.

But minimizing the impact of IT problems on business requires analyzing the data gathered in real time to decide whether the metrics being seen are normal or early indications of a problem.

Be short and to the point.

3. Know Your Audience.

2. Learn to Listen.

A CIO's Guide to Communication Basics

1. Close the Gap Between Your Intentions and Your Behavior.