IT executives know that the right investments in technology can deliver a significant competitive advantage. Over the past 50 years, companies such as American Airlines, Apple Computer, Frito-Lay, Google, and Wal-Mart Stores have changed the competitive rules in their respective sectors by introducing technology-enabled innovations. But at many companies today, CIOs and their departments struggle against the perception of their business peers that their job is simply to keep the e-mail working and deliver narrowly scoped projects, not to champion investments in innovation. This limited view of IT's role became prominent as the e-business boom of the late 1990s ended and business executives tried to rein in spending and to ensure that IT investments served business goals. More recently, it has been nurtured by the popular argument that IT is a commodity like electricity, to be managed at minimal cost. "Do more with less" has become a popular mantra.

Focusing exclusively on bottom-line costs, however, limits the top-line potential. By forgoing investments in IT innovation, companies are passing up opportunities to gain a competitive advantage or to change the rules in their industries fundamentally. Yet some companies with a broader vision have pursued IT opportunities. To understand how they invest...