So what do you want to be when you grow up? Here's our answer.

[dturchin]

I met the CIO of a prospective customer last week. He looked me in the eye mid-way through the conversation and, with 40 years of IT wisdom and cynicism, asked an astute question I've never been asked: "You say the product can do everything but scramble eggs. What I haven't heard is what you want to be when you grow up."

I knew I liked this guy from the moment we met. He had all the charm of a leather football. He smiled like the Cheshire Cat. He's the one you wouldn't want across from you at the poker table or line of scrimmage. Call him the Dick Butkus of IT.

I paused for effect and started to answer... "We're here to help IT reinvent itself. We're here because IT must evolve from deploying technology to delivering engaging technology experiences for users. We're here because soon the CMO and CFO and COO will have bigger IT budgets than the CIO and we know that's a good thing as long as IT transforms itself into a strategic business partner.

As we grow up, we want to help IT help lines of business and shared services organizations apply IT process and discipline to their own service relationships. We think that's the way a single system of record for IT delivers on the promise of helping the business do more of what matters - deliver great products and services, improve profitability, improve productivity, and make life better for employees and customers."

I was just warming up but he stopped me there. His face twitched. I thought he was about to drop a Cassius Clay on my jaw. Then the wrinkles in his face softened and he went all puppy dog. He delivered one of the most insightful replies I've heard…

"I get it. I've got VPs from facilities and legal in my ear every day complaining about service levels. I've got the CEO mandating we reduce expenses. I've got the VP of Marketing complaining about last week's e-com outage. In 40 years I've never seen it like this. I need help getting control of my own department then I need to empower our leaders to support themselves. If you can do what you just said you'll achieve something I've heard a thousand vendors promise and never deliver."

We went back and forth before closing with a demo that, well, let's just say I never thought I'd see Dick Butkus cry. We have a long way to go but conversations like this make us hungrier than ever to deliver on the promise of IT transformation.

I ended with two questions: "So what do you want to be when you grow up? And what's your strategy for getting there?" Something tells me I'll have many opportunities to hear his reply.