IT has carried the “cost center” label for as long as I can remember. Sometimes explicitly, sometimes politely disguised as concern for efficiency or discipline. Either way, it shapes the conversation before it even starts, and not in a good way: very shortsighted.
The usual response is measurement. We measure availability, response times, delivery milestones, budget variance. All of it is reasonable. All of it is familiar. And all of it somehow fails to settle the underlying question. Because what people are really asking is not whether IT is busy, or even whether it is efficient. They are asking whether they can trust it.
Trust that the company will operate tomorrow morning without surprises. Trust that risks are understood, not ignored. Trust that when the business needs to move, technology will not quietly resist. Trust that complexity is being managed rather than accumulated. That kind of trust does not come from dashboards. Over time, I have found that IT value becomes clearer when the conversation shifts away from activity and toward confidence. Confidence in four very concrete areas.
First, risk. Not theoretical risk, but lived exposure. How resilient are we compared to last year? How well do we absorb incidents, cyber events, supplier failures, or sudden changes in scale? Can we explain this without hiding behind technical language?
Second, speed. Not speed as a slogan, but the ability to decide and execute. How quickly can we launch, adapt, integrate, or stop something when needed? Do our platforms and processes create momentum, or do they quietly slow everything down?
Third, cost. More precisely cost clarity. Do we understand what things actually cost and why? Can we keep the costs under control? Can we distinguish between intentional investment and spending driven by legacy, fragmentation, or lack of choices?
And finally, revenue enablement. Not the claim that IT generates revenue by itself, but the reality that it makes revenue possible. Faster sales cycles. Better staffing decisions. Systems that scale without friction or drama.
When these questions have credible answers, something changes. IT stops needing to justify its existence slide by slide. It becomes part of the organization’s internal stability. A source of reassurance rather than tension. That is when IT stops being perceived as a cost center.
It becomes a confidence engine. You rarely see that on a dashboard. You notice it when people stop worrying.
