Gene Batchelder, Senior Vice President, Services and CIO, ConocoPhillips

Q: What do other C-level executives need to understand better about IT?

A: " They should understand it's no longer about IT. It's about the business. It's about the enterprise. IT can be a very powerful enabler and partner, but the drivers should be the business. Foundational IT services -- cost effective, accessible, reliable, predictable service levels -- are required to even be in the game. The real opportunity for the CXO is to use IT to help drive business value -- access to customers, knowledge sharing, cycle-time reduction, business intelligence, employee and manager self service. We spend too much time identifying the next 10 or 15 percent cost reduction, when the real opportunity is to better leverage investments and resources already in our IT organizations. The next big opportunity for IT is exploitation of investments we've made the last 10 years. It will be significant with great returns. "