In the rarefied world of big time IT, measurement is King. That, at least, is the position of David Caruso, Senior Consultant with the Cutter Consortium. And as technology becomes more critical to the way line-of-business managers do their jobs, a race is underway to determine what the specific metrics will be, who will set the standards of performance and how they will be met. In the latest edition of CIOupdate, Caruso believes that many CIOs are ceding the measurement of its success to LOB managers because "Too many CIOs face a serious and untenable credibility gap. Even if their performance is stellar, they don't know how to prove it to themselves or to their CEOs." It is different for LOB managers. Their credibility can be easily established by hitting fairly easy to understand (if not achieve) top and bottom line figures that are core to the enterprise's existence.  Caruso even has a prescription for CIOs who wish to explain their value contribution in more meaningful business terms.  

For more on the credibility gap:
- see the article in CIOUpdate