IT doesn't need to care what the data means in its current state, as the application and the business unit already handle that. What it needs to understand is the context about the data so it can extract value from it in a future state.

To support the business, we have to be a business. We've created our own problems by not looking out far enough. We are tactical in IT. We have to deliver IT as a service, so that all of the actions we take--right or wrong--have no negative impact on the user constituencies we serve. We also have to realize that our positive achievements will go unnoticed by 99% of the world. The 1% who do know, however, will be the ones making sure that you get to sit at the head table far from Aunt Edna.