Business value of IT

What is the value of IT in a business. Does IT matter as someone had asked sometime back?

My theory is that IT has been a greatly misunderstood and mismanaged function. Functions like manufacturing/supply chain, finance etc. are taught in schools, people receive some level of training and are expected to learn some frameworks/principals before they start work. Whereas in IT, any Tom/Dick/Harry with whatever background can jump in, learn how to manage a server or write few lines of code and become an IT expert.

The picture is not that bad everywhere, of course, there are some very good IT groups. Some CIOs have done exceptionally well in using IT to enable business etc. but I think that is only about 10%. The rest struggle....

Some schools do offer courses in MIS but the focus is more on technology. How would you expect them to become business savvy? How can they bring change using technology?

I strongly think there should be formal education on Information Management, not from technology but from business standpoint. What we have seen in IT is only tip of the ice-berg. There is a great potential in what IT can do for a business but for that IT needs to learn the business...