Julie,

I agree with the importance of all the things you mention. Some of them I like to put in the basket of company strategic plan. Maintaining an IT department that is development capable is a part of the total company plan and in some ways is larger than a build vs buy decision. Two companies I am working with have made the deliberate decision not to maintain an IT department. Good for me as this equals billable hours. Out of curiosity I discussed IT positioning with knowledgable people in both companies. While one wasn't "sure what we want to do in the future" so they do nothing - IT is not included in corporate planning - which seems flawed to me but it is is what they want. The other has made the decision to "trust the market" and hire people to modify the custom components as they are needed. They make a long term plan and when there are enough modifications required, contract the best talent they can and execute the plan. SInce they are big on documentation they have been able to maintain this for a couple of decades and have figures to back up their cost savings. I found it to ba a fascinating approach to this challenge made even more interesting due to their success.