Departments within an organization not directly tied to sales, marketing, product management, or operations are generally regarded as a necessary expense rather than a value-add. IT departments are one of the departments that are often viewed as cost centers by executive teams. They enable most business applications and affect everything from productivity to employee satisfaction and morale, but they are rarely seen as strategic to the business. When CIOs are challenged to align themselves with the rest of the executive team, IT departments can become major profit drivers for organizations. They are able to bring new products and services to the market and identify and eliminate internal inefficiencies.