The fundamental functions of IT departments are Infrastructure and Development. It is really interesting who different they tend to approach business reality and future needs.
Development is based on constant change while Infrastructure resides on keeping things as they are.
An IT Infrastructure department must first of all handles assets and maintenance costs. For any new technology acquired, ROI is the most crucial factor, therefore if approved will stay for a long time. More than that, network security is improved when knowledge and expirience of the team is increased.
But in house supporting/implementation era is over. Outsourcing and managed services are the now and future. You no longer acquire hardware and annual maintenance packs but lease solutions.
Quality of support services depends not on training but on procurement. All you have to do is a good deal with correct metrics (SLA).
The last frontier - users - just a few years ago, were proud of the corporate internet access speed, now only complain when they have to compare their home PC, laptop or even netbook with their corporate workstation. "Well, that machine every day is installing patches and scans for viruses! Don't you IT guys have anything else to do?"
IT Development can teach a lot on how future Infrastructure departments may be (Development must learn also from Infrstructure - handle security and exploit resources instead of changing everything everytime).
Why having a Network Engineer and not a Network Consultant that focuses on preparing the network structure to include future needs.
Simply, don't run IT as a business, run it in a business like way.
