Before we can discuss the technologies and best practices that will improve business software in 2005, architects and developers need to recognize a simple, often painful truth: Software development creates negative value. It's only when software is put into production that it can start to produce value.

So, with the goal of getting software into production (not into development), IT leadership needs to transform itself. Rather than be simply a design shop or workhorse for software projects, IT needs to become a strategic, adaptive, and integral partner of the business. CIOs need to be driving change, not just responding to it. Open source is poised in 2005 to become a most valued asset for CxOs looking to get their IT shops ahead of the steep pace of growing business needs.

Getting there will not be easy. But, if properly leveraged, we believe starting in 2005 that open source software and tools, blended with SOA and agile computing, will accelerate IT delivery. Further, the combination of technologies and techniques will transform software development and change management into a much more manageable, evolutionary process.