Global CIO Quick Take: 100 Questions Your Boss AsksGlobal CIO Quick Take: 100 Questions Your Boss Asks

Value Proposition & Strategy

**Who are your most successful customers? Are they profitable?

**Who are your most profitable customers? Are they successful?

**How do your customers describe why they bought your product (or service)?

Competition & Market Perception

**What is being said about your company and products on message boards, blogs, and other social media?

**What can you do personally to improve the discussion about your company and offers?

Sales

**What is the cost of each sales channel per dollar of revenue? Which are the most profitable?

**Which channels provide the biggest source of referrals and new customers?

**What could you or your department do to make the sales team more successful?

Product Development

**How much do you spend on Product Development relative to other companies in your market?

**What is the product development team measured on?

**How does the product development team decide what to build?

This is just a small sample; I strongly recommend the whole list as a resource that every CIO should share with at least his or her entire management team and probably with the entire IT organization.

Oh yes—what questions does Azzarello say business leaders ask with regard to IT? Well, she asks five great ones, but here's my favorite: "What aspects of your technology create the most risk in your business?" To see the others, check out Azzarello's blog—and remember that while it's often easy to come up with the right answers, it's often more difficult and more important to be asking the right questions.

RECOMMENDED READING: Global CIO: BP's Extraordinary Transformation Led By CIO Dana Deasy Global CIO: IBM Claims Hardware Supremacy And Calls Out HP's Hurd Global CIO: Cisco TelePresence Shaping Next-Gen Hotels Global CIO: Ballmer's Cloud Commitment Makes Microsoft Relevant Again Global CIO Quick Take: AstraZeneca Saves Millions With BDNA Bob Evans is senior VP and director of information's Global CIO unit.

To find out more about Bob Evans, please visit his page.

For more Global CIO perspectives, check out Global CIO,
or write to Bob at [email protected].