Where Block buster created technology to customize a store, Netflix customized every individual's selection and took the convenience factor to a whole new level. By the time Blockbuster realized what customers wanted and instructed their IT department to change their technology, it was too late.
A similar story happened more recently between Yahoo and Google. It took Yahoo four years to realize the value of the search engine they started licensing in 2000 as well as the shift in how users wanted to interact with technology, and they have lagged behind Google in nearly every major product release since then. Mean while, Google acutely recognizes the ongoing technology driven innovation at companies like Facebook and is structured to let technologists drive the business. Though they make plenty of mistakes (mostly when they try to copy others), Google knows that simply telling IT to follow their competitors will spell the end of the company.

Now here is the success of technology-run companies more apparent than Amazon. In two decades, Amazon has built platforms for selling every thing from books and clothes to cloud software and movies. The drive of innovation at Amazon comes from a technologist’s core belief that technology must be created and used to anticipate opportunities and move the business. Right next door to Amazon is a case study in how the same company can flounder or thrive depending on whether technology is considered an asset that is bent to the will of the business or a strategic driver that directs the business. For decades, Microsoft built an insurmountable lead in business software. They weren't first to everything and their first attempt often failed, but they reinvented themselves time and again to win over multiple major markets. The stark contrast between when a technologist was at the helm compared to the years in between demonstrates the impact "IT" has on the trajectory of any company.

The trend towards technologists running the business is gaining momentum. As digital transformation becomes the subject of more board room meetings and the executive urgency to have deep visibility into IT grows, the next wave of successful CEOs will be digital natives and former CIOs, not the printer and fax people.