I realized that whenever my customers worried more about technology and less about their business objectives, I ran into trouble. I'd find myself defending my recommendations for hardware platforms or software applications, when what I should have been doing was steering my clients away from technology issues and showing them how the technical solutions I was proposing would address their business needs. The fact that I was a Windows expert, or a WordPerfect maven, or a DOS guru (yes, we're talking more than a few years ago!) was in and of itself not good enough.

In today's ever-changing technology landscape, things are "user friendly" and features like wizards, online help and point-and-click intuitive interfaces claim to make the application of computer technology a snap, even for the most techno-phobic user. You'd think that with all this innovation there wouldn't be much demand for IT talent. We all know the reverse is true. Even though these technical advancements may actually make some things easier, businesses rely on IT professionals more than ever.

So how can you tap into all this good fortune? Well, getting certified is certainly a wise thing to do (this new Web site can be of great benefit in this regard). I know many would argue that certifications--especially from Microsoft--are not the tickets to stardom they once were. "There are so many MCSEs out there right now, companies are treating them like commodities," I've overheard more than a few folks say. But even commodities have value, sometimes even extraordinary value. Gold and platinum are traded as commodities, right along with soybeans and pork bellies.

But hands-on experience is also necessary. You've got to be able to make things work in real business environments, replete with real-world glitches and unrealistic expectations. Knowledge gleaned from one's mistakes can be the best experience one can attain.

OK, so your walls are adorned with several framed certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, Sun, et al., and you have years of real-world projects under you belt. As laudatory as all that may be, if you want to rise to the top, be the cream of the crop, and position yourself as something more than just another IT guy (or gal), you need to take my old business motto to heart.

Your customers--whether they are businesses that hire you as a consultant or are technology users within a company--ultimately want solutions that meet their business objectives. Problem is, these same customers will typically try to define their needs within a technology context rather than from a business perspective.

For example, the vice president of marketing for a startup Internet company told me we had to implement WebTrends to analyze and report on Web traffic to the company's e-commerce site. WebTrends is one of the leading Web log analysis packages available-just about anyone who is involved with the Internet industry knows about this product. We went ahead and purchased the necessary WebTrends licenses, bought a machine dedicated to running the software, and spent several days installing and configuring the program. A few weeks later, the same VP approached me with a problem:

"These WebTrends reports don't provide me with the information I need to accurately assess what our click-through commissions should be for our affiliate sites!"

He was in a state of panic, so I sat down with him and the CTO of the company. Turns out, the information he needed was already being captured by the backend database; we just needed to write the appropriate query to get him the data.

The situation I just described underscores a real challenge for IT professionals: How are we supposed to get away from technology for technology's sake and focus on business needs when the customer is demanding the latest whatchamacallit he saw advertised in last week's Business Week magazine? My best answer: Make sure you really know what a given technology can do and how it applies to business. And don't fudge your way around technologies you don't know.

So what should I have done when that vice president first asked me to implement WebTrends? I should have used my knowledge of WebTrends, combined with the experience I gained from implementing it for several Web sites, and asked pertinent questions about his requirements. By his answers I would have realized that WebTrends was not the answer. Instead, I made the mistake of assuming that, since he had worked with several dotcoms in the past, he knew exactly what he wanted and how best to achieve it.

Don't get me wrong here; I am not dumping on technology. In fact, I think businesses need to take advantage of it more than they already do. It's our job, as technology professionals, to help them do it.

Drop me a line and let me know what you think or post your comments below. If there's a particular IT issue you'd like to see addressed in this column, let me know that, too.