During my years at Cisco, I've been able witness IT become incredibly pervasive. While traditional IT has been thought of to just help run a business (and make things work!), today's expectation of IT is also how it can help change and grow the business.

In my conversations with CEOs across the globe, one major theme keeps coming up:CEOs want IT leaders to figure out how technology can help their businesses transform and expand, as much as make it operate.

Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a newCloud Insightsvideo series to discuss IT's role in driving business outcomes with cloud and collaboration technology. It's an interesting time as the pace of change is at an all-time high. Communication, collaboration and cloud are front and center, helping drive the transformation CEOs want.

Here are a couple of insights from the series that discuss how IT leaders can embed the role of technology within a business to accelerate more efficiency and promote differentiation among competitors. One thing is certain, the time for IT leaders to lean forward with their business partners and think about how the right technology can solve their problem is now.

What is collaboration and is there proof it's actually working? Read more.