Revenue Operations teams often craft brilliant strategic plans with clear targets, only to face significant roadblocks when it’s time for IT to implement the necessary technology. This common disconnect can stall growth and create significant internal tension.
As our 2025 Benchmarks Report: State of GTM in 2025 H1 reveals, the role of RevOps is frequently misunderstood, widening the gap between strategic goals and the resources required to meet them.
But what if the problem isn’t the process, but the partnership? In a recent episode of The Go-to-Market Podcast, Druva CIO Keith Lutz argues the old, siloed IT model is obsolete.
He believes true go-to-market success now depends on a strategic alliance where IT acts as an enabler, not a gatekeeper.
This article breaks down Keith Lutz’s framework for building a powerful RevOps IT collaboration, providing a blueprint for turning your CIO into a strategic ally who accelerates, rather than blocks, your revenue engine.
The CIO’s Evolution
According to Keith, a fundamental shift has occurred in the enterprise landscape. “Long gone are the days where the CIO would simply dictate the technology roadmap for the entire organization,” he says. This old model was built on the premise that IT held all the technical expertise.
Today, that’s no longer true. The modern CIO’s role has shifted from dictating technology to enabling business-led innovation within a secure and integrated enterprise architecture.
Acknowledging the New Reality
The rise of SaaS and product-led growth has empowered departments to become domain-specific technology experts. A RevOps leader, for instance, knows their go-to-market tech stack better than anyone. “They are technologists in their own right,” Keith notes.
“They know their space very well, and I’d say better than I do, as they should.”
A modern CIO’s value isn’t in dictating tool choices but in understanding the entire enterprise architecture.
Their role is to help RevOps integrate solutions effectively, ensuring new tools enhance, rather than disrupt, upstream and downstream processes. This collaborative approach is central to the RevOps revolution, which demands breaking down functional silos to create a more cohesive revenue engine.
Replacing Finger-Pointing With Shared Ownership
A top-down, IT-dictated approach often creates a culture of blame. When a project fails, the business points fingers and says, “This is what IT did.” This erodes trust and prevents true progress.
Keith advocates for a model of shared ownership. By bringing RevOps into the decision-making process from the start, they become part of the solution. This fosters a sense of collective responsibility where the focus is on achieving a shared goal, not assigning blame.
This principle of shared accountability is the cornerstone of all successful executive partnerships, turning potential adversaries into powerful allies.
A Blueprint for Collaborative Technology Selection
To move from theory to practice, Keith outlines a clear methodology for vetting and implementing new technology. This process is designed not to create bureaucracy but to build the cross-functional alignment necessary for success.
A collaborative technology selection process builds cross-functional buy-in and ensures new tools deliver long-term, enterprise-wide value.
Start With the End in Mind: Define the Goal, Not Just the Tool
Before evaluating any software, Keith advises asking a critical question: “What is the ultimate result we want to achieve in two to three years?” This forward-looking approach prevents teams from selecting a tool that solves an immediate pain point but creates a long-term bind.
By aligning on a future-state vision, you ensure the chosen technology can scale with the company’s direction.
Run a Due Diligence Process That Builds Buy-In, Not Bureaucracy
Many teams view the RFI/RFP process as a bureaucratic hurdle. Keith sees it differently: it’s a mechanism for building buy-in. His process involves bringing upstream stakeholders (like marketing) and downstream stakeholders (like finance and commissions) into the evaluation early.
This allows everyone to vet the impacts on critical areas like revenue recognition, data flow, and security. For example, when evaluating a complex GTM system like Fullcast Plan, this collaborative approach ensures the tool fits seamlessly into the entire enterprise architecture.
The process transforms from a bureaucratic checklist into a valuable alignment exercise that secures broad stakeholder support.
Secure Investment for Your GTM Tools by Proving Cross-Functional Value
When a RevOps team pitches a territory planning tool, it can be perceived as a niche request. However, by using a collaborative vetting process, the broader value becomes clear.
Finance sees how it impacts commissions and revenue recognition. Sales sees how it creates more balanced territories. Marketing sees how it aligns campaigns with sales capacity.
This process helps articulate a stronger, more holistic business case. By demonstrating value across the organization, you make it far easier to secure budget and executive support. As the team at Collibra discovered, the right platform can slash planning time and align the entire go-to-market team, proving the cross-functional power of a strategic RevOps investment.
The RevOps Playbook for Partnering With Your CIO
Building this strategic alliance requires proactive effort from RevOps leaders. Keith offers two key pieces of advice for initiating and nurturing a productive relationship with IT.
RevOps leaders can build a strong IT partnership by proactively engaging the CIO in problem-solving and building alliances within the IT organization.
Ditch the “Approval Request” for a “Problem-Solving” Conversation
Don’t just send a software request without context. Instead, schedule a conversation to present a business problem. Keith suggests framing the conversation like this: “Hey, here’s a problem we have. I have a few ideas I want to run by you.”
This approach invites collaboration and leverages the CIO’s holistic view of the organization. It reframes the interaction from a simple transaction to a strategic partnership. People love to feel useful and be part of the solution.
By inviting your CIO to help solve a challenge, you build trust and gain a powerful advocate. This conversation is the essential first step in effectively partnering with IT.
Map Your Influence:
Organizational dynamics are a reality. Before making a formal pitch to the CIO, Keith recommends identifying the key influencers within the IT organization who already have the CIO’s trust.
Have casual, exploratory conversations with these individuals. Get their feedback, understand their concerns, and build grassroots support for your idea. When the proposal eventually reaches the executive level, it will be met with familiarity and support, not skepticism.
As you advocate for new solutions, showing these allies how a platform like Fullcast for RevOps can solve specific challenges makes your case even more compelling.
Final Thoughts
A high-performing revenue engine is built on strong internal partnerships, especially between RevOps and IT. Keith’s framework highlights several critical shifts: the modern CIO is an enabler, not a gatekeeper; a collaborative technology vetting process is essential for building buy-in; and RevOps leaders must shift from asking for approval to inviting partnership.
As Keith emphasizes, technology and processes are important, but success ultimately hinges on the quality of the relationships between people and departments.
A powerful RevOps IT collaboration isn’t just a strategic advantage; it’s a critical component of a durable, scalable revenue engine.
