The typical enterprise spends a staggering 80% of its IT budget on maintenance and administration, leaving only 20% for strategic initiatives. This disturbing statistic spotlights the need to aggressively drive more efficient operational maturity within IT in order to redirect an enterprise's IT budget towards projects that add business value. Operational maturity can be attained only through embracing both standardization and automation, in conjunction with IT management frameworks such as ITIL, not apart from. This white paper is directed to technology executives who are looking to increase the efficiency and operational maturity of their IT operations. It will discuss each step required to fully realize the potential of your technology investments.