Remember the old comic about what you say versus what dogs hear? Say your dog's name is Trixie. You say: "Trixie, you're a very bad dog. You must stay off the couch. You must not beg for food at the table. Also, Trixie, you need to stop climbing up on people."

The dog hears: "Trixie blah blah blah blah blah Trixie blah blah blah."

One of the things I learned at the InformationWeek Fall Conference is that IT managers face a similar problems trying to justify new technologies. The IT manager talks in terms of network, system and application uptime, and price-performance. The business manager hears: "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah."

What the business manager wants to hear about is making money.

CEOs and CFOs who justify expenditures are compensated in terms of profits and financial metrics. IT managers need to learn to speak in terms of profitability, cost reduction, and profit margins. "Everyone who is comped based on those things will hear you loud and clear," said Marc West, senior VP and CIO of H&R Block.

Jason Maynard, software analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston, agreed. "We're all coin-operated at the end of the day."