Is your IT department trying to break out of the cost-center trap? At Global Crossing, IT staff now accompany salespeople when meeting with customers and prospects. The rationale is that no one is better prepared to explain the company's IP-based services than the IT experts who are responsible for managing its network. And CIO Dan Wagner isn't making this some high-minded, fuzzy goal. He's set the bar at 500 customer meetings this year, and he's continuously tracking progress. Dozens of Global Crossing's IT people are involved in the effort, not just a few top managers. The tally after the first three quarters of the year: Developers have attended 175 sales calls; operations people, 125 sales calls; and security staffers, 75 sales calls. "This is new business, new opportunities," says Wagner. As a next step, Wagner wants to track the outcomes of sales meetings to determine just how much new revenue results from those opportunities.