A company's life can depend on its ability to anticipate technological, financial, regulatory, and other big forks in the road, but heaven help us if we must spend all our waking hours thinking like actuaries and lawyers. The burden of preparation doesn't rest wholly on the IT organization, of course--and we must guard vigilantly against creating a culture of bureaucracy and paralysis--but IT leaders must be active players in mitigating a wide range of business risks.
Source: Information Week, http://www.informationweek.com