Both kinds of Innovation
Innovation can be classified into value-enhancement and cost management. You could argue the latter is a subset of the former. Though taken beyond a certain point the value-enhancement element of the latter tails off dramatically.
Some CIOs complain about the budgetary constraints they face and how they barely have resources to keep the operational wheels turning, never mind focusing on innovation.
But given the disruptive technologies available in the market; the cloud comes to mind, shouldn’t job number one for the CIO be to take innovative approaches to driving cost out of the IT function to free up funds to help drive costs out of the rest of the business.
Certainly the savings made on the IT budget could be applied to value-enhancement activities. And if smartly negotiated some of the savings derived from the wider business tech-driven cost management initiatives could be reallocated to your value-enhancement innovation pot.