Today's economy requires most IT organizations to reduce their costs. Ironically, the roles most essential to this process are also viewed as overhead. Several strategic roles, including architecture, vendor management, and relationship management provide the mechanisms for reducing costs, but because they don't build or maintain systems, they are viewed as expendable, rather than as enablers of savings. CIOs must redesign these roles to reinforce their authority, and they must protect them while reductions are made.