In today’s economic environment, business organizations are demanding focused attention to fiscal discipline. Finance, marketing, sales, operations, and IT are all being measured by an increasingly tight focus on returns. Investments for future growth are controlled, and a return to core business efficiencies has become the top investment thesis. This paper explores industry, analyst, and customer recommendations on how to focus on requirements to ensure application development accuracy and to control risks so that the IT organization can turn those efficiencies into increased horse-power and lower operational costs.