Got to be reasonable on both sides, however
Having worked in IT for >15 years as both consultant and internal employee, the IT department can do a lot for its own image, but there is something to be said for the right type of collaborative atmosphere from the business-side as well. I've been on the IT side where we bent over backwards to accommodate requests from a customer even when we pointed out that there was a better way to do things. We let them get what they wanted and then got to help them upgrade it later.
The worst part is when the business makes all the decisions about the project and then tries to micromanage the result like a PHB. That has disaster written all over it just like in the Dilbert cartoons.
