How do we measure the "value of IT"? Will we ever stop asking this question? Or more importantly, will it ever be solved?

I'm convinced that many consultants/software vendors have become millionaires putting forward frameworks, ideas and 'best practices' which purport to help organizations demonstrate or answer questions about the "value of IT".  Generally, the ideas espoused in these "let's demonstrate the value of IT" efforts can be categorized into one of two extremes.  They are either (1) full of inane, oversimplified platitudes or are (2) overly complex, shock & awe inspiring treatises.  In both cases, they don't work and so the question about the business value of IT remains wide open - and really not even a bit closer to any semblance of an answer.  Just Google those 3 words ("value of IT")and you have over 600,000 items that come up from the likes of Gartner, Microsoft, Infosys, etc.  So this leads me to 2 conclusions:

1. If consulting/software vendors offered a 100% satisfaction/money back guarantee, they'd be in trouble
2. If you have been "selling" an answer the same question for many years which is not really correct (or even all that close), maybe it's time to get into a new line of work.  While I know that won't happen since you're making a ton of money promoting your ideas, it would seem to be the right thing to do if we ever want the market to be more efficient, e.g., only those companies who really truly know something survive and hence add useful thinking to the body of knowledge.

So now let me ask if anyone has developed, seen or employed truly useful and pragmatic ideas or practices on how an IT organization actually brings value to an organization which have demonstrably impacted growth (revenue, net income or shareholder returns)?  I had written a few posts ago about the CIO of Medtronic and his approach which was straightforward and so that would be my only prerequisite - no unproductive complexity in the approach.  I don't want consulting jargon, academic ideas which never have been put into practice or convoluted frameworks and value chains which make for good whitepapers and lend themselves to pretty graphics but which are ultimately great theory but useless from an implementation and impact perspective.

I'm hoping to hear from the few who actually might know something about the "value of IT".

Please describe your ideas in a few paragraphs as well as any organizations who've employed the approach and their results (even at a high-level if that is all you can divulge).  Please don't send me links, whitepapers, etc as I don't have the time to read them.