Gartner Identifies Major Shifts In Chief Information Officer Roles.

According to research by Gartner Group Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB), CIOs are not becoming obsolete.

Instead, this executive type is mutating into four different species. The roles are being reshaped so that four different CIO types are in the executive ranks, each with distinct roles and skillsets that are critical to e-businesses.

According to a recent study of the 1,400 CIO members of Gartner's Executive Programs, leading enterprises seeking success in e-business are making a transition to a cluster of CIO-related executive roles. The emerging needs for e-business are changing the way in which executive managers perceive the CIO and the CIO's place in the executive boardroom. As a result, enterprises are placing executives with significant IT responsibilities at higher levels of executive decision-making.

Gartner research shows that four species of "the CIO genus" are emerging in leading enterprises. The first type of CIO, still often referred to as CIO, may have responsibility across the enterprise in a demand management role, which is a strategic role focusing on shaping top-level business needs and expectations across the enterprise. This type of CIO would not be responsible for delivering on implementation.

The second type of CIO, operating at the same level as the first species, is the chief technology officer or chief infrastructure officer. This executive is responsible for ensuring that the technology-based services are delivered in a cost-effective way. Responsibilities often include exploiting sourcing opportunities.

The third type of CIO is the "technology opportunist," an executive responsibility that has grown from the demands of e-business. This is an executive who is heavily involved in stimulating new business opportunities because of the executive's grasp of emerging technologies and the enterprise business directions.

The fourth type, particularly in a multidivisional enterprise, is that of a CIO in charge of a significant business unit within an enterprise. Often, that executive focuses on combining supply and demand roles in a business unit, and is responsible for managing and shaping expectations as well as delivering specific business-unit-level services.

"Four 'e' words summarize the priorities of today's CIOs: Energizing, enabling, executing and exploiting," continued Dr. Broadbent. "CIOs are really adding life to the strategic initiatives of enterprises by coupling insight on technology with an understanding of an enterprise's core business. CIOs are one of the few groups of executives who have a real 'helicopter' view of the enterprise, and their executive colleagues are now realizing how valuable that is."