Seven trends to shape CIO's role.

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There will be two types of chief information officers (CIO) in 2008, according to Forrester Research. The first are change-agent CIOs, who are "continually increasing credibility and influence with CEO and line-of-business executives as a source of high-value perspective on the business, and have the skills to shepherd change," Forrester researcher Alex Cullen says. The second are general manager CIOs, who Forrester describes as concentrating their efforts on boosting the efficiency and operational excellence of IT.

"Business is more dependent on technology than ever before, and more conscious of this dependency," Cullen explains. "Surprisingly, business executives may be anxious to accelerate results through the use of technology, but IT execs continue to focus on operational reliability and project delivery. This dichotomy of expectations and priorities, the proverbial fork in the road, is forcing CIOs to decide on their target role in 2008: Either they become the change agent and innovator for the business, or they become general manager for their firms' IT."

The change-agent CIO, Cullen says, "has built an IT organization with senior staff who know their mission, continuously improve their operations, and have developed the skills to anticipate and prepare for business needs." In 2008, these CIOs will:

Strengthen joint IT-business planning through use of model-based planning. Model-based planning tools like business-capability maps promote common business and IT understanding that focuses IT investments for the greatest strategic payback.

Restructure organizations to foster alignment. Change-agent CIOs will structure their organizations to get as close to the business as possible by dispersing staff into business areas to gain business knowledge and act as technology advisors.

Foster strategic planning and architecture as key competencies. Change-agent CIOs, realizing that shaping business perception requires an up-to-date strategy, will ensure that strategic plan development, update and review are ongoing and tuned processes. Strategic plans will eschew lists of projects in favor of roadmaps to the target state.

Strengthen their roles on the executive team and with the board of directors. Change-agent CIOs will identify business model-based opportunities for customer intimacy, operational excellence and innovation. A role advising the board of directors is a logical outcome.

According to Forrester, a general manager CIO creates an organization focused on supplying what customers request and are able to fund. This CIO role is not new, and arguably has been the default role since the dot-corn meltdown. In 2008, these CIOs will:

Structure their organizations to drive standardization. These CIOs will continue to centralize their organizations, and organize skills and processes around centers of excellence in order to drive standardization and achieve higher quality and lower costs.

Improve transparency, measurement and monitoring to uncover efficiencies. General manager CIOs will create performance feedback loops from application, project and infrastructure efforts, thereby increasing the effectiveness of operational planning and execution.

Assume management of other corporate "shared" services. General manager CIOs will assume management of non-IT functions and adopt other shared-service organizations that might include anything from facilities management to customer service. The new responsibilities will expand CIOs' career options.