But this is no longer the case, Wurl argues. "Technologies are no longer just internally focused and operational in nature. They are external and they are used to generate revenue," he says.
"Some companies have made changes in that they have separated their technologies operations by the customer segments that they serve and they no longer roll-up to a single CIO," writes Wurl.
Many CIOs focus on operational solutions, notes Peter B. Giblett, but these problems are often solved by the use of operational applications.
"The key to success is leveraging the information from business intelligence solutions to make better decisions in the interests of the corporation," he writes.
"The future of the CIO position is largely about the value added. Where there is none, then no CIO," says Giblett.
To increase value, CIOs need to change their image, suggests Smith. "It is time that we stopped thinking of the CIO as simply the superior IT manager and see them instead as executive guardians of our core asset -- information," she writes.
If the CIO role continues to be defined as it is today, careers will truly be over, according to leader, strategist and management consultant Nitin Kumar.
Kumar says the CIO role will stay. While it might not continue to be called CIO, the position won't be rolled into a CFO or other areas, she writes. It does, however, need to be reinvented.
"CIOs need to be strategic and have the ability to turn technology into a competitive advantage that plays a vital role in the growth of an organization," writes Kumar. "A typical suit-clad CIO running a cost center and maintaining the IT will cease to exist, as that function get outsourced more and more - and perhaps in the future gets automated or even run from the cloud."
Custodial CIOs that focus on IT expenses -- often payroll and infrastructure -- are probably doomed, writes Howard Wiener, technology executive and principal consultant. But those who consult, strategize and manage costs provide value to their companies, he says.
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