"Many companies can get by with a custodial CIO while others need a strategist to survive and grow. Based on their size, those companies will find a way to obtain that service, either by having a strategic CIO or renting one via consultancy," says Wiener.
CIO may disappear as a full-time position, according to M. Anis Motiwala, strategic change management at Abacus Consulting. "The downturn merely happens to draw attention to a fact that existed anyway. If we pick up random job descriptions of a CIO and disassemble them into components, some interesting facts do emerge," says Motiwala.
"The result is obvious: bifurcation of the position, a portion of the job moving parallel to CFO's and getting merged within that position and the other portion remaining with the second tier in the IT division resulting in a convenient removal of a position altogether," Motiwala continues.
"Instead of saying 'Career Is Over,' I Would say 'Consulting In Offing' -- these specialists have not finished their worth, only lost the rational to sit on full time jobs," writes Motiwala.
IT functions in most organizations -- from small to large -- will be farmed, predicts George Koeninger, VP at BFC Consulting Group.
"This includes all the IT functions from programming to repair of the networks. The CIO function will fall under CFO and will be a purchased service," he states.
Koeninger suggests CIOs form their own consulting companies and "go after the business."
Outsourcing is the answer for two reasons, according Saqib Azmat, executive search consultant with People Perfect.
"The best way is to let others deal with your headache (at a price of course). There is absolutely no way we can measure the cost of tension. Secondly, when it's time to cut down, these once-ago assets now turned liabilities are yours to keep. Not the case in outsourcing."
Consultant John James O'Brien thinks CIO responsibilities will split appropriately.
"Technical skills will be recognized as more appropriate to technical levels and demand for expertise related to strategy and governance related to the extraction, use and preservation of meaning in multi-media information resources (mapped to business value) will rise," writes O'Brien.
But Josh Chernin, general manager at Web Industries, says the future is bright.
"Almost everything an organization does is reducible to information, and as more organizations understand, the important of seeing the big picture with an IT lens will increase," he writes.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.