The so-called "demise of the CIO" is greatly exaggerated. So says Patrick Meehan, vice president and research director in Gartner's CIO research group.

"We've seen this before," Meehan said. Still, the CIO's role within the organization is shifting. With the Channel Company's Midsize Enterprise Summit beginning Sunday in Dallas, now is a good time to take stock.

"The good news is that there is no faster changing or faster growing role than the CIO," Meehan said. "I also like to say that the bad news is that there is no faster changing or growing role in IT."

It is critical for the CIO to stay in tune with changing business needs, and realize that his or her job may change along with those needs, Meehan said. It won't be easy, but it won't be boring, either.

"We talk about the future of the CIO... The next stop in the CIO train is not a terminal role...think about as your companies grows, and they will grow over the next 10 years, think about what do you want to be when you grow up? There is life after CIO. The next stop isn’t the putting green at Boca," Meehan said.

Broker and Engineer

The broker and engineer is a strategic IT broker, risk mitigation and technology architect, according to Meehan.

While it will still be important for the CIO to keep the company's technology on track, Meehan said they also need to work to get a "seat at the table" with the business' key decision makers to also improve cost optimization, business enablement and more.

"Technology support] is a complete expectation. This is showing up for work – this is not the forward moving role of the CIO. This is foundational to the future of the CIO," Meehan said.

Integrator and Optimizer

The integrator and optimizer operates a more centralized organization, delivers competitive business services beyond IT and uses its internal position to its advantage, adopts a marketing perspective, all with the aim to improve business outcomes, Meehan said.

While this role is stepping in the right direction for IT departments, Meehan warned that it could also put the CIO and IT department in a "dangerous" position. He cautioned against straying too far from the CIO role and into a service provider role.

"I think a market savvy perspective is good advice for all of you moving forward, but adopting a perspective where you are exclusively focused on building new markets and penetrating deeper markets is too much of a tunnel focus. You aren’t going to become a global services provider, you will probably be partnering with global services providers," Meehan said.
 

NEXT: Enabler and Conductor