Q: We've often heard references over the years to CIOs as change agents, but you've seen an uptick in interest recently. What's triggering this?

A: There are a lot of macro factors. First, we see businesses moving from cost containment to increased growth, and that's being driven at the CEO level. Second, they're adopting a different set of competitive activities than in the past. In the past, CEOs focused on functional optimization. Now we see them looking at end-to-end process improvement, integrated processes all along the supply chain, and the concept of the extended enterprise. At the same time, many organizations are embarking on a strategies that leverage globalization trends. The CIO is one of the few places in the organization where all of those things come together and where there's a view across the enterprise. These trends drive transformations that are enterprisewide and hugely dependent on technology for their success. The CIO is at the eye of the storm.

Q: How can CIOs best prepare themselves to be change agents?

A: First and foremost, they have to put their own house in order. The IT organization has to do the fundamentals well. That means operational excellence, stability, and delivering projects on time and on budget. If they don't have that piece in place and they aren't trusted and respected, they won't have permission to play a change-agent role.

Once the house is in order, they need to develop a set of transformation disciplines. These should be in place initially within the IT organization, but ultimately they should be used to support the business. An example is an enterprise program-management office that coordinates individual projects and holistic programs across the enterprise. Another discipline is portfolio management--a way to look across IT investments and balance them across business needs, in both the short and long terms. Once you have success within IT, then you can expand the disciplines across the business.

Then they need to hone their leadership skills with a particular emphasis on relationship management and communications skills with executive peers, at the same time they continue to gather expertise in how technology and process innovation can improve their company and industry.

Q: Why the industry?

A: Because the CIO has to really understand how to transform a company within its industry by a combination of technology and process innovation. You have to understand what other people are doing and how the value chain is changing. You need to think both in the box and out of the box. And more and more out-of-the-box thinking is necessary now than in the past. As we go forward, CIOs acting as change agents will be noted for their ability to look across boundaries.

Q: In a recent report you said CIOs have to make a "mental shift." Can you elaborate?

A: It's a question of stepping back and looking at the big picture. What is the aspect of the role where CIOs can make the biggest impact? What can we do to make that impact? In Change Management 101, you have to identify a compelling need to change. Do you have an organization that will support you? Do you have the skills? Do you have the relationships? What's my mission?

We've talked to some visionary leaders who see their role as IT professionals as fundamentally being in the change business. That's a radical statement. In the old days, CIOs were responsible just for making everything run--for keeping the lights and computers running. Now, it's a question of how they use technology to change the business. That's a radical shift that you have to be ready for. For CIO's wanting to truly make a difference it is important not to constrain thinking " not to stare at the future through the prison bars of their traditional roles. Q: Why are CEOs more frequently identifying CIOs as the primary change agents? A: All roads lead to the CIO. It's a combination of breadth and depth, and part of that is enterprise visibility. The CEO and CFO have that from their own purviews, but they don't understand how work really gets done, how the business truly operates, the way CIOs do. CIOs have a broad perspective across each line of business, and how the organization is integrated with partners, because most of that is information-enabled. They have the close-to-real-work knowledge and strategic knowledge.

Q: Why do you say there's a window of opportunity to become a change agent?

A: It's because of the macro trends I mentioned. CIOs can play a much larger role than in the past. But if they don't step up to that role, if the CIO isn't willing or able--and it can be both--then we believe it's still important for some entity to fill that role, either internally or externally. Maybe it's the COO or an external entity, such as a consulting partner. CIOs can either move up the value chain from their traditional role to transformational agent or that role can be filled somewhere else. And in that case, the IT organization runs the risk of becoming more marginalized and more of a commodity. Companies have to deal with change. Technology is a critical component of that change. You have to be part of the process or it will pass you by.