By Bob Violino

The evolving role of CIOs, combined with their unique set of skills, positions them and other IT leaders to lead practical innovation within their companies. In fact, based on recent surveys of IT executives, they and their employees are driving practical innovation and having a profound impact on corporate strategy. At a growing number of organizations, CIOs are helping to lead that strategy.

CIOs are also working hard to dismantle the old 80/20 Rule — which often dictates that IT spend 80 percent of its time and resources on maintaining older systems, and only 20 percent on innovation. Instead, CIOs are flipping the rule around, assuming innovative new roles in their organizations to acquire new skills that help them succeed.

"No other corporate function I can think of needs to deal with as much external environmental change as IT," says Greg Meyers, VP of Global IT at Biogen Idec, a biotechnology firm based in Cambridge, Mass. "Innovation is what we do every day."

One key to achieving innovation in both the IT department and the enterprise is incorporating CIOs in the development of the corporate strategy. IT executives playing a more visible role in setting strategy is one hallmark of the IT chief's evolving role, says Kamal Bherwani, Chief Digital Officer and Managing Director of PRISA Group, and the former CIO for Health and Human Services and Executive Director of HHS-Connect, City of New York. Part of this transformation stems from the fact that businesses have become so reliant on technology. "We can see evidence of that in healthcare, all of media, the financial sector, and the airline industry," Bherwani says. "The key is if these certain organizations don't get their technology act together, there's a good chance they won't survive, because of the overwhelming influence of technology on these companies' future."

The public sector is no different, Bherwani adds. "In government, we are in the midst of this economic tsunami that is forcing us to figure out how to optimize operations, get operational efficiencies and create better effectiveness in delivering services," he explains. To achieve this, IT must play a major role in setting strategy and generating new, innovative approaches to doing business.