Chief Information Officer Role Evolving 16/6/00 Chief information officer roles may not become obsolete, but they are mutating into four new roles, according to new research from the Gartner Group. The roles are being reshaped so that four different CIO types are in the executive ranks, each with distinct skills critical to e-businesses. According to a recent study of the 1,400 CIO members of Gartner's Executive Programs, leading enterprises seeking success in e-business are making a transition to a cluster of CIO-related executive roles. Enterprises are placing executives with significant IT responsibilities at higher levels of executive decision-making. The four roles are as follows: The first type of CIO may have responsibility in a strategic role focusing on shaping top level business needs and expectations across the enterprise. The second type of CIO, operating at the same level as the first, is the chief technology officer or chief infrastructure officer. This executive is responsible for ensuring that the technology-based services are delivered in a cost-effective way. The third type of CIO is an executive who is heavily involved in stimulating new business opportunities because of the executive's grasp of emerging technologies and the enterprise business directions. The fourth type is that of a CIO in charge of a significant business unit within an enterprise. Often, that executive focuses on combining supply and demand roles in a business unit, and is responsible for managing and shaping expectations as well as delivering specific business unit level services. Gartner believes that executives must look carefully at how they can best apply their capabilities to the demands of these new roles. This is particularly key for executives working within an enterprise that decides to split the CIO role into multiple jobs, and find themselves faced with choosing which role they would like to adopt.