It's time for CIOs to take control of their fate -- that is, when it comes to enterprise transformation. That's according to the current issue of Technology Forecast journal from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Transformations can be a sore spot for CIOs because they're not typically key players in enterprise transformation. You'd think they would be; after all, transformations rely on enterprise architects, who live in IT. Not so, as PwC technology consultants found. Instead, the keepers of the models tend to be the CFOs , CEOs, even CTOs, but not CIOs. Yet when something goes wrong in implementing transformation, it's the CIO who gets the blame.

CIOs can prevent this unpleasantness by taking the lead in exploring the methodology behind transformation, even if they have to assert (or insert) themselves.

First, according to the feature story, "The CIO's opportunity to transform transformation," CIOs should challenge the usual approach by "spelling out" the flaws of the models in most transformations. Models that lack "quantitative reality-based" value metrics are disconnected from the business, and this will be a transformation's downfall. Therefore, CIOs must at the very least show the gaps between strategy and process and IT architecture. These components should be linked, and poor connections will cause implementation failures.

IT chiefs should also re-think the compartmentalized way enterprise architects are used in business transformations. The EA function develops the models necessary to implement transformation; why are they divorced for the business and strategy side? This is a chance for CIOs to revolutionize the effectiveness of modeling by making it more disciplined, flexible, and above all business-oriented.