One of the things that I find fascinating about the role of the CIO is the divergence of opinions that abound regarding the CIO's standing within the enterprise. Two articles I read the other day highlight some of these distinctions.

One article, which is really more of an advertorial regarding Gartner's annual CIO survey results, calls attention to research which illustrates how more than half of all CIOs have picked up responsibilities that extend beyond their traditional IT management duties. These range from overseeing innovation to corporate development and strategic planning and other operational roles. These developments are hardly new: Gartner reported similar findings in its 2008 CIO study.