Liz Brady: The most in-demand talent for 2008 will be those workers who have the three key abilities: technical versatility, business knowledge and interpersonal skills. They play critical liaison roles for the IT organization, typically filling project management, business analyst and relationship management positions.

CIOs also will find it difficult to recruit talented IT managers, database administrators, architects and those with Oracle and SAP expertise. Recruiters I interviewed said that the global CIO role is in high demand among global organizations.

Jim Lanzalotto: The jobs that will be in most demand by CIOs next year include SAP functional and technical consultants, project managers and security experts.

CIO.com: What's the overall compensation trend for IT staff?

Katherine Spencer Lee: According to research conducted for the "Robert Half Technology 2008 Salary Guide", the projected increase in average starting salaries for technology professionals in the United States is 5.3 percent over 2007, compared to a 2.8 percent projected increase last year.

Liz Brady: I did not ask this specific question in my research but the general sense I got from interviewing more than 20 CIOs and experts is that compensation is on the rise for the IT staff and the CIO because of a general talent shortage. By key roles I mean those that are typically not outsourced, such as project management, business analysts, relationship management and mission-critical technology positions.

Compensation is also on the rise in India, which is lowering some of the cost savings for organizations who leverage offshore talent. CIOs are evaluating other locations in the global talent pool, such as China, Brazil, Argentina, Eastern Europe and the Philippines. If there are non-mission-critical roles that can be fulfilled by talent that is located in another country, CIOs are lowering those costs and focusing on offering the best package possible to those they keep in-house.

David Foote: Research involving 1900 employers for Foote's Partners' quarterly "IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index" indicates the most growth in skills pay in 2008 will be in database, applications development, security and the especially fast-growing skills group known as management, process and methodology (e.g., ITIL, business intelligence, business analysis).

Experienced SAP workers will continue to top the hardest-to-hire list but expect a surge in spending for a range of security skills as accelerating customer fears force vendors to be much more aggressive in fighting rampant data theft.

Jim Lanzalotto: Wages for technology professionals continue to improve year over year. These are the good old days for IT, and wage growth will remain strong as demand for IT talent continues to increase.