CIO.com: What about overall compensation for the CIO?

Katherine Spencer Lee: Salaries for senior IT executives will continue to grow significantly in 2008. With IT fully integrated into all other aspects of a company's operations, the demand for CIOs with business and leadership skills is strong. CIOs are taking on more strategic roles in their organizations, helping to shape business vision and objectives, and contributing to key decision-making and planning processes.

CIO.com: What three IT staffing trends should be on the radar of every CIO in 2008?

Katherine Spencer Lee: Virtualization is hot right now. Few IT professionals possess experience in virtualization technologies and hardly any computer science programs teach the skill set. Savvy companies are training existing staff, but there still aren't enough people with years of practical experience in virtualization. Companies can save a lot of money with resource consolidation, but they need to find and/or train people to do the work.

The need for skilled Web developers who have experience in the creation of Web 2.0 functionality is high now as well. Developers who possess programming skills in areas like Ajax, straight Java, .Net and open-source applications are highly sought.

Another big-picture staffing trend for 2008 is the common theme of recruitment and retention. CIOs are struggling to find enough talented development and support staff to compete. And with many baby boomers retiring, this dynamic will get worse before it gets better.

A lot of companies are doing succession planning to prepare the next generation of leaders, or ramping up their recruitment efforts at college campuses in order to secure new talent. Smart CIOs realize that it's a comprehensive effort to find new IT professionals and keep them on board. It's not something they can solve overnight.

Liz Brady: CIOs should be thinking now about how to:

• Tap into new talent pools. There just isn't enough talent to go around, and CIOs tend to overfish in the same pool. They all want the existing IT professional with experience under the belt.

Recent college graduates and graduate students are one pool of talent that more CIOs would benefit from leveraging. Many students today are willing to give two to three full days per week to a job and arrange class schedules around internship experiences. They are often very loyal when the organization offers scholarships and compensation for work they do. The key is for CIOs to give them challenging, rewarding work that would make them want to accept a full-time job offer.

• Hire globally. CIOs have to take on a global hiring mind-set. Whether that means setting up remote offices in other countries, helping IT talent get the appropriate visas to work locally, or some combination, the best approach to hiring in 2008 is to take advantage of the best talent, no matter where that talent lives. Remote workspaces and communications/collaborations tools have become robust enough to sustain a workforce that is "virtual."
• Sell what's unique about your IT organization. CIOs have to hone their sales skills, practice their pitch and get on the road with the "wow" factor — what makes their IT organization unique. We also call it "branding" the IT organization. It could be work-life balance, the opportunity to work with innovative technologies, the amount of training provided, etc. Also remember to educate those who recruit for you, including human resources, internal staff, and third-party recruiters.