"So at the end of the day it all comes down to communication: The ability to hear and comprehend all the messages being delivered from within and from outside the business and to then clearly articulate the organization's response to ensure that people and resources are aligned and marching to the same tune," Andrews says.

Keeping a firm handle on fiscal resources means having a good understanding of financial management and strong commercial awareness, as for any executive, but also understanding how investment strategies, IT costs and capital investments fit within the bigger picture of the overall business and trading performance, agrees NineMSN COO Nick Spooner. That means working hand in hand with the CFO as necessary.

"I think it's too easy sometimes to set a strategy that involves a number of investments but to do that in isolation from where the business is performing or trading. IT strategy needs to be able to flex and move and evolve in line with what the business and the financial strategy is doing as well throughout the year," Spooner says.

"I think a good CIO absolutely is somebody that is very conscious of what is happening in the technology and the IT arena, but who also has great awareness of what is happening in the wider business, and is able to react and support and if needs be change the plan to fit accordingly. Working with the COO or working with the CFO is the key part of that."

People Are Resources Too

Of course, a good CIO has to know not only what he has in terms of physical and investment capital, but also human capital, says John Baldoni, CEO at management consultancy Baldoni Consulting. IT folks typically have a good insight into organizational resources because their work is enterprise-wide, he says; it's just that being aware of resourcing levels and managing them effectively are by no means synonymous.

"The finance folks can clue you into the financials, of course; the HR folks can advise on people. But the latter is the most vexing," Baldoni says. "Often what keeps CEOs - not CIOs - awake is wondering if they have the right people in the right jobs at the right time and if they do not, how they know before it's too late."

When it comes to resources, Spooner holds to the truism that its people truly are an organization's greatest asset. A good CIO will take all steps necessary to ensure his or her staff is both well skilled and highly motivated, and will be alert to the danger of focusing overly much on the technology side of the business, he says.

"In my experience there is a danger that there is so much focus on the IT or the technology side of things and that people sometimes get promoted on the basis of their technology skills as opposed to their people management skills and their leadership capabilities," Spooner says. "That then has a bit of a cascading effect in as much as you don't necessarily retain the highly skilled people that you would want in an organization."

Good human resource management means both valuing and inspiring your employees. Spooner says promoting people on the back of their technology skills, rather than their leadership capabilities, is a recipe for mediocrity that practically invites people to search for greener pastures. Good leadership comes down to both the way you lead and manage your team, and the way you build that team, he says.

"When I recruit senior managers and senior executives I look for the people skills, the leadership traits, the leadership skills, in an equal weight to the technical capabilities or the specific subject manager expert sort of skills as well," Spooner says. "And I think that ensuring that is one way of making sure that you build an organization that is focused on its people and their capabilities and on getting the best out of them."