IBM Corp. explored the results of its global CIO survey over an early breakfast meeting with Canadian CIOs this week at a Frankly Speaking event in Toronto. On stage to discuss the findings were Hugh Cumming, CIO of ADP Canada, and Paul Bellack, partner and national practice leader of Technology Strategy at IBM Canada.

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The survey, the largest of its kind according to Bellack, interviewed more than 2,500 CIOs in 78 countries and 19 industries around the world. The intent of the survey was to find out how CIOs spend their time, he said, and the value of the results is the ability to give structure to the CIO role.

CIOs perform six different roles within an organization,according to IBM, which developed a CIO paradigm based on the results of the study. The model, which forms the shape of a helix, serves as a good next-generation job description, according to Bellack.

IBM groups the six roles into three pairs: the insight visionary / able pragmatist; the savvy value creator / relentless cost cutter;and the collaborative business leader / inspiring IT manager. The first role in each set falls under the business mindset, while the second role is focused on IT.

CIOs are in a "split personality" situation, according to Bellack, with three pairs of roles that both "compliment and contradict" each other. It's hard to be a visionary and a pragmatist at the same time and that's really what complicates the role of the CIO, he said.

A second interesting point that resulted from the study was the metric developed by IBM to determine an organization's effectiveness, noted Bellack. IBM divided survey participants into high, medium or low growth segments based on their organization's profit before tax (PBT).

The metric found that the more successful the company, the wider the role of the CIO, said Bellack. In high growth organizations, CIOs are much more stretched across the business facing roles; whereas in low growth organizations, the emphasis focuses on tactical and IT-focused activities, he said.

When measuring CIO performance, project execution and IT cost effectiveness were high on the list in high PBT growth organizations; in lower growth organizations, the key performance criteria was delivering technology stability, said Bellack.

The point is that CIOs behave differently depending on whether they represent high or low growth companies, said Bellack. While the shape may be different, this basic premise is the same in any sector and any country, he said.