Ann All’s March article opened with the sentence, ”It’s tough being a CIO.” Reading it, my first reaction, which I promptly tweeted, was “Sure, these days, being a CIO ain’t easy. But these are also exciting times to be a CIO, because you get an opportunity to make a real impact on the business.”

Ms. All responded that indeed, new opportunities exist, although it may not be easy to capitalize on some of them. I absolutely agree with this statement. Which brings us to the question, how does a CIO make the most of her new and exciting role within the company?

“Innovate” is a word we hear a lot in this respect, and for good reasons. The opportunity to innovate is exactly why being a CIO in 2011 is so exciting. The company expects you to innovate, to push the business forward, to find and bring in disruptive technology that would make a real impact on the bottom line.

This is what is often referred to as the CIO being a “Chief Innovation Officer,” focused on delivering innovation at a low cost.

The challenge? You need an excellent understanding of the business strategy that you are serving, AND you must maintain and expand your technical savvy. Of course, you also need the budget for this new technology. The reward if you pull it off? Becoming a business leader in your organization.

There are many examples of CIOs who have figured this out – Digital Fuel is delighted to have many of them among our customers. They have shifted their teams’ priorities and built a deep understanding of the business goals. They have successfully changed their focus from maintaining tech infrastructure, to being completely aware of the bigger picture – the organization’s business goals.

As for staying up to date on technology trends, many CIOs tell us that they do it by relying on a variety of trusted resources, including techie team members, vendors and service providers, reading technology publications and blogs, and regularly attending technology conferences.

The third challenge, of finding the budget to innovate, can be conquered by optimizing existing IT costs and freeing more of the budget to go towards innovation. Needless to say, any new technology purchase should also be checked to make sure it would bring you the most bang for your buck. So, you won’t jump into the cloud, or decide on a major virtualization project, without making sure these projects will deliver actual value in the long run.

It’s tough being a CIO? Absolutely. But you have to admit, it’s also very exciting.