Meanwhile, CEOs these days are expected to have more than a passing interest in IT.
"CEOs are now required to have a broader understanding of the importance and capabilities of IT. The fact that they may not have originally had a technical background is irrelevant," says the report.
According to Carey Eaton, CIO of online employment company Seek, what will differentiate high-performing CEOs from mediocre ones is their ability to manage across all aspects of the business, including IT.
"In 20 years' time, a CEO who doesn't understand the importance of IT is going to be a very uncompetitive CIO," he said.
Rob Fyfe, chief executive of Air New Zealand, had a passion for IT which led to him sanctioning such innovations as the self-check-in service at New Zealand airports, said Roman Rogers, Hudson NZ executive general manager.
"[Fyfe] is incredibly passionate about technology and customer experience. That's about a mindset," said Rogers.
Julia Raue, Air NZ's CIO, was successful because of her ability to get buy-in from different stakeholders.
"The CIO, in order to get these projects across the line, is influencing the cynics," said Rogers.
Also, a CIO often installs big investments. The Hudson roundtable participants noted that after the global financial crisis IT projects came under increasing scrutiny in terms of their necessity, complexity and return on investment.
While budgets are returning to IT there is significantly greater analysis of a project's value and its alignment with the organisation's overall strategy.
Peter Finch, chief information officer of IT services provider Gen-i, noted that getting projects approved had become harder while demands for a return on investment were greater.
One of the main issues the CIOs from New Zealand and Australia discussed was the need for their teams to be familiar with all areas of their businesses - and also to be known by all areas of the business.
Adrian Dixon, CIO at superannuation provider Sunsuper, said he had worked hard to build a broad network of relationships in his organisation. "The ultimate goal is to cement yourself as being a trusted subject-matter expert," said Dixon.
"Once they've got confidence in your ability to do the day-to-day and look after the domain that you are responsible for, you can then start to build skills in other aspects of the business."
Being proven in business can add to a CIO's profile in their organisation. Australia's Network Ten CIO Bruce Nicholas said his MBA proved useful in his role.
"You need to have a good grasp of all the business functions - how finance works, in your company and your industry.
It is important to have an appreciation for the industry and how your business operates in it.
"We quite often attend major broadcast conferences, both in respect to our projects and also to keep abreast of emerging technologies and skill sets in the industry.
"We also visit other broadcasters to share experiences."
According to Rogers, another point to emerge from the discussion was that IT teams put together by CIOs needed to have a diverse set of skills, both hard and soft.
CIOs say they need people not only with the requisite technical skills but also with business sense, change-management skills and a strong cultural fit.
The speed at which the IT industry is evolving means that roles change frequently, along with their required skill sets.
Hudson has identified eight leadership competencies that define the core capabilities of successful CIOs and their teams: visioning, inspiring, innovating, decision-making, collaborating, building talent, building the business and customer focus.
