by Tom Field

While CIOs have faced flat, to slow growth in their annual budgets, the same cannot be said of business expectations when it comes to innovative use of IT.

As a result, CIOs face this challenge: How to reduce costs while  simultaneously using IT to drive competitive advantage. As CIO magazine's fifth annual State of the CIO survey reveals, the best executives have realized that simple cost-cutting won't work. Technology innovation is a team sport, and it demands strong partnerships with business decision makers.

The survey asked nearly 100 senior CIOs for their thoughts on how to implement IT-led innovation throughout the company. Fifty-nine percent of them consider innovation a significant aspect of their job, but they also recognize that no executive is an island. More than one-third say that innovation initiatives are best led by a joint team made up of the CIO and other business leaders, and 28 percent say that innovative ideas best spring from collaboration and brainstorming with business-side peers. If the ideas and work are shared, so should be the responsibility as well: 42 percent of the respondents think that IT and the business units should share accountability for the results of their labors.

How much of your roll is concerned with innovation?

Where do innovative ideas come from?

Who leads innovation initiatives?

Who is accountable for innovation results?