In order to be a success, a CIO needs to be able to find and work with partners. These partners have to be committed to the same things that the CIO is: The overall success of his or her company and IT department.

However, finding the right partners can be quite a challenge. All too often alliances don't work out. CIOs need to take the time and study why some of these relationships are successful while others are not.

As difficult as it can be to find the right vendor, that is just the start of the relationship. CIOs have to understand that these types of relationships take care and maintenance. In order to get out of the relationship what you need, you are going to have to understand what the relationship is going to require over the long haul.

One of the most significant partnerships that most CIOs will become involved in have to do with the offshoring of IT assets. These are unique types of relationships and they come with their own special set of conditions and restrictions.

Just to make things more complicated, the arrival of cloud computing has created a whole new class of potential vendor partners for an IT department. Picking the right cloud provider is a brand new task for CIOs. We first have to understand the technology and then understand the firms that are providing it.

Finally, the importance of IT to every firm continues to grow. With this importance come additional responsibilities. The government has started to understand the impact that an IT department can have on the performance of a firm and so new legislation is being considered. CIOs need to both be aware of this and planning for it.