Up and coming CIOs are those who are flexible, productive and provide visibility into their IT projects, according to a new study from Serena Software.

The application lifecycle management vendor's study, "The Next CIO is You," is based on interviews conducted in February with 100 IT execs from the U.S., U.K. and France interviewed in February.

Those polled tend to be in their thirties, married with children, and live in the suburbs (at least for the Americans.) They have been with their employers for an average of eight years. Along with their technical expertise, they possess keen management skills such as leadership and communication.

IT leaders driving their companies’ IT efforts embrace online communities, software as a service and even free tools as needed to communicate the business value of their innovation. They are driven to think and act with more agility to innovate and reduce costs. Revenue generation is another popular goal. These leaders can quickly assess priorities and shift to remain productive even during times of cost cutting.

In terms of visibility, forward-looking CIOs provide executive-level visibility into the array of projects their organizations are working on, whether big or small. They map those projects to business requirements and deliver timely reports on progress.

Above all, savvy CIOs recognize that business rather than technology goals drive their IT strategies. That is, technology is a means rather than an end. Serena Software maintains the revolution is underway in which CIOs are leading the charge toward business innovation and market advantage with the key traits outlined above.

Amy Schurr is the former managing features editor of Network World.