Finding new opportunities to create greater business value will be vital, according to Roberts, predicting CIOs could have adverse compensation or bonuses by 2015 if they can't deliver required levels of value to the business. Some CIOs and high-level executives, such as , already have a certain percentage of their annual compensation based on reliability of systems and customer satisfaction.

With the stakes raised even higher for CIOs in 2011, Roberts said IT leaders are being put in a complicated position of needing to take risks in a time of uncertainty.

“It’s going to be all about risk and placing your bets in a very uncertain world to move forward,” Roberts said. “Reaching that decision point will be something that will impact a lot of people’s minds over the next year or two.”