A federal CTO will function more like a facilitator -- someone who can set a general direction, said Farber. But it will be critical for the person in that position to have access to the president if he/she is to have real authority, he said. Obama's appointment will also need a lot of technical credibility and ability to coordinate among agencies.

This ability to coordinate and work with varying semi-independent agencies, is something , as well as her predecessors, has done. Evans, who is considered the de facto federal CIO, has an official title of administrator of the office of electronic government and information technology, has used her role to push agencies to standardize, increase online capabilities and improve security. Sometimes that means striking at the right opportunity.

In 2007, the White House used the possibility to that some agencies might move to , to insist on for Vista and XP and required software vendors to ensure their products were shipped with those configurations. "If we don't take and seize upon this opportunity to standardize, a thousand flowers will bloom, and we'll be back to where we were," said Evans, in an earlier interview.