"What CEOs looking to hire CIOs care about is the CIO's ability to contribute as directly to the business as possible," says Heller. "The best way to demonstrate that experience is to have worked in the business, to have run a non-IT operations group, to have been a general manager. If you have that experience, the MBA is redundant."

However, if you lack that business management experience and are gunning for a career in industries that want their CIOs to make a direct contribution to the business, "an MBA will help," says Heller. "All things being equal as a recruiter, when I'm looking at a resume, I would rather see an MBA than not."

These trends have led online MBA programs to flourish. But with so many options, how can IT professionals determine which have the best reputations and meet their specific or needs Here's some advice.

1. Identify the characteristics of an online MBA program that are most important to you. Don't apply to an online MBA program just because you've heard of it, says Cates. Do some research first and consider what's most important to you in a program, whether that be the school's reputation, the quality of the teaching, the rigor of the academics, a particular concentration in a subject area, or the flexibility the program provides, she says. Your employer's HR personnel might be able to tell you which MBA programs have worked well for other employees.

2. Make sure the institutions you're considering are accredited. Some employers don't recognize degrees from non-accredited schools, notes Cates. Moreover, if a school is non-accredited, you may not be able to transfer any of your credits if you decide to enroll in an MBA program at a different institution.