Back in August 2010, Smart Enterprise Exchange featured David Buckholtz, Vice President and Divisional CIO for Enterprise and Corporate Technology at Sony Pictures Entertainment, in a story about Platform-as-a-Service adoption in the enterprise. My reason for mentioning this piece today — besides to note the insightful nature of the article itself — is that Buckholtz has something in common with readers of this blog: His résumé includes tenure as Chief Architect at GXS (formerly part of General Electric), and as a Senior Consultant and Architect at IBM.

How typical is it for a very senior and seasoned enterprise architect to become CIO, I wondered? In some respects, it seems a natural trajectory: It’s likely that you’re already located within an IT group, so expectations of rising within the organization seem well in line.

In fact, the challenge may lie with how the enterprise or the IT organization itself views the role of enterprise architect. Ideally, the enterprise architect function is seen (much like the CIO function) as a critical component of aligning business and IT. In that case, the EA team is deputized and resourced to marry organizational processes with technology that will deliver value to the enterprise and its customers.

If that’s the type of organization you’re in, you may well be in good shape to shoot for the job of CIO — either in the same company or somewhere else that subscribes to the same philosophy and appreciates the results that philosophy produces for the business .

If your company has more of a technical view of the EA function, however, and expects architects to get by more on the fend-for-yourself model, then perhaps some detours are in order to reach the goal of CIO. One choice might be a lateral move to an EA position in a company that has a more-encompassing vision, of course. Or you might consider exploring other avenues — within or outside your current employer — to building a resume that showcases the fact that you’re far more than a repository of technical expertise. After all, that’s what companies (thankfully) have come to expect from their CIOs.

Can your business talents be better nurtured and exposed — and will your management expertise grow — if you bring them and your tech prowess to other areas of the enterprise? For example, you may thrive in a line-of-business domain where, as either a senior-level business analyst or a business manager, you can directly contribute to sales and operational wins rather than setting the stage that leads to them.

Another option is to join a consultancy or software solutions business that may provide an opportunity to not only provide technology leadership internally, but also to be part of a development and management team that has a role in the external sales cycle.

What are your thoughts about moving into a CIO position? What would you tell the search committee about why you are the right hire for the position? Heck, is it something you even want, and if so, what’s your game plan for getting there?