Chief Technology Officer—The Newest Seat at the Table?
Does it seem that increasingly as a chief information officer (CIO) you find yourself playing second fiddle to your new peer, the chief technology officer (CTO)? More companies are moving CTOs into leadership positions, as they realize that understanding technology is a crucial driver of business success. What is the difference between the CIO and CTO position, and why do companies need both more than ever?
It is not surprising the two roles are frequently conflated, since, in the past, they were often lumped under the same information technology umbrella. However, the characteristics of these two roles are radically different, and the personalities of the people who fill them are diametrically opposed. In a nutshell, the CTO focuses more on the top line vision for growing the business, while the CIO focuses on the bottom line for delivering operational efficiency. CIOs rarely make effective CTOs, and vice versa.
Traditionally, the CIO is principally responsible for what is known in the industry as the plumbing or operational aspects of IT. They need to ensure the underlying infrastructure and enterprise applications that run the business are performing smoothly and cost effectively.
Yes, the application development organization tends to fall under the purview of the CIO, but normally the business units provide the requirements. A good CIO has excellent business and process management skills but does not necessarily have a deep understanding of technology, since they are primarily seen as functional administrators within the organization.
On the other hand, a good CTO is always looking for ways to create new products and business opportunities by incorporating innovative technology. An effective CTO requires not only extremely deep and broad understanding of technology nuances, but they also need a good grasp of the business vertical in which they are working.
Their organization is responsible for developing the overall strategic technology vision for the company. Finding a good CTO match for an organization is far more difficult, because it requires a rare balance of business and technical skills that can take years of experience to develop.
Just a few years ago, only companies that had a heavy-duty technology orientation required a senior-level technical strategist to guide the company’s product direction. These people frequently reported into the CIO organization. For a person who is supposed to provide the technology vision, this was not an entirely comfortable fit to be working in an organization measured on cutting costs and operational efficiency.
Increasingly, as organizations realize the value of technology for the success of their business, more sophisticated companies are rewarding their CTOs with both more recognition and power to set business direction.
So if your company needs to take a new creative approach to IT technology to meet your business objectives, it might be time to explore the idea of hiring a CTO with enough serious industry and technology chops to bring in fresh ideas to take your business to an entirely new level.
