Chief technology officer

Last updated
Chief technology officer
SynonymsCTO chief technologist

A chief technology officer (CTO) (also known as a chief technical officer or chief technologist) is an officer tasked with managing technical operations of an organization. They oversee and supervise research and development and serve as a technical advisor to a higher executive such as a chief executive officer. [1]

Contents

A CTO is very similar to a chief information officer (CIO). [2] CTOs will make decisions for the overarching technology infrastructure that closely align with the organization's goals, while CIOs work alongside the organization's information technology ("IT") staff members to perform everyday operations. [2] The attributes of the roles a CTO holds vary from one company to the next, mainly depending on their organizational structure. [3]

History

After World War II, large corporations established research laboratories at locations separate from their headquarters. The corporation's goals were to hire scientists and offer them facilities to conduct research on behalf of the company without the burdens of day-to-day office work. This is where the idea of a CTO focusing on the overarching technology infrastructures originates. [4]

At that time, the director of the laboratory was a corporate vice president who did not participate in the company's corporate decisions. Instead, the technical director was the individual responsible for attracting new scientists, to do research, and to develop products. [5]

In the 1980s, the role of these research directors changed substantially. Since technology was becoming a fundamental part of the development for most products and services, companies needed an operational executive who could understand the product's technical side and provide advice on ways to improve and develop. [6]

This all led to the creation of the position of Chief Technology Officer by large companies in the late 1980s with the growth of the information technology industry and computer (internet) companies. [3]

Overview

A CTO "examines the short and long term needs of an organization, and utilizes capital to make investments designed to help the organization reach its objectives... [the CTO] is the highest technology executive position within a company and leads the technology or engineering department". [7] The role became prominent with the ascent of the IT industry, but has since become prevalent in technology-based industries of all types – including computer-based technologies (such as game developer, e-commerce, and social networking service) and other/non-computer-focused technology (such as biotech/pharma, defense, and automotive). In non-technical organizations as a corporate officer position, the CTO typically reports directly to the chief information officer (CIO) and is primarily concerned with long-term and "big picture" issues (while still having deep technical knowledge of the relevant field). In technology-focused organizations, the CIO and CTO positions can be at the same level, with the CIO focused on the information technology and the CTO focused on the core company and other supporting technologies.

Depending on company structure and hierarchy, there may also be positions such as R&D manager, director of R&D and vice president of engineering whom the CTO interacts with or oversees. The CTO also needs a working familiarity with regulatory (e.g. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Product Safety Commission, as applicable) and intellectual property (IP) issues (e.g. patents, trade secrets, license contracts), and an ability to interface with legal counsel to incorporate these considerations into strategic planning and inter-company negotiations.

In many older industries (whose existence may predate IT automation) such as manufacturing, shipping or banking, an executive role of the CTO would often arise out of the process of automating existing activities; in these cases, any CTO-like role would only emerge if and when efforts would be made to develop truly novel technologies (either for facilitating internal operations or for enhancing products/services being provided), perhaps through "intrapreneuring".

See also

Related Research Articles

Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what duties and responsibilities they have in the organization. Such titles are used by publicly and privately held for-profit corporations, cooperatives, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, partnerships, and sole proprietorships that also confer corporate titles.

Chief information officer (CIO), chief digital information officer (CDIO) or information technology (IT) director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an enterprise who works with information technology and computer systems, in order to support enterprise goals.

A management information system (MIS) is an information system used for decision-making, and for the coordination, control, analysis, and visualization of information in an organization. The study of the management information systems involves people, processes and technology in an organizational context. In other words, it serves, as the functions of controlling, planning, decision making in the management level setting.

A chief marketing officer (CMO), also called a marketing director or chief brand officer (CBO), is a C-suite corporate executive responsible for managing marketing activities in an organization. The CMO leads brand management, marketing communications (including advertising, promotions and public relations), market research, product marketing, distribution channel management, pricing, customer success, and customer service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ike Nassi</span> American computer scientist

Isaac Robert "Ike" Nassi, born 1949 in Brooklyn, New York, is the founder, and former CTO and chairman at TidalScale, Inc. before its acquisition by HPE, and an adjunct professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is known for creating the highly influential Nassi–Shneiderman diagram notation. He also helped design the Ada programming language.

A chief visionary officer or chief vision officer (CVO) is an executive function in a company like a CEO or COO. The title is sometimes used to formalize a high-level advisory position and other times used to define a higher-ranking position than that held by the CEO. In some cases, the CVO is added to the CEO-title, much in the same way that people with multiple university degrees list them after their names.

A Chief Data Officer (CDO) is a corporate officer responsible for enterprise-wide governance and utilization of information as an asset, via data processing, analysis, data mining, information trading and other means. CDOs usually report to the chief executive officer (CEO), although depending on the area of expertise this can vary. The CDO is a member of the executive management team and manager of enterprise-wide data processing and data mining.

A chief information security officer (CISO) is a senior-level executive within an organization responsible for establishing and maintaining the enterprise vision, strategy, and program to ensure information assets and technologies are adequately protected. The CISO directs staff in identifying, developing, implementing, and maintaining processes across the enterprise to reduce information and information technology (IT) risks. They respond to incidents, establish appropriate standards and controls, manage security technologies, and direct the establishment and implementation of policies and procedures. The CISO is also usually responsible for information-related compliance. The CISO is also responsible for protecting proprietary information and assets of the company, including the data of clients and consumers. CISO works with other executives to make sure the company is growing in a responsible and ethical manner.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to business management:

A chief strategy officer (CSO) is an executive that usually reports to the CEO and has primary responsibility for strategy formulation and management, including developing the corporate vision and strategy, overseeing strategic planning, and leading strategic initiatives, including M&A, transformation, partnerships, and cost reduction. Some companies give the title of chief strategist or chief business officer to its senior executives who are holding the top strategy role.

Chief business officer (CBO) is the position of the top operating executive of growing commercial companies or an academic/research institution. In the commercial space, CBO shows leadership in deal-making experience with a clear record of results and ultimate transactional responsibility. In higher education, the titles of vice president, associate dean, assistant dean, and director are also used for the role of the chief business officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prith Banerjee</span> Indian computer scientist

Prithviraj "Prith" Banerjee is an Indian American academic and computer scientist and is currently the Chief Technology Officer at ANSYS and board member at Cray and CUBIC. Previously, he was a Senior Client Partner at Korn Ferry where he was responsible for IOT and Digital Transformation Advisory Services within the Global Industrial Practice. Before that he was the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Schneider Electric. He was formerly a senior vice president of research at Hewlett Packard and director of HP Labs. Previously he was the Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of ABB Group. He was also the Managing Director of Global Technology R&D at Accenture. Prith started his early career in academia as a Professor at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University.

Sam Greenblatt was the chief technology office and architecture (CTO) in the Enterprise Solution Group of the Dell Corporation. Prior he was Chief Technology Officer for webOS and its technical strategy and project at Hewlett-Packard Prior to that he was in charge of Enterprise Business Solutions architecture as the CTO, previously CTO for HP.com and CTO for the LaserJet Enterprise Solutions group and General Manager of Core Technologies IPG within Hewlett-Packard's Imaging and Printing Group. He also ran the Core Technology Group which is responsible all software within both LaserJet and Inkjet Technology. Greenblatt spearheaded HP's move into alliance partnerships with Adobe and Microsoft by transitioning internal developed software to partner software. He has transformed HP's IPG software development process by moving them to Agile software development, metrics-based testing, and joint quality programs with customer support and external partners to increase IPG market share through usability and quality.

A chief web officer (CWO) is the highest-ranking corporate officer (executive) in charge of an organisation's web presence, including all internet and intranet sites. As a corporate officer position, the CWO reports directly to the CEO. A CWO will generally be very skilled with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, ASP, SQL, et cetera. It is not as common a role as the growing chief digital officer.

A chief innovation officer (CINO) or chief technology innovation officer (CTIO) is a person in a company who is primarily responsible for managing the process of innovation and change management in an organization, as well as being in some cases the person who "originates new ideas but also recognizes innovative ideas generated by other people". The CINO also manages technological change.

Shaygan Kheradpir is an American businessman and technology executive. Kheradpir holds a bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University. He held senior executive positions at GTE, Verizon, Barclays, and Juniper Networks, where he led various product development, operational and innovation initiatives, and was chairman and CEO of Coriant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vishal Sikka</span> Indian businessman (born 1967)

Vishal Sikka is an Indian entrepreneur the founder and CEO of Vianai, former CTO of SAP AG, and former CEO of Infosys. He currently also serves on Oracle's board of directors, the supervisory board of the BMW Group and as an advisor to the Stanford Institute of Human-Centered AI.

Ron J. Ponder is a senior information technology executive. He has held senior leadership positions at Federal Express, Sprint, AT&T, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and WellPoint.

A chief AI officer (CAIO), also known as chief artificial intelligence officer, is a senior executive position responsible for overseeing an organization's artificial intelligence strategy, implementation, and governance. The business role emerged from the fast-growing usage of AI technologies in business operations, education, and government.

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Roger D. (2003). "The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships". Research-Technology Management. 46 (4): 28–36. doi:10.1080/08956308.2003.11671574. S2CID   154123520.
  2. 1 2 Margaret, Rouse. "What is Chief Technology Officer (CTO)? - Definition from WhatIs.com". SearchCIO. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  3. 1 2 "What Is a Chief Technology Officer?". Business Research Guide. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  4. ↑ Smith, Roger. "The Role of the Chief Technology Officer in Strategic Innovation, Project Execution, and Mentoring" (PDF). Princeton.
  5. ↑ F., Larson, Charles (2001-11-01). "Management for the New Millennium-The Challenge of Change. (One Point of View)". Research-Technology Management. 44 (6). doi:10.1080/08956308.2001.11671457. ISSN   0895-6308. S2CID   151234119.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Lewis, W.W.; Lawrence, H.L. (1990). "A new mission for corporate technology". Sloan Management Review. 31 (4): 57–67.
  7. ↑ "Chief Technology Officer - CTO". Investopedia. 2011-07-11. Archived from the original on 2017-12-25. Retrieved 2017-12-12.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.