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 executive-level position in a company or other entity whose occupation is focused on the scientific and technological issues within an organization. [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] A CTO should be aware of new and existing technologies to guide the company's future endeavors. [3] The attributes of the roles a CTO holds vary from one company to the next, mainly depending on their organizational structure. [4]

In the United States, the average salary for a CTO ranges between $130,000 and $195,000 per annum depending on the company's sector. [2] According to a 2018 report from the InfoSec Institute, CTOs in the financial sector earn around $200,000, while e-commerce CTOs earn around $76,000. [2]

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. [5]

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. [6]

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. [7]

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. [4]

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". [8] 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".

To fulfill the role of a company's CTO, a person must meet many qualifications such as the following: bachelor's degree, master's degree, certifications, years of experience within the relevant field, and technology-related management skills. [9]

As technology has become essential in the business world, new positions continue to arise. A CTO, may additionally interact with a newer position, a Chief Security Officer (CSO), or more accurately referred to as Chief Information Security Officer. The role of a CSO in comparison to a CTO would be to protect the network from being penetrated which could lead to privacy and legal issues for the company. All executive positions relating to technology must collaborate within companies to have the best working infrastructure and will report to the CEO. [10]

Notable CTOs

Notable CTOs include: [11]

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 also confer corporate titles.

The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financial reporting. In some sectors, the CFO is also responsible for analysis of data. Some CFOs have the title CFOO for chief financial and operating officer. In the majority of countries, finance directors (FD) typically report into the CFO and FD is the level before reaching CFO. The CFO typically reports to the chief executive officer (CEO) and the board of directors and may additionally have a seat on the board. The CFO supervises the finance unit and is the chief financial spokesperson for the organization. The CFO directly assists the chief operating officer (COO) on all business matters relating to budget management, cost–benefit analysis, forecasting needs, and securing of new funding.

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.

<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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B. Kevin Turner</span> American businessman and investor (born 1965)

B. Kevin Turner is an American businessman and investor who is currently the chairman of Zayo Group and the vice chairman of Albertsons/Safeway Inc. From 2016 to 2017, he was the vice chairman of Citadel LLC and CEO of Citadel Securities. Prior to joining Citadel LLC, Turner served as the COO of Microsoft from 2005 to 2016. Turner came to Microsoft from Walmart in 2005. During his nearly 20 years at Walmart, Turner rose through the ranks from a store cashier to eventually becoming the company's global CIO and later CEO of Sam's Club, a $37 billion division of Walmart.

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:

The Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) is a senior level executive within a growing number of global corporations, public agencies and other organizations, responsible for managing risks related to information privacy laws and regulations. Variations on the role often carry titles such as "Privacy Officer," "Privacy Leader," and "Privacy Counsel." However, the role of CPO differs significantly from another similarly-titled role, the Data Protection Officer (DPO), a role mandated for some organizations under the GDPR, and the two roles should not be confused or conflated.

The chief sustainability officer, sometimes known by other titles, is the corporate title of an executive position within a corporation that is in charge of the corporation's "environmental" programs. Several companies have created such environmental manager positions in the 21st century to formalize their commitment to the environment. The rise of the investor ESG movement and stakeholder capitalism, has increased the need for corporations to address sustainability and social issues across their value chain, and address growing needs of external stakeholders. Normally these responsibilities rest with the facility manager, who has provided cost effective resource and environmental control as part of the basic services necessary for the company to function. However, as sustainability initiatives have expanded beyond the facility — so has the importance of the position to what is now a C-level executive role. The position of CSO has not been standardized across industries and individual companies which leads it to take on differing roles depending on the organization. The position has also been challenged as symbolic, in that it does not actually have the effect of increasing sustainable practices.

Enterprise IT management (EITM) is a strategy which details how organizations can transform the management of IT to maximize business value. As a strategy for increasing the business relevance of the IT function, EITM considers the need for IT organizations to start operating as a service-based business. That is, ensuring investments are prioritized according to business strategy and that operational efficiencies can be more quickly realized and costs reduced when IT processes are integrated and automated.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vivek Kundra</span> American government official

Vivek Kundra is a former American administrator who served as the first chief information officer of the United States from March, 2009 to August, 2011 under President Barack Obama. He is currently the chief operating officer at Sprinklr, a provider of enterprise customer experience management software based in NYC. He was previously a visiting Fellow at Harvard University.

A chief scientific officer (CSO) is a position at the head of scientific research operations at organizations or companies performing significant scientific research projects.

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.

<i>World Class IT</i>

World Class IT: Why Businesses Succeed When IT Triumphs is a 2009 IT management book by Peter A. High that aims to provide a framework by which CIOs and other executives can promote IT within a business. High outlines five principles which align IT with business strategy and allow companies to monitor and improve IT's performance. The book highlights a 2000s trend that views IT as a digital nervous system which delivers corporate thinking to business units, partners and customers. Since the 2009 publication, the book has also been published in Mandarin and Korean editions.

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.

A chief product officer (CPO), sometimes known as head of product, is a corporate title referring to an executive responsible for various product-related activities in an organization. The CPO is to the business's product what the CTO is to technology. They focus on bringing the product strategy to align with the business strategy and to deploy that throughout the organization. They are most common in technology companies, or organizations where technology is now a large part of the way they serve customers.

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 3 4 Margaret, Rouse. "What is Chief Technology Officer (CTO)? - Definition from WhatIs.com". SearchCIO. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  3. D'Angelo, Matt (November 1, 2018). "What is a CTO?". www.businessnewsdaily.com. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  4. 1 2 "What Is a Chief Technology Officer?". Business Research Guide. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  5. Smith, Roger. "The Role of the Chief Technology Officer in Strategic Innovation, Project Execution, and Mentoring" (PDF). Princeton.
  6. 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.
  7. Lewis, W.W.; Lawrence, H.L. (1990). "A new mission for corporate technology". Sloan Management Review. 31 (4): 57–67.
  8. "Chief Technology Officer - CTO". Investopedia. 2011-07-11. Archived from the original on 2017-12-25. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  9. "How to Become a Chief Technology Officer". work.chron.com. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  10. Fruhlinger, Josh (2018-05-08). "What is a CSO? Understanding the critical chief security officer role". CSO Online. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  11. "Top 79 Chief Technology Officers - Tenfold White Papers". Tenfold. 2017-09-28. Retrieved 2019-11-21.

Further reading