- What is the CTO's role?
The CTO leverages technology to drive the company's strategic business objectives and positively affect the bottom line. This position has become one of the most powerful in today's enterprise, as companies realize how technology can transform every aspect of a company's business.
- What are the most important qualities to look for in a CTO?
Business expertise and vendor management, because the CTO can't do it all himself. He needs to build strong partnerships with technology vendors who can bring sophisticated knowledge, and apply technology in a strategic fashion to improve the bottom line.
- How has the CTO's role evolved?
The CTO is under a great deal of scrutiny, and must demonstrate business value for every project. CTOs must understand the company's business goals and efficiently leverage technology to wring the most value out of every investment. Gone are the days when you can build technology for technology's sake.
- What are the issues facing today's CTO?
The biggest issue is reduced IT spending. The reality of today's economy, coupled with increased scrutiny of expenditures, tends to put CTOs in one of two camps: those who do nothing and those who work really hard to justify technology investments.
The CTO who cannot handle the ROI analysis does nothing. He will reduce expenses, but won't bring anything of value to the corporation. His company will fall behind the technology curve and won't achieve the real gains that technology can deliver. This old-fashioned CTO becomes insignificant to the company's mission.
The innovative CTO will leapfrog the competition by successfully showing how IT projects positively affect the bottom line. He can prove that technology delivers a strategic, competitive advantage. As a change agent, this CTO is an important member of the management team.
- What do CTOs need to do their job?
A strong corporate mission statement, clear business goals and most importantly, a partner that is in the business of understanding technology and how it can be applied for strategic advantage. This partner, by virtue of its unadulterated focus, has broad vision and vast experience.
- Why can't a CTO and his internal team handle technology strategy without outside help?
Technology strategy is a discipline that lends itself to constantly changing innovation. You need people who are in the business of staying current with the latest developments, so that the CTO and his staff can focus on their core business. Good technology strategists are aware of what's going on across industries, deployment strategies, security needs and budget situations.
Technology is changing rapidly and the CTO is pressured to deliver demonstrable value. This can make a CTO act like a "deer caught in the headlights" and it can be very difficult for him to establish a reasonable technology strategy. Unfortunately, many CTOs, believing themselves to be taking a less risky approach, want to keep this activity in-house, but this often results in disorganized projects and solutions that don't serve the real business need. A good technology partner brings an objective, outside perspective and is the most skilled at how to use, operate and get value out of technology to solve many problems. Such a partner actually reduces the risk a CTO is taking in realizing his mission.
- How do you choose the right partner?
CTOs should look for companies that are flexible, agile, creative and cognizant of leading edge technologies. In reality, most technology projects are not extraordinarily unmanageable; they simply require the wisdom that can only be gained from valuable partnerships.
|
