The better and stronger the collaboration between CTO and CIO is, the faster your company and your products improve. Emphasising transparency and openness among all employees which minimizes the competition and leads to the company’s growth. An organization that needs a technologist may consider looking for a CTO rather than a CIO.

Who does a CTO report to

Becoming a CTO or CIO requires the education and technical skills to know what kind of technology is needed to cater to the business’ products and technical infrastructure. So, if you really enjoy technology and engineering entire ecosystems of computer operations, then you will need to be ready to learn. Though CIOs and CTOs may be confused by less tech-minded people, both roles are vital to your company’s success. It can be tempting to think of one role as superior or more of a priority – especially for smaller companies lacking the funding for both. As chief-level positions, one is generally not more senior or junior than the other.

How a CTO can improve your business’s use of technology

Total compensation for these positions ranges from $89,000 to $294,000 per year. “Like CTOs, CIOs must now continually look at what’s next to keep their organizations resilient and future-proofed against whatever https://globalcloudteam.com/ challenges tomorrow may bring,” Gupta says. Responsible for managing budget of one of the biggest expenses in the company. And if you are in the market for a CTO, here’s a hiring checklist you might find useful.

The exact responsibilities of the VP of engineering will depend on the size, status, and culture of the organization. He or she would also focus on minimizing dependencies and aligning business processes with technical goals and objectives. You need to clearly define the purpose of the role, its relationship to other technology leadership roles in your company, and how you will measure success. A chief information officer is the executive responsible for managing and implementing information and computer technologies. But with technology continuing to advance, there is a growing need to separate various functions into two separate roles. For the success of both technology startups and global stable software companies, the role of a Chief Technology Officer is essential.

CTO vs. CIO

A VP of Engineering will moderate and delegate the development and engineering while the CTO guides the overall technical strategy. Founded in 2003, Mindcracker is the authority in custom software development and innovation. You should have experience leading your teams to successful project development and delivery.

While it may be intuitive to put as much information as possible onto a single digital dashboard, the point is to build a narrative and expand on certain processes and issues. Using a simple layout and respecting your company’s colors might seem easy but sometimes it creates a challenge. As mentioned, no matter who builds the dashboard, the important part to remember is to define a layout and colors that will not overburden the dashboard and create clutter.

What kind of CTO are you looking for?

As we indicated in the “trust” question above, consider both education and coaching. Consider sending your CTO to an abbreviated or fully accredited MBA course and add coaching to help build muscle around effective business communications. All verbal communication should focus on business outcomes in business terms. If a deeper technical discussion is needed outside of the outcomes that approach engenders, focus on pictures and diagrams rather than words as it will often help the non-technical CEO understand the approach better.

Strategy planning is one of the biggest job of a CTO that includes creating new products, adopting new technologies, their costs and resources, and putting this all together with a team and even hiring a team. I suspect that this debate will rage on for many years, because it’s a hot topic of discussion when I get together with a group of CTOs. The trends already show role of cto that more and more tech leaders are reporting to their organization’s CEOs, but I expect this to be the default for the most successful organizations in the coming decade. According to Deloitte, large enterprises’ IT budgets on average represent 3.28% of their revenue. This figure varies by industry, from 7.16% for financial services down to 1.51% in construction.

Aside From That, What Does a CTO Do?

A CTO serves as the lead technologist for a company, staying on top of tech trends and implementing software to help the business grow. The CTO/CIO feud is one of those battle-of-the-sexes conflicts that keeps an organization alive. To make it more durable, each party should focus on what their responsibilities are, and acknowledge the success of the whole organization when they occur.

This means the CTO’s focus is not on day-to-day tech issues, but rather the bigger picture. “I think the CTO can be the glue between technology implementation and product strategy, and can sort of make things really come together and come to life in a way that you don’t see in a lot of organizations today,” he said. This isn’t a bad idea since the CIO already understands the challenges of leveraging data and researching new technologies. However, it only works if the CIO actively works with the CDO and the CTO in his/her organization so they can succeed together in performing their roles. A CIO could feel threatened with the additions of a CDO and a CTO, especially if these positions are at the same executive level and report directly to the CEO. Ironically, however, the first person the CEO is likely to turn to for help is to the CIO.

Increased synergy between CIO and CTO roles

He/she is a great coder, and at the same time, he/she has solid leadership skills. The qualities of a CTO include having accumulated vast technical experience by having worked on different levels of development and have dealt with many challenges. Chief technology officers should be skilled in a number of different areas. When you read a job description for a CTO, it’s not uncommon for it to mention these different skills and competencies. A CTO focuses on product and strategy, according to Mead, whereas a CIO may be more focused on day-to-day operations.

  • They are employed to provide advice to group members who are fresh to the organization or younger, typically young CEOs.
  • Experts agree that it makes sense for CIOs and CTOs to work together whenever possible to maximize the benefits of technology for the organization.
  • Keep in mind there’s no uniform standard for a CTOs role and responsibilities.
  • An heir apparent might get familiar with the entire organization—its operations, workplace culture, and workforce—due to the job’s broad scope.
  • Those who want to secure a position as a CTO must embrace challenge and change, be willing to put in the work, and have the will and stamina to climb the IT leadership ladder.