CTO and the Emerging and Competitive World


Monitoring and Assessing New Technologies

The CTO develops and is responsible for tracking both internal and external technological developments which can impact the enterprise. This includes identification and support of advanced and enabling technologies that are threats to or opportunities for the core enterprise. This could be achieved through a technological environmental monitoring system.

A technology environmental monitoring system is a formal system for the collection and analysis of both external and internal technology data including developments, markets, legislation and other factors which may impact the enterprise's technological developments. (108)

The rate of change of technology guarantees that knowledge and expertise gained several years ago will no longer be completely valid. This creates the need for a technologically current person to serve as an advisor to senior executives during strategic decision-making. Paul O'Neill stated that a CTO should be expected to, "identify, access, [and] investigate high-risk, high return technologies possessing potential application within existing businesses or for creating new businesses." (70) Knowledge that is several years old cannot effectively guide this type of assessment. If a company is planning to modify its production process or add new products, it must understand how the latest technologies can contribute to those plans.

A CTO who embodies current knowledge, is networked with company engineers, has years of experience, and has access to executive decision-makers is a valuable resource in recognizing important new technologies and bringing them into the company's strategic decision-making process.

Bert Thurlings of Philips Research Laboratories has arrived at conclusions similar to those of O'Neill and Bridenbaugh through his field studies of numerous CTOs. These indicate that CTOs themselves feel that one of their most important responsibilities is to monitor, evaluate, and select technologies that can be applied to future products and services. (85) A significant investment in the active exploration of all relevant technical areas is required in order to identify opportunities buried amid all of the information available. Internal company managers and scientists are often qualified to perform this analysis, but are so focused on day-to-day operations that they do not have time to study broadly and deeply enough to locate the technologies that will be essential in the future.

These people frequently identify important changes once a competitor has already implemented a similar idea. However, by that time, it is too late for the company to capture the lead in the application of that technology to products, services, and production techniques. Such a company would find itself trying to catch-up to the new leader in the field.

The expertise of business executives, unaided by technologists, would not have been sufficient for identifying such a unique opportunity. Situations like this demonstrate the real contributions that can be made by a CTO.

It is assumed that the CTO has to be very current with the innovations around his group and organization as well as guiding the organization towards making the most efficient and effective use of technology. CTO will have to guide the future of technology in a company. The added responsibilities to review the futures will have to align with the comfort of defining the strategic mission of the company to design a blueprint architecture for any initiative. (7)

The CTOs that depend on the future of emerging technology are actively involved in monitoring new technologies, separating marketing rhetoric from technical facts, and identifying profitable applications for those technologies that can make a significant difference in the organization's competitive future. (5)

Increasingly, as Paul O'Neill points out, the CTO is using the assets to "identify, access, investigate high-risk, high-return technologies possessing potential application within existing businesses or for creating new businesses." (70)

We all know that knowledge is a leading component that marks the success of a company. However, knowledge has to be updated constantly and adopted to the right opportunity to be effective. If a company is planning to modify its production process or add new products, it must comprehend the latest knowledge with consequences to latest techniques and latest technologies to adopt to a flexible plan. (70)

Monitoring new technologies and assessing their applicability to business opportunities is an ideal way to act for a CTO. Through the assessment and applicability, it is possible to influence operational and scientific ranks and CTO's focus changing organizational and financial issues. We have seen in many instances that technology leadership does not possess the latest information and technology to support their opinions, and does not have the influence to impact the higher decisions. Therefore, a CTO who embodies current knowledge, is networked with company scientific, development, infrastructure, engineering, has years of experience, and has access to executive decision-makers is a value added contributor resource in recognizing important new technologies and bringing them into the company's strategic decision-making process.

Numerous research indicates that CTOs themselves feel that one of their most important responsibilities is to monitor, evaluate, and select technologies that can be applied to future products and services. (85)

This type of work requires significant investment in all relevant technical areas to identify "gold seed" opportunities which reside in the knowledge bases. CTOs will need to work hand in hand with engineers, programmers, and scientists that perform this type of analysis on a day-to-day basis. Those types of resources focus on tactical and short-term operations, and may not have the right opportunity to convey the broad thinking of locating the future technologies essential for overall business.

The goal is to implement the competitive advantage early on in the process. CTOs must be a critical element in the company to capture the lead in the application of that technology to products, services, and production techniques. Those opinions are shared by CTOs in IBM such as Dr. David Boloker and Dr..Jim Spohrer. In fact, the opinions and experiences expressed by large companies like IBM are echoed by the CTOs of competitive and emerging companies. Both David Boloker and Jim Spohrer feel a very important part of a CTO job is reading and evaluating large amounts of data about new concepts, technologies, innovations, and other sources of emerging information. (8) (83)

One of the CTOs in Aspatore's Inside CTO Minds mentioned:

"One of the key roles of the CTO is to provide the technical vision to complement the business vision, setting the tone and direction for the company's technologies.

Leadership, in this context, comes from being able to set the technical course and from being able to define what the company's products and technologies might look like in two, three, or more years." (2)




The CTO Handbook. The Indispensable Technology Leadership Resource for Chief Technology Officers
The CTO Handbook/Job Manual: A Wealth of Reference Material and Thought Leadership on What Every Manager Needs to Know to Lead Their Technology Team
ISBN: 1587623676
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 213

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