Chapter 8: Conclusion

Overview

Companies began adding Chief Technology Officers to the executive ranks in the 1980s because technology was becoming an integral and influential part of many strategic decisions and future planning cycles. The world is different today. The good mix of CIO and CTO are providing strong expertise on the internal application of technology. But, senior managers needed expert advice regarding the inclusion of technologies in existing products and the creation of new products and services with large technical components. A new agent, CTO, that is actively involved in monitoring new technologies, separating marketing rhetoric from technical facts, and identifying profitable applications for those technologies can make a significant difference in the company's competitive future. The CTO can also add value to the company by participating in government, academic, and industry groups in a manner that creates positive attention for the company.

Technology companies are involved in thousands of acquisitions every year. Selecting the best target for an acquisition often requires reliable advice on technical issues at the executive level. The CTO is also a valuable tool in addressing the increasingly well-informed media about the products, services, and the future plans of the company. CTOs can speak as peers to other technologists and can play a role in convincing the media that the company's decisions are sound and will add value for the company's stakeholders.

It is critical and important that the CTO not become the senior technologist of the company. Instead, he or she is the senior business executive, a transformational agent with a focus on technology. In the CTO position, senior management is not looking for enthusiastic advice from a research scientist, but sound and proven advice on business decisions involving technology. We hope this role will keep evolving into something very meaningful and valuable to our companies, society, and our future. CTOs and CIOs really focus on progress and innovation of our society, and we need to move forward.

Depending on the environment in which your company finds itself, now is the time for CIOs and CTOs to broaden their role and assume a new set of responsibilities in the new world society.