Appendix C: CTO Analysis

Appendix C: CTO Analysis

Washington DC CTO Study by Mario Cardullo

The objective of the survey (105) was to determine the function and position of Chief Technology Officer as they currently exist within technology enterprises in this region. While the formal assignment of this managerial responsibility is relatively new, some enterprises have been operating with an individual engaged in the function of CTO for considerable time. However, in some organizations this function may actually reside in another leadership team position. The questionnaire focused on the nature of the leadership team of the various enterprises surveyed. This focus included the structure of the leadership team, use of the CTO function implicitly and explicitly, a technological strategic plan, technological environmental monitoring system and an expression of opinion (Likert scale) with respect to the responsibilities of the CTO regardless on how these may be assigned or performed within the enterprise.

The sixteen opinions were solicited using a Likert scale were:

Strongly	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Strongly
Agree				Disagree
1	2	3	4	5

The opinions were sought with respect to the responsibilities of the CTO. These opinions included:

1. Chief Technology Officer is vital to the growth and sustainability of an enterprise.

2. Chief Technology Officer should be the Chief Technology Decision Maker of an enterprise.

3. Chief Technology Officer should act as the master gatekeeper for external technology.

4. Chief Technology Officer should select and conduct long-term research consistent with the vision of the enterprise.

5. Chief Technology Officer should act as the technical conscience of the enterprise.

6. Chief Technology Officer should determine the balance between short-term and long-term programs.

7. Chief Technology Officer should assess programmatic needs to assure a balance of financial resources for the enterprise's technological developments.

8. Chief Technology Officer should design and guide technological audits.

9. Chief Technology Officer should be responsible for technological benchmark studies.

10. Chief Technology Officer should provide technology oversight for the enterprise.

11. Chief Technology Officer should serve as the enterprise's Chief Technology Transfer Officer.

12. Chief Technology Officer should promote internal enterprise technology transfer.

13. Chief Technology Officer should represent the enterprise at technical forums, committees and other appropriate activities.

14. Chief Technology Officer should be responsible for recruitment of both direct and indirect key personnel.

15. Chief Technology Officer should be responsible for and heavily involved in staff assessment, feedback and improvement.

16. Chief Technology Officer should serve as the enterprise's interface for any external technology transfer.

The survey instrument was sent to 302 technology enterprises in the Metropolitan Washington Region. Responses were obtained from 35 enterprises for this preliminary survey. The distribution of respondents by enterprise size, in terms of number of employees, is shown in Figure 2. This figure is based on a Weibull distribution. The respondents included a number of major technology enterprises with headquarters located in the Metropolitan Washington Region such as Mobil Corporation, MCI, Lockheed-Martin and Bell Atlantic Corporation. However, many of the respondents had fewer than 600 employees. The range of respondents was from two employees to over 165,000. The 63.2 percentile of the Weibull distribution was 1,725 employees. The annual sales accordingly ranged from zero to over twenty billion U.S. dollars. The preliminary survey of the Chief Technology Officer function indicated that the majority of the enterprises employed either a formal CTO or had another member of the leadership team filling that responsibility.

The majority of respondents either agreed or was neutral as to the functions presented. However, the oversight, conscience and benchmarking functions appeared to have a stronger favorable opinion than the recruitment function.

Chief Technology Officer: A New Member of the Leadership Team

Mario W. Cardullo, P.E., Northern Virginia Graduate Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2990 Telestar Court, Falls Church, VA 22042, USA

Figure Formal CTO Enterprise Distribution

CTO or Equivalent Chain of Command

Leadership CTO Chain of Command	No in Class	% of Class
CEO	18	58.06%
Board of Directors	8	25.81%
COO	3	9.68%
Vice Chairman of Board	1	3.23%
CTO but No Response	1	3.23%
Summary	31	100.00%

Chief Technology Officer or Equivalent of Respondents

Enterprise Size	CTO	CEO	CIO	Other	None	Total Class
more than 600	5	1	1	5	1	13
501–600	0	0	1	0	0	1
401–500	0	0	0	2	1	3
301–400	0	2	0	0	0	2
201–300	0	1	0	1	0	2
101–200	1	1	0	1	0	3
11–100	1	0	1	1	1	4
1–10	0	3	2	1	1	7
Total	7	8	5	11	4	35

CIO Magazine CIO/CTO Analysis Rating

What Do You Think of Your CIO?

Executive Summary

CIO Magazine's (104) September issue reports that CIOs are doing a good job in steering IT and setting technology strategy, but are not spending enough time and attention on staff development. IT professionals agree that their CIO makes sound technology decisions and has a good grasp on the company's business processes, indicating that the IT heads are in tune with the organization's strategy. CIOs are not in touch with the stress levels and morale issues of their IT departments. According to 400 IT professionals surveyed by CIO Magazine in May, CIOs effectively communicate their department's strategy and goals to the organization but they need to spend more time managing their staff and developing leadership within the IT department. IT professionals report that their CIOs spend the largest chunk of their time (41%) meeting with business executives, but spend only 15% of their time managing staff. Many IT departments are running lean while the demands on IT are increasing. Managing workloads and preventing burn-out should be top concerns for IT leaders. CIOs need to meet with their IT staff on a more regular basis to get feedback and to allow the IT staff to contribute ideas and express concerns. Additionally, IT heads must routinely assess training needs and provide professional development resources.

Key Findings

The CIO's Background and Skills for Success More than two-thirds (67%) of IT professionals surveyed report that their CIO's background is primarily in IT while the balance (33%) said their chief's background was primarily business.

IT professionals think that the skills that are most critical for the CIO's success are strategic thinking and planning (74%), ability to communicate effectively (71%) and an understanding of business processes and operations (64%).

Time Management Our survey asked IT staffers to give their opinion on their CIO's time spent on a range of responsibilities, including meeting with business executives and learning new technologies. IT professionals reported that on average, the CIO spends 41% of his or her time interfacing with department heads and half (50%) of those surveyed felt this is too much time.

CIOs spend only 15% of their time managing IT staff, including hiring, and the majority of their staff (71%) feels this is insufficient. Further, only 8% of the CIO's time is spent developing leadership within the IT department and almost all (93%) of the respondents felt this was not enough time.

The CIO and Corporate Strategy CIOs scored highest for effectively communicating IT issues to top executives, with 48% of the survey respondents saying their CIO does this effectively. Only 31% said their CIO did not communicate IT issues to executives effectively. Forty-two percent of the IT professionals surveyed agreed that their organization's CIO encouraged the IT staff to develop new ways of approaching projects, although 43% disagreed. On the topic of strategy, CIOs scored lowest for promoting cooperation between different departments, with only 32% of the respondents agreeing that their CIO did this well. Additionally, one-third (33%) agreed that their CIO effectively communicates with the user community regarding IT issues and changes.

The CIO and Staff Management CIOs are doing a better job at leading the department than they are with hands-on management. IT chiefs scored relatively well for supporting the goals of the IT department (49% agreed that CIO does this effectively), setting a good example (35% agreed that CIO does this effectively) and being a positive influence (34% agree that CIO does this effectively). However, CIOs scored lowest on promoting appropriate levels of training, with only 26% agreeing that their CIO does this. And only 29% said their CIO uses praise and constructive feedback to motivate employees.

The CIO and Technology IT professionals in our survey believe that their CIOs have an appropriate understanding of their company's business processes (55% agree that CIO does this effectively) and that their CIO has an appropriate understanding of the company's current technology (55% agree that CIO does this effectively). CIOs also scored well on making technology decisions that will help keep their business successful, with half (48%) saying their CIO does this effectively. However, CIOs need to pay more attention to staff morale and stress levels (only 24% said CIO does this effectively).

Survey Questions

What do you think of your CIO?

Responses:

400

Which title best describes your level of responsibility?

0%	Not answered
3%	Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
6%	Vice President
27%	Director
33%	Manager/Supervisor
24%	IT Staff
7%	IT consultant

Who do you report to directly?

2%	Not answered
40%	Chief Information Officer (CIO)/Head of IT
13%	Vice President of IT
20%	Director of IT
25%	Manager/Supervisor of IT

What is the headcount of your IT department (full-time, internal employees)?

2%	Not answered
8%	Less than 10
11%	11 to 25
19%	26 to 50
8%	51 to 75
12%	75 to 100
40%	100 IT employees or more

Approximately how many people are employed by your entire organization or enterprise? (Please include all plants, divisions, branches, parents, and subsidiaries worldwide.)

24%	10,000 or more
63%	501 – 10,000
13%	Less than 500

Please select the dollar amount that best represents the annual gross sales or revenues for your corporation or firm, include all plants, divisions, branches, parents, and subsidiaries worldwide.

43%	$1B or more
29%	$101M to 999M
28%	Less than $100M

Is your CIO's background primarily in IT or business?

67%	Primarily IT
32%	Primarily business

What percent of your CIO's time is spent on the following activities: In your opinion, is this too much time or too little time to spend on these activities?

Interfacing with department heads and CXOs/ communicating with business executives

Time spent:	41%
50%	Too much time
50%	Not enough time

Managing IT staff, including hiring

Time spent:	15%
29%	Too much time
71%	Not enough time

Developing leadership within your IT department

Time spent:	8%
7%	Too much time
93%	Not enough time

Interacting with outside business partners/suppliers (not IT vendors)/customers

Time spent:	14%
45%	Too much time
55%	Not enough time

Negotiating/meeting with IT vendors

Time spent:	11%
54%	Too much time
46%	Not enough time

In your opinion, what skills are most pivotal for the CIO's success? (Select top 3 skills.)

71%	Ability to communicate effectively
64%	Understanding business processes and operations
25%	Thorough knowledge of technology options
18%	Negotiation skills
74%	Strategic thinking and planning
11%	Technical proficiency
44%	Ability to influence/Salesmanship

Your CIO and corporate strategy:

Using a scale of one to five, where five represents completely agree and one means completely disagree, please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements:

My CIO/VP of IT/Head of IT: Effectively communicates my department's strategy, mission and goals

19%	One
23%	Two
19%	Three
21%	Four
18%	Five

Effectively communicates changes within my department

25%	One
20%	Two
21%	Three
21%	Four
14%	Five

Effectively communicates with the user community regarding IT changes and issues

20%	One
22%	Two
26%	Three
18%	Four
13%	Five

Effectively communicates with top executives regarding IT issues

13%	One
18%	Two
22%	Three
26%	Four
22%	Five

Effectively advocates the needs of the IT department and staff to the business heads

22%	One
18%	Two
23%	Three
20%	Four
17%	Five

Promotes cooperation between different departments within my business unit

24%	One
18%	Two
24%	Three
20%	Four
15%	Five

Promotes cooperation between different divisions in my company

20%	One
20%	Two
27%	Three
18%	Four
14%	Five

Encourages the IT staff and others to come up with new ways of doing things

25%	One
18%	Two
15%	Three
22%	Four
20%	Five

Your CIO and Staff Management

Using a scale of one to five, where five represents completely agree and one means completely disagree, please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements:

My CIO/VP of IT/Head of IT:

Supports the goals of my department

14%	One
15%	Two
22%	Three
25%	Four
24%	Five

Fosters a team environment/atmosphere

32%	One
20%	Two
17%	Three
16%	Four
15%	Five

Is a positive influence in my department

30%	One
20%	Two
16%	Three
17%	Four
17%	Five

Uses praise and constructive feedback to motivate employees

34%	One
17%	Two
18%	Three
16%	Four
13%	Five

Promotes appropriate levels of IT staff training

32%	One
21%	Two
21%	Three
16%	Four
10%	Five

Delegates effectively and provides the necessary guidance and follow-up when delegating

29%	One
21%	Two
19%	Three
20%	Four
10%	Five

Sets challenging but realistic goals

25%	One
19%	Two
24%	Three
18%	Four
13%	Five

Sets a good example

31%	One
18%	Two
16%	Three
15%	Four
20%	Five

Your CIO and technology

Using a scale of one to five, where five represents completely agree and one means completely disagree, please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements:

My company's CIO/head of IT:

Has an appropriate understanding of the company's current technology

10%	One
14%	Two
21%	Three
30%	Four
24%	Five

Has an appropriate understanding of technologies available today in the marketplace

14%	One
17%	Two
25%	Three
29%	Four
15%	Five

Has an appropriate understanding of the company's business processes

9%	One
15%	Two
21%	Three
32%	Four
23%	Five

Is making the kinds of technology decisions that will keep our business successful

20%	One
19%	Two
23%	Three
23%	Four
15%	Five

Has a good understanding of IT project requirements in terms of staffing and resources

21%	One
25%	Two
19%	Three
22%	Four
13%	Five

Pays appropriate attention to IT security and data privacy issues

16%	One
14%	Two
27%	Three
27%	Four
16%	Five

Pays appropriate attention to IT staff morale and stress levels

38%	One
23%	Two
14%	Three
16%	Four
8%	Five

Promotes an IT budget that appropriately balances the need for cost control with ongoing and new IT investment

19%	One
18%	Two
26%	Three
23%	Four
14%	Five

Management skills of your direct manager

Using a scale of one to five, where five represents completely agree and one means completely disagree, please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements:

My direct manager/boss:

Provides feedback on a regular basis regarding my job performance

31%	One
20%	Two
18%	Three
19%	Four
12%	Five

Deals with conflict when it arises

22%	One
15%	Two
22%	Three
26%	Four
15%	Five

Creates an atmosphere in which I feel free to speak openly

23%	One
13%	Two
16%	Three
22%	Four
25%	Five

Keeps me informed about things that affect my job

22%	One
19%	Two
21%	Three
22%	Four
16%	Five

Provides me with a formal written review on a regular basis

27%	One
14%	Two
22%	Three
17%	Four
21%	Five

Meets with me at least once a year to discuss my compensation

24%	One
9%	Two
15%	Three
20%	Four
32%	Five

Is actively involved in my growth and development plans

36%	One
19%	Two
17%	Three
16%	Four
12%	Five