Differentiating the CTO from the CIO

There are clear differences between the CTO's and the CIO's roles and responsibilities. Most of the differentiation is centered on the fundamentals of where they direct their focus, the degree of direct internal and external customer contact, and the planning horizons they hold critical to the business behavior. Typically, the CIO has the overall responsibility to manage the infrastructure of the corporation and deliver the day-to-day technical operations of the corporate needs and the applications that run throughout. Most of the time, the CIO is responsible for the telecommunications and information technologies and the operational service levels that support the entire technological functioning of the corporation. For the most part, the CIO is focused on the internal customer and the electronic linkages between the organization and its business partners.

In contrast, the CTO should be expected to contribute to a broader technology perspective for the company. Additionally, the CTO should play a key role in the overall management team of the company for helping set priorities and directions. When the CTO is an officer of the company, execution of those elements that involve technology or those processes affected by technology are all part of the purview for change by the CTO. Relative to the CIO, the CTO should clearly reflect a more definitive position on the business marketplace, the financial wherewithal and capabilities of the company to acquire or divest, a strong sense of technology's impact on the market drivers of the business, and the product offerings involving technology innovation that are going to affect the market segments in the industry segment.

While the CIO is managing the central IT infrastructure elements, and in many cases some of the application areas, the CTO is working in conjunction with the CIO to help bridge the elements of the business and the research facing elements. An active CTO has a large presence with all types of customer groups inside and outside the company's walls to develop relationships, bridge the technology to large industry plays, gain and test external perspectives, and build back into the company those linkages that connect it with the CTO's network of individuals, companies, and corporate clients.