Background of CTOCIO Profession

Background of CTO/CIO Profession

In the 1950s and 1960s, many large corporations established beautiful research laboratories at locations remote from their headquarters and manufacturing facilities. The goal was to collect brilliant scientists and allow them to study relevant topics in an environment unhindered by day-to-day business concerns. The director of the laboratory was often a corporate vice president who did not participate in decisions regarding corporate strategy and direction. Instead, his responsibilities were to attract the best scientists, explore new ideas, and publish respected research papers. (57)

By the late 1980s, companies began to anoint R&D laboratory directors as Chief Technology Officers. Technology was becoming such a prevalent part of company products and services that senior management needed an operational executive who could understand it and provide reliable advice on its application. However, executive search agencies, under direction of their corporate customers, continued to fill the CTO position with the same people they had recommended to manage and lead R&D laboratories. (72) Several experiences with these candidates proved that the responsibilities of the CTO were significantly different from those of the research scientist. The CTO position called for a technologist or scientist who could translate technological capabilities into strategic business decisions. Lewis, in the Sloan Management review, expresses this very clearly. "The CTO's key tasks are not those of lab director writ large but, rather, of a technical businessperson deeply involved in shaping and implementing overall corporate strategy." (58)

Though large companies such as General Electric, Allied-Signal, and ALCOA created the position of CTO in the late 1980s, the position has also played an important role in computer and Internet companies in the late 1990s. Many of these provide products and services that are pure technology. Yes, the CTO role has changed. Yet, a CTO can play a prominent role in directing and shaping their entire business. Let the journey begin.