Chief technology officer

{{short description|Officer in charge of technical operations}} {{Infobox occupation | name = Chief technology officer | synonyms = CTO, chief technical officer, chief technologist | pronounce = | image = | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | official_names = | type = | activity_sector = | competencies = | formation = | employment_field = | related_occupation = }} [[File:Megan Smith.jpg|thumb|Megan Smith, Chief Technology Officer of the United States from 2014–2017]] A '''chief technology officer''' ('''CTO'''), '''chief technical officer''', or '''chief technologist''' is a corporate officer tasked with managing technical operations of an organization. They oversee and supervise research and development and serve as a technical advisor to a higher executive such as a chief executive officer.<ref name="smith2003">{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Roger D.|title=The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships|journal=Research-Technology Management|volume=46|issue=4|pages=28–36|doi=10.1080/08956308.2003.11671574|year=2003|s2cid=154123520}}</ref>

A CTO is very similar to a chief information officer (CIO).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/Chief-Technology-Officer-CTO|title=What is Chief Technology Officer (CTO)? - Definition from WhatIs.com|last=Margaret|first=Rouse|website=SearchCIO|language=en|access-date=2019-11-08}}</ref> CTOs will make decisions for the overarching technology infrastructure that closely align with the organization's goals, while CIOs work alongside the organization's information technology ("IT") staff members to perform everyday operations.<ref name=":0" /> The attributes of the roles a CTO holds vary from one company to another, mainly depending on their organizational structure.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.govtech.com/people/What-Is-a-Chief-Technology-Officer.html |first1=Colin |last1=Wood |title=What Is a Chief Technology Officer?|website=Business Research Guide|date=29 July 2016 |language=en|access-date=2019-11-08}}</ref>

== History == [[File:Kevin Scott.jpg|thumb|Kevin Scott, CTO of Microsoft]] After World War II, large corporations established research laboratories at locations separate from their headquarters. The corporation's goals were to hire scientists and offer them facilities to conduct research on behalf of the company without the burdens of day-to-day office work. This is where the idea of a CTO focusing on the overarching technology infrastructures originates.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Smith|first=Roger|title=The Role of the Chief Technology Officer in Strategic Innovation, Project Execution, and Mentoring|url=https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spring12/cos448/web/readings/smith.pdf |date=2002 |website=Princeton}}</ref>

At that time, the director of the laboratory was a corporate vice president who did not participate in the company's corporate decisions. Instead, the technical director was the individual responsible for attracting new scientists, to do research, and to develop products.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Larson |first= Charles F. |date=2001-11-01|title=Management for the New Millennium-The Challenge of Change. (One Point of View)|url=https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-80346387/management-for-the-new-millennium-the-challenge-of|journal=Research-Technology Management|language=en|volume=44|issue=6|doi=10.1080/08956308.2001.11671457|s2cid=151234119|issn=0895-6308|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In the 1980s, the role of these research directors changed substantially. Since technology was becoming a fundamental part of the development for most products and services, companies needed an operational executive who could understand the product's technical side and provide advice on ways to improve and develop.<ref name="lewis1990">{{Cite journal|last1=Lewis|first1=W.W.|last2=Lawrence|first2=H.L.|date=1990|title=A new mission for corporate technology|journal=Sloan Management Review |number=4|volume=31|pages=57–67}}</ref>

This all led to the creation of the position of Chief Technology Officer by large companies in the late 1980s with the growth of the information technology industry and computer (internet) companies.<ref name=":1" />

== Overview == [[File:TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2016 - Day 3 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Padmasree Warrior, former CTO of Cisco and Motorola]] A CTO "examines the short and long term needs of an organization, and utilizes capital to make investments designed to help the organization reach its objectives... [the CTO] is the highest technology executive position within a company and leads the technology or engineering department".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/chief-technology-officer.asp|title=Chief Technology Officer - CTO|date=2011-07-11|work=Investopedia|access-date=2017-12-12|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171225094904/https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/chief-technology-officer.asp|archive-date=2017-12-25|url-status=dead}}</ref> The role became prominent with the ascent of the IT industry, but has since become prevalent in technology-based industries of all types – including computer-based technologies (such as game developer, e-commerce, and social networking service) and other/non-computer-focused technology (such as biotech/pharma, defense, and automotive). In non-technical organizations as a corporate officer position, the CTO typically reports directly to the chief information officer (CIO) and is primarily concerned with long-term and "big picture" issues (while still having deep technical knowledge of the relevant field). In technology-focused organizations, the CIO and CTO positions can be at the same level, with the CIO focused on the information technology and the CTO focused on the core company and other supporting technologies.

Depending on company structure and hierarchy, there may also be positions such as R&D manager, director of R&D and vice president of engineering whom the CTO interacts with or oversees. The CTO also needs a working familiarity with regulatory (e.g. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Product Safety Commission, as applicable) and intellectual property (IP) issues (e.g. patents, trade secrets, license contracts), and an ability to interface with legal counsel to incorporate these considerations into strategic planning and inter-company negotiations.

In many older industries (whose existence may predate IT automation) such as manufacturing, shipping or banking, an executive role of the CTO would often arise out of the process of automating existing activities; in these cases, any CTO-like role would only emerge if and when efforts would be made to develop truly novel technologies (either for facilitating internal operations or for enhancing products/services being provided), perhaps through "intrapreneuring".

== Scope and responsibilities ==

The chief technology officer is a senior C-suite role, peer to the chief executive officer, chief operating officer and chief financial officer. In technology-intensive firms it is often among the most influential positions on the executive team.<ref name="smith2003" /><ref name="medcof2017">{{cite journal|last1=Medcof|first1=John W.|last2=Lee|first2=Tong|year=2017|title=The effects of the chief technology officer and firm and industry R&D intensity on organizational performance|journal=R&D Management|volume=47|issue=5|doi=10.1111/radm.12275}}</ref><ref name="mckinsey2024">{{cite web|last1=Baig|first1=Aamer|last2=Lewis|first2=Jeffrey|last3=Hjartar|first3=Klemens|last4=Cain|first4=Rob|last5=Blumberg|first5=Sven|title=A new dawn for the technology officer|url=https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/tech-and-ai/our-insights/a-new-dawn-for-the-technology-officer|publisher=McKinsey & Company|date=2024}}</ref> Scope varies considerably with company size and sector: in smaller organizations the CTO often owns most technical domains directly, while in larger ones responsibilities are typically distributed across peer C-level roles such as the chief information officer, chief information security officer, chief product officer, chief data officer or chief AI officer, and the CTO's remit narrows accordingly.<ref name="mckinseyVs">{{cite web|title=What are the responsibilities of a CIO versus a CTO?|url=https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-are-the-responsibilities-of-a-cio-versus-a-cto|publisher=McKinsey & Company|work=McKinsey Explainer}}</ref><ref name="jiim2019">{{cite journal|title=Chief Technology Officers: One Mission, Different Organizational Roles|journal=Journal of Industrial Integration and Management|year=2019|doi=10.1142/S2424862219500052}}</ref> The areas below appear across published frameworks of the role,<ref name="mckinsey2018">{{cite web|last1=Borden|first1=Mike|last2=Gupta|first2=Anand|last3=Weig|first3=Florian|last4=Williams|first4=Kit|title=Why you need a CTO, and how to make her successful|url=https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/why-you-need-a-cto-and-how-to-make-her-successful|publisher=McKinsey & Company|date=2018}}</ref><ref name="mckinsey2024" /><ref name="deloitteFive">{{cite web|title=Understanding the five competencies of transformational technology leadership|url=https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/leadership/five-competencies-tech-leaders.html|publisher=Deloitte Insights|date=2023}}</ref><ref name="deloitte2026">{{cite web|title=The dual mandate redefining the future of tech leadership|url=https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/technology-management/future-of-tech-leadership.html|publisher=Deloitte Insights|date=2026}}</ref> though an individual CTO may own all, some, or only a few.

'''Technology strategy and vision.''' Contributing to the company's strategic direction by identifying the role specific technologies will play in future growth, setting target architecture, making build-versus-buy decisions, and aligning technology investment with business strategy.<ref name="smith2003" /><ref name="lewis1990" />

'''Research, development and innovation.''' Oversight of research and development, evaluation of emerging technologies, proof-of-concept work and management of the innovation portfolio. This responsibility often remains with the CTO even when product engineering reports elsewhere.<ref name="smith2003" /><ref name="medcof2017" />

'''Engineering and product delivery.''' Leadership of development teams, delivery cadence and the technical quality of products. In larger firms this responsibility is commonly shared with a vice president of engineering or chief product officer.<ref name="mckinsey2018" /><ref name="jiim2019" />

'''Infrastructure, security and operations.''' Internal and customer-facing infrastructure, hosting, networks, disaster recovery and IT operations. McKinsey's 2024 analysis treats cybersecurity and resilience as a distinct "Protector" mandate that may sit under the CTO or be carved out to a dedicated chief information security officer.<ref name="mckinsey2024" /><ref name="deloitte2026" />

'''People and organizational leadership.''' Structure, capability and culture of the technical organization, including technical hiring and the development of technical leaders.<ref name="smith2003" /><ref name="deloitteFive" />

'''Cross-functional and external representation.''' The senior technical voice in cross-functional decisions, and the company's technical face to investors, regulators, customers, partners and the wider technical community.<ref name="smith2003" /><ref name="medcof2006">{{cite conference|last1=Medcof|first1=John W.|last2=Yousofpourfard|first2=Haniyeh|year=2006|title=The CTO and Organizational Power and Influence|conference=International Association for Management of Technology (IAMOT)|url=https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spr11/cos448/web/docs/week1_reading2.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304194450/http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spr11/cos448/web/docs/week1_reading2.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="mckinsey2018" />

'''Governance and budget.''' Ownership of the technology budget, oversight of vendor and partner relationships and software licensing, and, particularly in regulated industries, accountability for regulatory and intellectual property compliance.<ref name="smith2003" /><ref name="mckinsey2024" />

== References == {{reflist}}

== Further reading == * {{cite web |last=Pratt |first=Mary K |url=http://www.computerworld.com/article/2553732/it-careers/the-cto--it-s-chameleon.html |title=The CTO: IT's Chameleon |work=Computerworld.com |date=22 January 2007}} * {{cite web |last1=Berray |first1=Tom |last2=Sampath |first2=Raj |year=2002 |url=http://www.brixtonspa.com/Career/The_Role_of_the_CTO_4Models.pdf |title=The Role of the CTO, four models for success |access-date=2009-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830033229/http://www.brixtonspa.com/Career/The_Role_of_the_CTO_4Models.pdf |archive-date=2017-08-30 |url-status=dead }} *Noble, Jason (2018). [https://cto.academy/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-cto/ "Day in the life of a CTO"] . CTO Academy

{{Corporate titles}} Category:Chief technology officers T Category:Management occupations