What should CTOs know about their evolving roles?

I created this blog to share my thoughts around the evolving roles of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Strategist. Please click on the 'subscribe' button to receive email notifications when articles are posted. Thank you for  contributing to this very important topic and don't forget to view my intro video which attempts to articulate the reasoning behind the blog's creation.

Phil West

Here is more information about me.


NOTE: If viewing 'full screen' on a PC, please ensure video playback is optimized by clicking on the YouTube settings icon and changing the Quality to 1080p

 Video Transcript
As a technologist, I have always been fascinated with trends in technology and how businesses exploit these trends to create new markets or enable a competitive edge within their existing market.

I believe that in this rapidly expanding, technology-fueled world of ours, the role of the CTO is becoming even more critical in ensuring continued business viability. Today’s CTO must not only understand technology and technology trends but articulate these trends in the form of Business and Technology Strategies and where necessary, lead innovation efforts that open new paths to market, or some cases, new markets altogether.

As a CTO in the current climate, your role can be confusing, and you may be asking yourself questions like:
  • Should I focus my efforts as a business strategist or a technology strategist, or both?
  • Where does Enterprise Architecture fit in my world?
  • How can I navigate the breadth and complexity of today’s technology while at the same time position myself to lead technology adoption or creation within my company? 
  • Should I spend time performing the role of Pragmatic Futurist for my company or is that a waste of time?
I hope this blog can be a catalyst for bringing some of these questions to the surface with the goal of providing collaborative insights around our evolving roles and the methods that we could utilize to best drive our businesses forward.

I am looking forward to collaborating with you on this important topic!

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 27, 2017 at 10:50 AM

    Given the current climate where security is becoming a main area of focus for organizations due to the level and complexity of cyber attacks, how much of an impact do you think this will have on the evolution of the CTO role? Do you think security and security strategy will become core alongside or integral with traditional technology strategy?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Phil West, BS-EE, ITIL, CISSP, AWS-CCP, SCPO, LeanIXNovember 29, 2017 at 9:59 AM

    Great question Gareth! The traditional role of the CTO is that of a 'fortune teller of technology'. This technology can cover a lot of ground including client facing technologies, employee facing technologies and enabling technologies that directly or indirectly impact the business outcomes. As we are all painfully aware of, wherever there is information technology that is connected to a network, there is a risk of compromise or exposure of that information to unwanted parties.

    CTOs are often awake at night wondering if their technology decision will result in increased risk to the company - but this is where they must work with the experts within their company to ensure that security precautions are taken and that the technology and vendor has been vetted appropriately. To achieve this, the CTO should work along side the CSO/CISO whenever a new technology is being considered.

    Now to directly answer your question. The CTO in many cases is accountable for the set of technology strategies within a company that ultimately drive the business outcomes and support the business strategy. On a side note, I will be writing an article on this topic as the CTOs role may be different based on the industry. One of these technology strategies is the 'Technology Security Strategy' - as it pertains to the protection of information assets. Although the CTO may be accountable for the authorship of this strategy, the governance and compliance initiatives are the responsibility of the CSO/CISO organization. When it is all said and done, It is a team effort that will keep the company safe.

    Hope this helps!
    Thank you
    Phil

    ReplyDelete
  3. VictoriaSeptember 28, 2023 at 3:38 AM

    Interesting post!

    ReplyDelete

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