How important is a Chief Technology Officer for corporate success?
Chief Technology Officers of today are expected to be cross-functional technologists and leaders with complementary skills in their respective fields
In any tech organisation, a CTO plays a key decision-maker when it comes to technology including strategy, planning, implementation, and personnel. Today’s Chief Technology Officers are expected to be cross-functional; skilled technologists as well as effective leaders with complementary skills in their respective areas.
Undoubtedly, the Chief Technology Officer has emerged as a key in the enterprise C-suite with digital transformation. If one were to look at it objectively, a CTO focuses on the technological modulations, opportunities, and defiance within the organisation and manages the company’s R&D.
Corporates and businesses have realised the supremacy of technology pedigree. From being at a place that oversees the rollout of hardware and aspects of software development, the Chief Technology Officer is currently a pivotal tactical thinker and a backseat driver to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on matters concerning the across-the-board strategic direction that the corporate and the industries must take.
However, throughout a company’s life cycle, the CTO’s responsibilities evolve with every stage.
For a pre-Seed Stage Company, a Chief Technology Officer validates the technical feasibility of a business plan when an idea for a business has taken root. At this juncture, the CTO also serves as a co-founder, working without outside help to create the tech & product architecture. Apart from this, they also oversee data security, QA management, and deployment issues.
During a start-up and growth stage, the CTO is proactive with strategic recruitment, onboarding, training, and management. A CTO here devises the tech stack, puts forward budget proposals, and downright tries to strengthen their digital product. Rather than being a full-fledged developer, the role evolves into one of a tech visionary, HR specialist, and team leader. This is how CTO defines the success of a start-up.
When the business is scaling, the CTO will primarily oversee improvement groups and assess interactions. As the CTO drives the overall vision of the product, individual tasks such as coding or quality assurance are trickled down to different members of the team. He adds on with his leadership stance. The CTO is continually attentive while remaining the company’s lead product engineer and framework executive.
For a mature and expanding stage company, the technology team will be brimming with the great product, processes and engineering culture that is working well for the company. To ensure that the business retains its competitive advantage by using the most relevant technology, the Chief Technology Officer builds a strategic technical vision for the product.
The importance of the CTO cannot be overstated in the post-pandemic era with the tech-first approach by most companies. Upsurge for skilled technologists to fill in these crucial roles of the CTOs who are visionaries has risen to prominence. As a global bespoke search firm, at Purple Quarter we have seen inflated demands in the last couple of years for CTOs by companies at varying stages. But their understanding of the right CTO fitment — Creator, Nurturer or Transformer is something that we have continually helped with great success.
by Roopa Kumar, Founder & Group CEO, Purple Quarter
