I’ve run into some “rudderless” organizations this week. Do you have a CTO, chief technology officer? If you’re not a public company, maybe the title is Director of Technology or VP of Technology, or Technology Manager. Whichever way, these people need to be strong managers. They need the ability to hire, develop and retain a high quality IT department. They need to be able to direct and supervise people. They should be strong team builders. They need to understand and be able to manage budgets and allocate resources. They need to recognize and be able to deal with the “IT dodge”-when an techie staffer says a project will take a long time, lots of money and/or delay the president’s pet IT project.
The bottom line is that every company needs a CTO function, be it part-time or full-time. Many companies that think they have someone doing that job need to take a hard look. How well does your CTO match up with the ideal? It may well be that its time to get someone full time to take on that role. Or you may need to upgrade the person that is doing that job now. It’s certainly not a function you want to outsource, or can afford not to have anymore.
They should never be satisfied with present systems and processes. There should be a constant review. Just because “that’s the way it’s always been done” doesn’t make it the best way to do things. New technologies make options possible that couldn’t have been considered a year or two ago. Technology costs are constantly falling, what was too expensive might be reasonable now.
But…many businesses aren’t doing anything to actively, or more importantly proactively, manage their technology assets. They have someone in charge of sales and marketing, operations, and finance, but not technology. Every company now needs a CTO. If your company is less than 25 to 50 employees, that role may be part time for one of the senior managers, or even possibly an interim manager. Over 100 employees and you’re probably looking at a dedicated position in the senior management committee. Don’t blow the recovery. Set yourself up for a growing company.
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