Why and When You Need To Hire A CTO

Theses:

This article explains why a CTO is a critical hire for any company. We will touch upon roles and responsibilities and give tips on finding the right person for this position to stay competitive and technologically sustainable.

In the current business environment, Chief Technology Officer, can be an irreplaceable person that oversees all tech aspects within a company, starting from planning, developing, and managing the company’s technology resources to promoting innovation and growth.

In this article, we will explore the importance of services and explain why every company needs this tech expert.

What Is CTO Services

Chief Technology Officer is a high-level executive, accountable for the company’s technological success.

Responsibilities involve coordination in all aspects of an organization’s IT infrastructure, including:

Designing hardware and software solutions that support business objectives;
Understanding the company’s business goals;
Translating these goals into a technology roadmap and achieving them.

Also, this tech executive manages the company’s data security, protecting its intellectual property from theft and ensuring that it maintains compliance with industry regulations.

No matter what the organization’s size is, Chief Technology Officers are critical specialists in both large companies and smaller organizations that have a strong need for technological innovation. Government agencies and universities employ them as well.

Sometimes, businesses or startups have to deal with areas outside their operations’ scope and need a part-time tech advisory.

In this respect, hiring a CTO as a service (CaaS) is a great help in every way. It is also a price-effective solution when a company pays just for the needed services.

These services may comprise management, support in the development, and planning across an entire company or just a single department or product line.

Reporting to the President, as well as other executive-level positions such as CIO (Chief Information Officer) or CFO (Chief Financial Officer).

Why Do You Need a Chief Technology Officer

Chief Technology Officers are often seen as the “idea people” in a company because they can foresee how to use technology in new ways. This position is often filled by someone with a technical background, such as a software developer or programmer.

There are a number of reasons why companies may need one, namely:

The business has reached a certain stage in its life cycle and needs someone who can take on a more strategic role.
There are not enough skilled resources in-house.
CEO wants to bring new technologies into the company.
The organization wants to expand into new markets.

The role has become more important as technology continues to advance, and companies need to keep up with these advancements. According to McKinsey, there 4 typical roles: challengers, owners, influencers, and enablers.

When to Hire

Hiring can be tricky because there are many factors to consider before making the final decision.

A service may be required when the company:

– doesn’t have a software development team;

– doesn’t have a data science team;

– needs someone with strong technical skills to lead their engineering team.

When hiring, you should take into consideration the following factors:

The size of your company;
Your budget;
Whether or not you have technical cofounders;
Whether or not you need technical skills in your team.

VP Of Engineering: What’s the Difference

VP of Engineering are two different roles in the company. The difference between them lies in their responsibilities and the skills they need to have.

Primarily focuses on an organization’s strategic direction, while a VP of engineering focuses on day-to-day operations.

Overall, more likely to be involved in developing and implementing long-term technology planning and strategy.

In the meantime, a VP of engineering is more likely to deal with short-term operations and plan implementation, making sure that everything runs smoothly daily.

What Do They Actually Do?

A good leader needs to have a strong engineering background. This person needs to understand the technical aspects of the product and be able to work closely with engineers to build a scalable, secure, and efficient product.

The officer should identify the best tools for their team and know how they can get things done faster.

Project management skills are a must-have for this position as they are often involved in planning and executing projects.

On the whole, a good employee should have:

Strong engineering background;
Communication skills to work closely with both engineers and management staff;
Ability to identify the best tools for the team;
Project management skills.

This tech specialist can be in charge of more than just development and engineering at some companies. For example, CTO can assist a company with marketing or HR, depending on the size and needs of their business.

What are the Qualities

Ensure that the company’s IT infrastructure is up to date and identifies new technologies or trends before they become mainstream, so they can implement them before others do.

The qualities that make a good:

Business acumen to understand how technology can be used to create value for the business.
Leadership skills to lead, inspire and motivate the team members.
Technical expertise to understand technical domains such as software engineering, computer science, systems engineering, or project management.
Entrepreneurial spirit to think like an entrepreneur and come up with new ideas to achieve business goals.

Promoting From Within vs External Hiring

Each great software company has a Chief Technology Officer. However, defining roles is not that easy, especially when you’re thinking about whether to promote someone from your team or hire outside talent.

Promoting from within your company provides several benefits, which are as follows:

The company has a better understanding of the person’s skills and abilities.
The company will have a lower risk of hiring someone who might be unable to do the job.
There is already a current employee who deeply understands the company’s culture and needs, has been trained and is ready to take on new responsibilities.
It helps with retention, as employees are more likely to stay if they can move up in the ranks.

External hires are more likely to bring a different perspective and skillset that can be beneficial for the company as well.

The advantages of external hires include:

Bringing in fresh ideas and perspectives into the company.
Improving business performance.
Offering new ways of analyzing problems that could lead to better solutions or higher creativity.
Lowering costs.
Delivering value through experience.
Reducing operational risks.

Does Every Company

As a rule, small businesses have one person, while larger corporations may have a team of people in this position.

However, many companies and startups are still unprepared for technological shifts and cannot spot new ones. Based on McKinsey’s research, 81% of top managers think they are not ahead of the curve. These executives admit that their performance is worsening and competitiveness is rapidly eroding.

Given this, such companies would definitely need to hire a specialist with more technical knowledge.

That said, partnering with a part-time Chief Technology Officer or opting as a service option will keep the startup or company ahead of the technology curve.