Tech Leadership: Who Does What?
It goes without saying that technology roles have evolved significantly in recent years. The responsibilities and scope of technology leadership have developed whilst the number of technology roles out there have also expanded. Organisations are now more likely you have multiple technology leaders fulfilling a wide range of duties at any one time. The roles of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) now go far beyond management of technology as a cost centre to positions that are central to operational leadership, revenue generation and strategy development. In a changing landscape, the purpose of technology roles can get lost and misrepresented in the market but with the importance of these roles only increasing clarity around these leadership positions is helpful to strategy planning processes and establishing an effective operating model.
The Top of the Tree
The two most well know technical leadership positions are of course the CTO and CIO, but even these positions, that often sit on the board are sometimes confused, with titles being used interchangeably.
The CTO
The CTO holds overall responsibility for ensuring technology is being used effectively to meet customer requirements and enhance service, reporting to either the CIO or CEO. They hold overall accountability for any technology product or service offering, ensuring customer needs are being met and the business remains competitive in the market. They should develop strategies to increase revenue whether through product development or service improvement, performing ROI analysis to ensure cost effectiveness. They should remain close to the customer and have excellent market awareness in order to align technology strategy with their needs.
The CTO is responsible for driving innovation within their organisation, with accountability for the Research and Development function and associated P&L. They should maintain an understanding of evolving technologies including the risks and opportunities they pose to the business, ensuring these are clearly communicated to the board.
The CIO
The CIO is more internally focused, establishing the infrastructure and systems needed to optimise business operations. They work closely with the wider C-Suite to ensure technology is used to maximise revenue and profit, initiating projects and programmes of work to support growth.
The CIO ensures that technology supports employees business wide, optimising operating models and improving productivity. They should maintain strong relationships with all business function leaders to ensure their technology needs are met and activities are optimised whilst ensuring the business remains secure. They should retain a level of focus on the evolving technology landscape, predicting trends or new technologies that may optimise operations. They will oversee any internal technology transformation and own the technology strategy for the business.
Both roles are strategic in nature, key in translating technology challenges and opportunities to the board. They may or may not sit on the board, although increasingly organisations choose to put one or both of these roles on the board to ensure technology strategy is incorporated effectively into business strategy.
Within SMEs, it might not be necessary to have both a CTO and CIO; with the right structure and right people below, one role may cover all the accountabilities comfortably. As an organisation grows separation of accountabilities can ensure technology is being used effectively to meet the needs of customers and employees. Technology is so intrinsic to the way we work and to products and services even outside the tech sector that as an organisation develops the CTO and CIO should have very distinct responsibilities.
There are some differences between the roles, but given many organisations at some point make the transition from having one position to two, the similarities and differences can vary between organisations.
Differences and Similarities:
- Typically, a CTO will be externally focused, developing products and services to enhance the customer experience. A CIO will be more internally focused, leading on technology strategy and transformation for the business, maximising productivity and profitability through technology.
- Transformation falls under the remit of the CIO. From business case development and throughout delivery phases, the CIO will own the technology transformation process, ensuring the successful transition to new ways of working.
- Both might lead development functions and drive innovation in the organisation, but the CTO will likely be more heavily focused on innovation, introducing new technologies and leading on product development.
- The CTO will be more focused on revenue generation through product and service development, therefore spending more time building relationships with and understanding customers.
- Usually, the CIO takes responsibility for working with the HR function to develop the talent strategy for the technology function, ensuring that departments remain collaborative, and talent is not a blocker to delivering transformation.
Regardless of any similarities or difference, collaboration is key. CTOs and CIOs who work together are more likely to have a positive effect on business performance. Tech leadership involves a lot of bringing people along, articulating technical challenges, and encouraging people to undertake new ways of working so collaboration is paramount to success in the role. There’s no exception when we look at collaboration between tech leaders. Together these positions can ensure an organisation has the capability to remain competitive in the market and innovate at pace whilst maintaining an operating model which allows the introduction of new technologies.
Reporting Lines
Reporting lines also differ between organisations. The preference for most CIOs and CTOs is to sit on the board and report to the CEO. This way, they can influence strategy more effectively and better align tech initiatives with business goals. However, sometimes one of the roles sits on the board and the other reports into that person and sometimes neither role sits on the board. In this instance, CIOs and CTOs may have different reporting lines but will likely report into the CEO, COO or in some cases the CFO, depending on the company structure. Some organisations have traditionally had tech roles sitting under the CFO when IT was seen as more of a cost centre and have retained this structure. Tech leadership will be expected to create board reports articulating tech strategy, technology implementation progress, and product evolution plans, and may be brought into the boardroom to present business cases when necessary. However, they may find it more challenging to petition the board for change and ensure strategy is technologically favourable from outside the boardroom.
Tech Leadership in All Its Forms:
There are many other technical leadership positions that play important roles in efficient functioning and growth. As the remit of tech roles expands, it is increasingly important that CTOs and CIOs have a strong layer of leadership beneath them with the necessary, and perhaps niche, skillsets to support them with strategy implementation.
Chief Information Security Officer: Essentially a cyber security focused role, the CISO will ensure security frameworks are aligned with business objectives and security risks are minimised and mitigated. They will stay abreast of any emerging threats, ensuring cyber security policies are updated and the team beneath them has the capacity to manage the organisation’s security requirements. They will also be responsible for driving behaviour change across an organisation to ensure security threats pose minimum risk.
Chief Data Officer: Unsurprisingly, the CDO is responsible for all things data from analytics to data science, developing a data strategy to unlock business value. The CDO’s impact is far reaching, they will use data initiatives to drive product/service improvement, increase productivity, analyse the effectiveness of transformation, and ultimately drive growth. Whilst not all organisations have a CDO, appointments are increasing and as more organisations leverage AI, the role will only become more important in establishing strong data governance.
Chief Digital Officer: The other CDO, generally only present in large organisations, they are responsible for developing a strategy for the implementation of digital technologies and ensuring they are correctly adopted to the benefit of the organisation. They will oversee any related transformation and remain knowledgeable on any emerging digital technologies to ensure the organisation’s digital capability remains competitive.
Chief Transformation Officer: The lesser-known CTO is responsible for delivering large scale technology transformation, again most often within large organisations, where transformation cannot be effectively managed by the CIO alone. Sometimes an interim position, brought in to see a business through a period of transformation and sometimes a permanent position; helping an organisation to continuously evolve and stay competitive in the market.
Vice President or Director of Engineering: Bar the CTO, the VP or Director of Engineering is the most senior software engineering position in a business. Unlike the CTO they will not be responsible for the development of the technology strategy but will be responsible for managing its implementation. They will oversee engineering teams to ensure projects are completed on time and play a hands-on role in resolving any project setbacks if they are escalated.
This isn’t by any means an exhaustive list of tech leadership roles but covers the most common technical positions found on the board and senior leadership team. Role titles may vary, and large corporations may have more technology professionals operating at a senior level, with the accountabilities split over more roles to ensure technology requirements can be met effectively at scale. As time goes on the number of senior leadership positions with a technology focus is likely to grow as new technologies emerge and technology becomes more and more central to staying competitive across most sectors.
Evolution
No function has seen role evolution quite like the technology function. The tech sector may have led the way but now establishing strong technology functions is key to success for organisations across sectors. Remaining competitive when it comes to product and service offering, customer experience, and employee satisfaction can all be supported by technology. From a commercial perspective technology is key to driving revenue growth and profitability. Technology’s reach into business success is deep, but, ultimately, without the right leaders in place it’s capability cannot be leveraged. Therefore establishing the right technology leadership structure with clear role responsibilities and appointing suitable leaders has never been more critical to a business’ success.
Abstract specialises in placing high-performing technology leaders and helping organisations define key roles to align with their strategic goals, ensuring they are well-equipped to navigate transformation, drive innovation, and sustain growth. By taking a research-led approach to identify leaders and deliver key insight, we empower organisations to attract and retain the leaders required to succeed in an increasingly technology-driven environment.
Emily Wells
A researcher by background, I've held roles in executive search and talent intelligence, undertaking a variety of projects spanning headhunting, benchmarking, insight generation and market analysis, working with a range of organisations across numerous industries, from SMEs to large corporates, and private equity firms.
As a divisional head within Abstract Group, I am responsible for leading on Abstract Talent's service offering, go to market proposition, and project delivery. I'm hands on in both client engagement and undertaking research, ensuring our services are tailored to the needs of our clients. Abstract Talent specialises in identifying and assessing technical leaders and helping organisations develop effective talent strategies to ensure they can attract, acquire, and retain the right people.