What does it take to be a great CTO?

CTO (Chief Technology Officer) is a job position on the rise, especially due to its importance regarding digital transformation.

The role of the Chief Technology Officer within any enterprise will depend on several factors, such as the size of the business or the role that technology plays within said entreprise. But his functions can be outlined saying that this position involves making sure that technology becomes a resourceful tool to help the entreprise.

This position emerged in the 80’s, and won popularity as Internet usage became extended, during the 90’s. As you can imagine, as technology has been gaining relevance within companies, this job title has been getting ever-increasing visibility until becoming fairly frequent today – especially in medium-sized or large companies – blending or even “merging” occasionally with the figure of the CIO.

Due to its characteristics, the Chief Technology Officer job position often calls for someone who has a profile halfway between technician and businessman, which, as we shall later see, has much to do with some of the qualities that you need in order to do your job right.

Now that we have seen a brief overview of what a Chief Technology Officer is, how about getting to know some of the characteristics that are required to be one of the best in the field? These are some key aspects that even CTOs themselves consider essential, so… take note!

8 key qualities to be a great CTO

– Experience and wide-ranged technological knowledge

Obviously, you cannot be a good Formula 1 driver if you can’t drive, nor a good Chief Technology Officer if you don’t have an extensive knowledge in this area.

But that is just the beginning. Besides knowing the existing technologies, the Chief Technology Officer should know how to implement them and analyze to what extent they can help the company in which the CTO develops his work, with its particular features. That will entail both identifying technologies that bring about a good balance between risks and benefits for the company, and discarding other technologies categorized as being too experimental.

– Curiosity and updated knowledge

These are logical qualities, closely linked to the world of technology, but worth emphasizing thanks to their importance. Technology evolves at high speed, and the Chief Technology Officer should keep up with this dynamic activity. In order to achieve this, you need to be really curious and have a vocational awareness of every single new development and apply yourself in areas that are necessary to do your job.

– Knowledge about economics

As we said at the beginning of this article, the CTO’s profile is located halfway between the fields of technology and business. Therefore, one of the key factors of your work will be to make sure that the adopted technology increases the economic performance of the company.

With this aim in mind, the CTO must know to a certain degree how business works and be aware of the business administration. In addition, as the Chief technology Officer, you must also have a deep knowledge of the market, since you will often be accountable for acquiring new technology products or services.

– High strategic capacity

Do not forget that, the CTO will usually be a high-level executive, and like most of them, he will need to have a great capacity to plan short, medium and long-term strategies.

This will be one of the most complex tasks that the Chief Technology Officer will have to face. The CTO shall take into account not only the current needs of the company, but also the future ones in the short, medium and long term. In addition, the CTO must be able to analyze the current state of technology implementation within the company and its future development possibilities, taking into account key issues such as the company’s economic resources.

Due to the importance of these tasks and their connection with other departments, the CTO must stay in touch permanently with the CEO, the CFO, the CIO and others who occupy management positions in the company, and act as an intermediary between their needs and requirements and the technicians’ job.

– Social and communication skills

We will repeat this again: the CTO is a manager. And as such, communication will be a fundamental part of his activity.

The CTO must be able to communicate effectively with heterogeneous profiles and, in particular, get both technicians under his command to understand business issues, and other people who lack technical training to understand technology-related aspects.

– Customer knowledge

Naturally, since the customer represents the center of digital transformation, the Chief Technology Officer, who occupies a key possition concerning digital transformation, must know the customer.

To achieve this, the CTO cannot be isolated from the outside world. He should know the clients and make contact with the departments that have a direct connection with them, in order to know their needs.

– Team leadership and training

This is another “standard quality” of any good executive. The Chief Technology Officer should know how to establish objectives and assign roles within his team, and create a good work environment which enables cooperation and comunication to achieve the ultimate goals. Other personal attributes like an open mindset, empathy and willingness to dialogue, or the ability to lead and motivate the staff will be crucial for this task,.

– Knowledge about project management

Given that, frequently, the activity of the CTO will be linked to specific projects, having expertise in project management will be very useful.

And now that we have already seen these 8 qualities to be a great Chief Technology Officer, what about taking a look at a software that may interest you if you are a CTO or if you work with one? It is Pandora ITSM.

Pandora ITSM is a program that provides, among other features, an issue management system (help desk software), an inventory and a project management system.

Would you like to know better what Pandora ITSM can offer you? Of course you would like! Click on the following link: https://pandorafms.com/en/itsm/

Or you can also send us any questions that you may have about Pandora ITSM. Do it in a very simple way, thanks to the contact form which is located at the following address: https://pandorafms.com/en/contact/

Our great Pandora ITSM team will be happy to help you!