The document provides an overview of the role of a Chief Technology Officer (CTO). It describes the CTO as the CIO's right-hand technical strategist who defines technological strategy, assesses technical risk, establishes standards, and evaluates both teams and new technologies. The CTO also identifies areas needing improvement, helps with post-production, and advises other disciplines. The CTO typically has a background in applications development or systems architecture and enjoys technology and solving complex problems.

1. Part of a series taking a closer look
at enterprise IT
THE CTO

2. SOMETIMES IT FEELS
LIKE THE ONLY ONE
MARKETERS WANT
TO TALK TO IS THE
CIO.

3. BUT THERE’S A
WHOLE LOT MORE
TO ENTERPRISE IT.

4. INTRODUCING THE
CTO…

5. CONTENTS
What might my objectives look like?

6. WHAT ELSE MIGHT I BE CALLED?
Typical names for this job function include:
• Chief Technology Officer
• Technical Director (mainly in software companies)
• Chief Science Officer (research heavy organisations)
• IT/IS Strategy Director
• Head of IT Strategy & Architecture

7. WHO AM I? WHAT DO I DO?
What do I do?
• I’m the CIO’s right hand technical strategist/architect
and problem solver
• Technical evangelist / how to exploit technology
• Spiritual leader for all the engineers and maintainer of
the technical culture
• Get the balance right between ‘futures’ vs ‘outdated’

8. WHO AM I? WHAT DO I DO?
• I define the technological strategy with the
development team of each project: pipeline, tools, and
key development procedures. I perform a similar role with
the Infrastructure Teams
• I assess technical risk and mitigation plans.
• I establish standards and procedures to track and
measure project's progression.
• I evaluate team(s), identifying strengths, problem
areas, and developing plans for improving performance
• I evaluate interview candidates for technical positions.

9. WHO AM I? WHAT DO I DO?
I scout for and evaluate new
technology and tools as
opportunities for innovation and
development excellence.

10. WHO AM I? WHAT DO I DO?
• I identify weak software systems /infrastructure
designs that need improvement and then I schedule
corrective action.
• I create automated test processes for system
features, where possible, and contribute to the
build systems and infrastructure.
• I help in all stages of post-production including the
finalising stage.

11. WHO AM I? WHAT DO I DO?
• Pre-production, I oversee technical design
documentation process for correctness and timeliness.
• I advise other disciplines on the practicality of initial
design goals and impact to the overall project timeline.
• I evaluate software /hardware implementations on
design and task thoroughness
• I help to identify high risk areas for the Project Director.

12. WHO IS MY BOSS AND WHO DO I MANAGE?
CTO Business
Transformation
Application
Development
Operations
Governance
and Risk
CIO
Network
Architect
Database
Architect
Etc
Infrastructure
Architect
Systems
Architecture
Manager

13. TYPICAL BACKGROUND
• I probably came through applications development,
maybe systems architecture.
• I may be happy that I have reached the top of my tree.
• I love technology and systems architecture, but I’m less
interested in what apps do.
• I play with technology at home.
• I think about the future and not today. Occasionally I
get dragged back into reality.

14. THE WORLD I LIVE IN – TECHNOLOGY FUTURES
• I’m known by all the key
players eg Microsoft, Oracle,
IBM, HP etc
• I’m probably known to believe
in a certain religion eg
Microsoft, Oracle etc
• I’m open to updates on
products, especially technical
directions
• I don’t like sales, want to
talk to the labs
• I love detail, hate marketing
bull.

15. THE WORLD I LIVE IN – WORDS I LIKE/ WORDS I
DON’T!
I like…
• Architecture/Design
• Pilot/Prototype
• Model
• Technical Director
• Solutions Architect
• Roadmap
• Labs
• Problems no-one else can solve
• Next release
• Hardware and Software
I don’t like…
• Roll out
• Delivery
• Support
• Sales
• 1st level support
• 2nd level support
• Apps functionality
• Users
• Other religions

16. THE WORLD I LIVE IN – IF IT MOVES I NEED TO
KNOW ABOUT IT!

17. WHAT MIGHT MY OBJECTIVES LOOK LIKE?
• Keep abreast of key technology platforms plans for Microsoft,
Oracle, etc
• Ensure technology roadmaps exist for all key systems
(infrastructure and systems)
• All 3rd level support issues resolved within 24 hours
• Win an award for technology exploitation for the company
• Pilot new technology X, Y, and Z within Business Units 1, 2 and
3
• Ensure 3rd level support is in place for all core technologies

18. WHAT MIGHT MY OBJECTIVES LOOK LIKE?
My objectives will typically include:
• 99.99% availability, maintain good app response times
• Automation project delivery (data centre, network ops, desktop)
• BYOD project implementation (others design it, I implement it
and support it)
• Meeting internal customer satisfaction ratings (in core business
units e.g. stores)
• Reduce costs ‘by 10%’
• Meeting Help Desk internal SLAs
• Management of 3rd party SLAs

19. A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE CTO
Vendor Pitch – Development
Platforms
Interview – Network Architect
Review with outsourcer – Outsource Plans
2014 Planning with Business Units
Team Meeting Planning – Gurus
Monthly review with Infrastructure supplier
Budget Review
Design Workshop – new
systems/infrastructure plans
Security Breach - Review
SLA Review with IT Ops & Apps

20. BUT WHAT DO I THINK OF THEM?
‘How did he/she get the job understanding as
little about tech as they do?’ (CIO)
‘Not sure why it takes them so long to build apps. We
knock ‘em up in days, sometimes hours.’ (Apps Dir)
‘Nice bloke. Shields me from the flak.’ (Ops)
‘Have we got one?’ (Compliance / Security)

21. WHAT DO THE PEOPLE AROUND ME THINK I AM
LIKE?
CIO – ‘Worth their weight in gold. But a pain to manage.
Customer unfriendly. No threat/not pragmatic.’
Apps Dir – ‘I’m totally uninterested’
Opps Dir – I’m sympathetic. The CTO’s the only other person
around here that gets excited about hardware.
Strategy/Transformation Dir – ‘The CTO’s the only other
visionary around. CIO cautious. Dangerous around tech.’
Compliance / Security – ‘I’m vaguely interested.’

22. WHO’S TARGETING ME - AND WHO SHOULD BE?
Wide variety of enterprise technology
providers, including Hardware and
infrastructure/connectivity, Databases, Virtualisation, Ma
naged Infrastructure, Managed Services, Cloud etc.
Technically the CTO has to review network hardware and
software, so they’ll be in the loop somewhere…

23. WHO ARE WE
AND WHY DO
WE CARE?

24. ABOUT THE MARKETING PRACTICE
With over 90 people and 10 years’ growth we are 100% B2B-focused and one of
the UK’s top 10 B2B agencies
We integrate all the skills you need under one roof to plan and manage end-to-
end programmes across EMEA (data, inside sales, creative, content, digital …)
And we focus on working with a few select clients to deliver results and prove
ROI
We live and breathe enterprise demand generation

25. TO TAKE A ONE-MINUTE TOUR
OF THE MARKETING PRACTICE,
VISIT:
www.themarketingpractice.com
/the-agency