Is being a CTO a career-limiting choice?

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A report published this week by a leading public sector IT body has found the role of chief information officer (CIO) will be critical in coming years.

At the same time, the Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm) report questioned whether the role of chief technology officer (CTO) might be a career-limiting choice.

With public finances already stretched and facing a further squeeze under the current recessionary pressure, Socitm surveyed UK public sector CIOs and CTOs about the challenges they were facing in their roles.

The report compared CTOs to steam engine drivers who, it points out, were “masters of the latest technology and, as such, enjoyed a respected position in society”.

But as technology becomes more commoditised, it urged IT executives at every level to examine whether their skills were best suited to help or lead an organisation into transforming its services through exploiting the potential of technology.

It asked: “Are you content to look after the technology, acknowledging that this role may be de-skilled and devalued over time?”

The report concluded that CIOs were primarily leaders and strategic, rather than operational or purely tactical thinkers, but with good management skills.

But they were primarily concerned with service transformation and continuous improvement rather than operating technology. And, with a good understanding of organisational politics, they were likely to spend as much, if not more, time working outside the technology function than within it.

It also said governance was a key differentiator. “Information appears in the CIO’s title for a good reason,” commented the report.

“The CIO has to develop good practice through training interventions, developing policies and procedures, and setting up appropriate governance mechanisms. Whilst technology functions attempt to do most of this themselves, the CIO recognises that the business has to take full responsibility, including for delivering business benefits. The CIO leads and enables.”

The report added that organisations would have different ideas about reporting lines for CIOs and CTOs, depending upon their size, scope and organisational culture.

But when it came to sourcing, most of the respondents favoured shorter contracts with suppliers, and mutually beneficial partnership arrangements.

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