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CIOvs.CTOWhatsTheDifference?

POSTEDBYCHRISTOPHERJCOLEMAN201212021COMMENT
FILEDUNDER CIO,CTO,ITORGANIZATION,LEADERSHIP,MANAGEMENT,OPERATIONS,
STRATEGY,TECHNOLOGY

i
9Votes

Ioftenndmyselfindiscussionswithrecruiters,businessowners,evenotherITmanagerswhoare
confused about the dierence between a Chief Information Ocer (CIO) and a Chief Technical
Ocer (CTO). This is really an observation more so than a stated fact but it is somewhat
disconcerting to think that companies are hiring executive level positions without knowing whom
theyareactuallyhiringorwhy.And,ifpeopleinthesepositionsarenotclearonthedistinctionof
theserolesthanIwouldhardlyexpectthatanewCEOoracorporationsboardmembersareeither.
SoIthoughtthatIwouldtakethisopportunitytoexplainthekeydierencesbetweenaCIOanda
CTOinthehopesthatperhapsitwillhelpinuencethedecisionofsomeoneinITleadership,or
lenditselftothoseofyoutryingchooseacareerpathwithinIT.

PhotoCredit:TheRolesofCIOsandCTOsbyAndyGrava
Similarities

Both roles do indeed have some overlap and much of this is up to the company hiring and what
makessense(whichisalsothereasonyouwillrarelyndbothpositionsinasmallcompany).The
followingqualitiesarepertinentinbothroles:

Strongleadershipandabusinessorientedmindset.
Atechnicalbackgroundandclearunderstandingoftheunderlyingtechnologies.
Goodoperationalandmanagerialskills.
Eectivecommunicationbothtechnically,andnontechnicallywiththeabilitytotranslate
betweenthetwo.

If only one position is present within a company then it should be backed by a strong manager to
complementtherolewithaskillsetthataccountsforanyperceivedweaknessesordecienciesinthe
current role. For example, a CIO might have an excellent grasp of the Project Management Oce
(PMO) and agile methodologies involved in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) yet lack
the technical knowledge of the physical infrastructure or an understanding of the actual software
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the technical knowledge of the physical infrastructure or an understanding of the actual software
architecture.Conversely,aCTOmightbeveryknowledgeableaboutwhatstackyouareusing,your
productiontechnologies,orwhattechnologythecompanywillneedtoacquirewithinthenextthree
yearsbuthemightnothaveasrmagraspontheChangeManagementprocessorhowtostreamline
internalcommunication.

TheChiefInformationOcer(CIO)

The CIO is internally faced and focused on the companys boom line how to improve internal
communication,PMOmanagement,andprocesscontrol.TheCIOisgenerallyfocusedonimproving
the eciency of internal processes in order to guarantee eective communication, maximize
productivity,andkeeptheorganizationrunningeciently.Thisisanoperationsroleandsinceitis
internallyfacingtheCIOistypicallyresponsibleforInfrastructure,ServiceDelivery,PMO,etc.

TheChiefTechnicalOcer(CTO)

TheCTOisreallyacustomerfacingrole(surprised?)andisfocusedonthecompanystopline.The
CTOensuresthatthecompanyisimplementingtechnologiesthatenhanceproductdevelopment.The
CTOisgenerallyresponsiblefortheengineeringteamandemployingatechnicalstrategytoimprove
the end product (thus customer facing). This is a strategic role and the CTO is responsible for
leveraging new technologies to enhance the product (which can include infrastructure as well but
onlyasitrelatestotheproductandnottheinternalIToperations).

Conclusion

Small companies will not rationalize a need for both roles. Given that these are C level positions
the cost to employ both roles is not exactly cheap. In that scenario a company should consider its
primarygoal.Anewandwellbackedstartupmightbemoreinterestedindevelopingatechnology
strategy more so than improving eciency while a growing midsize company with a sound
technologicalstrategyalreadyinplacemightbemorefocusedonincreasingeciencytomaximize
itsreturn.Thatsaidonceacompanybeginstomature(acouplehundredemployees)bothrolesare
necessary and more so if that company is aempting to leverage technology as part of its core
business (in which case the CTO might also be more important up front). The fact is, for a small
company,eitherpositionlikelyhasenoughinsighttofulllbothrolesintheshorttermbutshouldbe
complementedwithastrongmanagerintheopposingrole.

The key dierence to remember is that a CIO (operations oriented) is internally facing, focused on
information systems (communication workow), with a target to increase eciency thereby
improvingtheboomlinewhileaCTO(technologystrategyoriented)iscustomerfacing,focusedon
atechnologystrategy,withatargettoimprovetheendproduct.

Asacompanygrowsandnewdivisionsandrolesaredenedtheresponsibilitiesoftheseroleswill
tendtomeshtogetherandbecomealileblurry.So,whendeningrolesandresponsibilitieswithin
yourITorganization,askyourselfonethingisthisrole/divisionnecessarytosupportoperationsor
are they part of the technology strategy to support product development? This is why a CIO is
typically responsible for Infrastructure, Service Delivery, and PMO while a CTO is typically
responsibleforProductDevelopment,WebDevelopment(whichisyourengineeringteamengaged
inProductDevelopment),andVendorManagement.

AdditionalReading

SanityCheck:WhatsthedierencebetweenCIOandCTO?
TheRolesofCIOsandCTOs
WhatstheDierenceBetweenCIOvsCTO?
CIOvs.CTO
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CIOvs.CTO
Wikipedia:ChiefTechnologyOcer

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IndependentITConsultant.CloudExpert.UnitedStatesNavyVeteran.Dedicated.Focused.Driven.I
makecompaniesbeerbydevelopingapplicationstomeetspecicbusinessneedsonreliable,cost
ecientcloudinfrastructure.Iftherightsolutiondoesntexistthencreateit.Ihaveachievedmy
greatestaccomplishmentsbecausesomeoneelsetoldmeitsnotpossible;thereisnowaytodoit
andnowthereis.
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