Today’s CTO: The Chief Transformation Officer

In the past, I suggested that the role of the CIO needs to shift from that of a Chief Information Officer to a Chief Innovation Officer, largely due to the rapid, multiple technology-driven transformations that are always occurring. But just as the CIO’s role needs to change, so too does the CTO’s role — from Chief Technology Officer to Chief Transformation Officer. This shift is necessary in order to maintain and elevate the position’s relevance within the organization. There is less of a need for merely understanding information and technology, and a much greater requirement of leaders to be anticipatory in regard to innovation and transformation.

Transform Instead of Change

Traditionally, the CIO has historically been focused on technology needed for running the company, while the CTO has been responsible for the technology integral to products being sold to customers or clients. However, based on predictable Hard Trends that have taken place and ones that will take place in the coming years, business processes always undergo major transformations, making it imperative that someone both drive and oversee internal as well as external, transformation in order to stay ahead of the curve and become an Anticipatory Organization®.