In recent years, the ways of running companies have changed significantly. The technological evolution that is happening before our eyes has a huge impact, not only on our private but also on our professional life. The constant search for improvements in companies or the introduction of innovative solutions is one of the reasons for being better than our competitors.
Imagine all the tedious processes in the company we are currently doing, on which we lose precious minutes, and sometimes hours, every day. And yet each of these processes can be improved or changed using technology.
CTO is a far not very popular person (but with a lot of experience) responsible for the technological development of the company so that it can keep up with the new technology.
Who is the CTO?
Chief of Technology, hidden under CTO abbreviation, is a person who has the extensive technical knowledge and knows how to use it in business. It is someone who heads the team of developers (or in a small company he is one) and makes sure that our company is as technologically advanced as today’s market demands. In the past, his main task was to supervise data centers and network operations, but now the profession has significantly changed its function and in addition, the CTO must be up to date with technological novelties and know how they can improve the operation of the company.
The skills of a good CTO must combine those that are possessed by computer scientists and those taken from a businessman. He is an entrepreneurial man who is not afraid to go with the times. It is also important that the person working in this position will have to work with everyone in the company, so it cannot be someone who likes to be closed in his office for eight hours and just do his own stuff.
There are several types of CTO:
- An infrastructure leader, i.e. a person who deals with databases, conducts network operations when needed, and provides technical services. This is the most traditional vision of this profession, which goes slowly into oblivion.
- A technical man, someone who follows technological innovations and looks for methods to use them in the enterprise. Such a person must focus on cooperation with other people in the company, with whom he will take all the most important decisions. The role of the CTO in the team is huge because he very often stands at its head.
- The founder of the company. The CTO is very often the person who started the firm/startup. It is then a man whose assumption is often to plan business policy, so the fact that he will be familiar with IT technologies will only be an additional advantage.
However you can divide Chief of Technology into different types, but it is in fact that such a person usually combines all these profiles. In larger companies, more often than one person is employed for this position, thanks to which they can share their responsibilities to increase their effectiveness.
The role of CTO in the team is very important. You can say that he is the second most important person in the company, right after the CEO (and sometimes he combines the characteristics of these two positions and management becomes his task). He must not only know his product from the inside out but also know how to sell it and how to promote it. The head of technology has a lot of duties and somehow relieves other people in the team. However, one can not forget that many duties are also a great responsibility.
Why is the CTO needed in the company?
Due to the fact that we live in the twenty-first century, technology surrounds us from all sides. Take a look around yourself. We have telephones, computers, but also machines in which we can order food in restaurants or robotic parking machines. All this makes our life incredibly easier and makes everyday activities much faster and more effective. These are the features that customers demand. If we run a place with food, very often a group of them (usually Millenials), want it to be able to order without waiting in line, for example on the touch screen, or on a smartphone, without the need of having a conversation with the salesperson. If we are the owners of a hotel, a big advantage will be the possibility of booking via the Internet. In fact, there are many more such examples. The undeniable conclusion is that a company that operates without technological innovations will be losing a lot and will not meet the requirements of today’s customers.
An interesting example of the lack of constant contact with a person dealing with technology is the company we had the opportunity to help. Their sales were generated by a team of people who were gaining customers by phone. All data was entered into an Excel file, which later was sent to one particular person who verified their status and entered the system. Each of these files was in a different format, which definitely hindered the work and took a lot of time. Thanks to quick consultations and the introduction of simple but technologically advanced applications, we were able to minimize the time spent on entering data by more than 40%, and this could be used for acquiring new customers.
Exactly at such moments, the CTO comes with the rescue, whose task is to ensure that the company keeps up with the changing world. Companies that do not employ or do not use such a person’s services will only be losing money.
It is worth remembering that the IT industry is increasingly focused on the needs of the client, so the head of technology, which we employ, will have to know what such a consumer expects and know how to bring his ideas to life. A good CTO will make sales in the company significantly increase because when he will deal with the technological side of the business, the rest of the team will be able to focus on its other aspects, which the head of technology will later have to successfully combine together.
Who to employ?
A good CTO is a person who above all keep his ear to the ground when it comes to the latest technologies and knows what from this long list of innovations can be applied in the company. An additional plus will be knowledge about marketing and finance. The broader the CTO knowledge, the easier it will be to work with the rest of the team. Certainly, it must be a person open to people and curious about the world. In no way, we need a person whose knowledge ends in the nineties, because back then he stopped his education by stating that he already knows everything.
Do not forget that the head of technology will work in a team, so the lone-introvert will definitely not be a good idea. The role of the CTO in the team is too big to risk the employment of a person who will have a problem with the teamwork.
Such a person must have a specialist and as far as possible wide knowledge in many fields but also be curious about the world and ready to cooperate with others.
Where to find the right man for this position?
Because a good technology boss needs to specialize in so many things, it can be difficult to find a person who will meet all the necessary conditions. Of course, you can hire someone who has a lot of technical knowledge but is completely ignorant of business or finance and try to teach him everything, but it will take a lot of time. You can get involved in learning a new employee, or send him to a series of training that will cost you dearly. After all, we still can not be sure that the new employee has mastered all the skills we expect from him, because some of them are a matter of many years of experience.
What is Software House and why should you employ one as an external CTO for your project?
Software House is a company that mainly deals with creating software. However, this is not their only task, because currently they also prepare business analyzes for clients, create functional applications and ensure that they are easy to integrate with other devices or processes that already exist in the company. Software House is not only technical knowledge but also business, consulting and marketing. They have exactly the features that are required of an efficient CTO.
So when a company tries to meet modern technologies or wants to implement new solutions, it is worth taking into consideration that it is a good time to hire Software House. It saves us a lot of time with the tedious process of finding the right person and, above all, disappointments. In a very simple way, you can check whether the company with whom you plan to cooperate is trustworthy. Thus the risk of undertaking inadequate cooperation is much smaller than in the case when we want to employ a single, individual person. All you need to do is check the customer’s opinion about them, which is not always possible with an ordinary employee. Such a person does not always have references or portfolios. This problem disappears if we decide to hire a Software House. We will also not have to send anyone on a training, because this company usually has all the necessary skills and knowledge.
An additional advantage is that we do not have to establish permanent cooperation with such company. Of course, this is possible if our business requires it, but it is not a necessity. You can rent a Software House to perform a specific task or order or establish a permanent cooperation of technical consulting for business.
Conclusion
Hiring Software House as an external CTO can be very profitable. Starting from the fact of the greater confidence in the skills of the person we employ, through the flexibility available to SH, to savings based on their experience and flexibility.
