Types of CTOs

Being in the industry for almost 10 years now, I have some very good friends working as the Chief Technology Officer in various companies of the Broadcast Industry in Pakistan. This article is not to offend any of my friends but just thought that we all should realize what factors we consider before making the decision and what factors should we actually consider in acquiring the technology.

To make it interesting I have categorized major types of CTOs , they are

·         TYPE 1: I want the best

·         TYPE 2: why should I invest so much?

·         TYPE 3: give me best price

·         TYPE 4: no we can't change everything

·         TYPE 5: our management doesn't have budget

Now let’s define these types:

 

“I want the best solution” type

This type of CTO always wants to acquire the best technology and price is never his top priority. This CTO will always follow the industry trends and ethics. He will be not adapt any short cut to meet the deadline or management’s expectations. They also play a vital role in educating his management as they are usually not technology experts so it is the CTO who guides the real use and worth of the investment in technology in order to achieve the organizational goals and targets.

“Why should I invest so much?” type

These kinds of CTOs generally are the ones who don’t keep them updated with the latest technology. Their perception is that there should not be heavy investments if a cheaper option is available. They are usually those who don’t have a specialized degree or technology background from the grass root level.  They came to this position with their experience and hands on skills. They always find an alternate cheaper option and usually think a short term solution.  In the longer run they might end up in spending more and eventually something that makes it difficult for their organization to compete with their main competitors.

“Give me best price” type

Give me best price type CTOs are the one who run for the prices. They will acquire technology only if it is extremely cheap.  They are more worried about their management’s money that the management itself. Sometimes they are quite successful as the suppliers in the competive world give extremely heavy discounts but their margins are too less and they lose interest in providing the efficient customer service. Another problem with these CTOs is that they expect the heavy discounts from the suppliers to be valid for entire life time.

“No ,we can’t change everything” type

These types of CTOs want to do something but don’t have the courage to adapt the rapid changes of the industry. They are always on the back foot and are in severe pressure from their internal clients. There are many if and buts in their mind and eventually they find that their management is not very happy from them.

“My management doesn’t have budget” type

This type is very close to “why should I invest so much type” but the main difference is that they realize the importance of acquiring latest technology but are unable to convince their management to invest on technology. They are happy with their 9-5 stable job and only get aggressive when some equipment becomes faulty.

Conclusion:

Hope the readers had good time reading but the key is to realize the individual and organizational circumstances. It always easy to criticize as compared to provide the solution and execute it. So I would like to highlight few factors that should be considered no matter what type of CTO you are.

These are below and they are not in any priority sequence

·         Total cost of ownership

·         Scalability

·         Reliability

·         Price

Total Cost of ownership

It is one of the most important factors in decision making as one should realize the overall cost of ownership and not just the deal price. It includes the customer service of the supplier, the power consumption of the equipment, post sales support, replacement policies, warranties, rack space to an extent and many such factors. 

Scalability

The industry and the organizations are always growing so the solution should be selected which is always easy to expand. it is not easy to make the equipment off air and then add the new one , so ideally the equipment should be scalable and that too without going off air.

Reliability

Reliability is again one of the most important factor as this equipment has to be up and running 24x7x365. Down time is not an option as it causes huge revenue loss therefore reliability and performance of the equipment should be considered as a top priority before making the decision.

Price

Price is also the key factor especially in our market. We are heavily burdened by the rising cost and the currency devaluation so ideally the target should be to get the best equipment in the best price.

The above article is written by Sheeraz Adil and will be happy to see your feedback on sheerazadil@gmail.com