When you need to put your IT house in order, is a chief information officer the right hire?
When your IT department needs a clear-cut leader, it's natural to consider hiring a chief information officer. That's because the definition of the CIO position has shifted and gained prominence over the past decade as smaller, tech-centric companies opt for hiring a chief technologist with an executive-level title rather than just an IT director or vice president of technology.
As the head of IT, even the title CTO is falling out of fashion. Really, the two positions – CTO and CIO – are almost interchangeable in definition, though they mean very different things depending on what company you ask.
Hiring a CIO: What's in a Name?
The focus of a CTO, a position akin to and occasionally still referred to as "vice president of engineering," is typically to develop and implement new technologies. A CIO, in contrast, is predisposed to solve problems through researching and implementing ready-made technologies. A CTO generally works to develop new technology solutions. Where a CIO may, for example, manage in-house technology such as an IT department, a CTO's role is typically more outward-facing, according to Tom Berray, a managing partner at Cabot Consultants, an executive search firm based in Virginia.
"As a general rule, CIOs are more internally focused while CTOs are more focused on working on products for external clients," Berray says. "That said, there are nuances. Some companies have a CTO focused on operations under the CIO. Others have the CTO as the top person for technology at the company and the CIO reports to that person regarding internal systems."
In 2008, according to a study by CIO magazine called "State of the CIO," 60 percent of U.S. heads of their company's IT department surveyed had the title CIO. That's the highest percent in the survey's history. Comparatively, 11 percent had a VP title, and 4 percent were CTOs.
So, roles vary a bit – and so do actual titles. A vice president of engineering or a VP of technology is a CTO/CIO without the executive-level title – and, really, any technologist at the head of a large department performs a similar role.
That's the case at San Francisco-based Ticketfly, the ticket-sales firm founded two years ago by Dan Teree and Andrew Dreskin. "In a start-up context, bands are formed sometimes by happenstance, and my head of engineering absolutely acts as the CTO," Teree says. "We are not big on titles here but make no mistake, he is the guy in charge."
So when is it time to add a CIO to your roster—or to dole out that exalted title? For tech-oriented start-ups, the answer might be from Day One. For existing companies, the moment you begin to have multiple lines of business and staff based in offices across different time zones, hiring a CIO to impose order can be a good move, Berray says.
Hiring a CIO: Define Your Needs While it's true that any new employee needs to be part of the long-term corporate strategy, that couldn't be more important than when hiring an executive teammate. Visualizing where you want to be in five years, one year, and even next quarter, will be critical to see how a new CIO fits into that matrix. The cleanest way to plot out that role is through a well-crafted, future-oriented job description, which can be the single step that begins the hiring process – and makes it simpler, from start to finish.
The basics of a solid job description include title, to whom the position reports (here, it's the CEO and board of directors) and a summary of the position and bullet-pointed specific job duties. For a more thorough document, add names and positions of colleagues that position will work with closely and minimum qualifications.
Even if you do not include them in a description, executive search experts advise thinking specifically about what accomplishments your ideal candidate should have – say, overseeing the creation of a technology parallel to what your company currently needs or managing a team of developers that has grown a technical company as much as you'd like to grow. Remember, for any executive-level position, you need not only be searching for someone with education, qualifications and who's a good match personally, but also someone with a proven track record of growth success.
Because the role of a CIO can vary from company to company, you'll want to assess which departments of your organization the CIO should oversee – whether it's just the IT department or also aspects of the research and development department. Also, ask yourself whether you want to allow some flexibility in hiring based on the strengths of your best candidates.
Hiring a CIO: Recruit Wisely
If your company is in the position to hire a CIO, chances are you have a significant budget for doing so. If that's the case, have you also budgeted for the time and energy it will take to find an ideal hire?
Because most top candidates from related fields are likely entrenched in great jobs already, they're unlikely to be trolling job-posting sites. To reach out to a qualified group of candidates you'll need to prepare to spend significant time on calling and networking with peer CEOs and COOs who oversee and hire for the CIO position – and finding current IT directors in your professional network who might be prime candidates for a leadership position. The other option is to fork over what can be a large fee to enlist the help of an executive search firm.
"You could use a search company, but a lot of start-ups don't have that 20 percent to spend on a head-hunter," says Teree.
Berray, an experienced executive recruiter, says his firm rarely turns online for finding executive-level candidates, due to the daunting task of weeding through "hundreds if not thousands of responses – and getting a lot of irrelevant stuff."
There are exceptions, though. He recommends posting a CIO position online if it's located in a remote geographic area or is in a field different from the one you'd like to hire from. "If you're looking for some cross-industry pollination – if you're open to some people you wouldn't normally think of, it could work," he says.
If you do decide to post a job listing online, let the job description you've already crafted be your guide. Include minimal qualifications, educational background, relevant fields of previous work, and what sort of a track record you're looking for.
For CIOs, you'll want someone who's a demonstrated great leader with a perceptive nature and great business sense. That's on top of being a tech whiz with a knack for profitability. Minimizing cost while maximizing results of technology - be it back-end programming or front-end product distribution – can be a big focus of the CIO's job.
You must also consider how to convey what kind of candidate will be a strong cultural fit. Performance-management expert Jamie Resker, president of Employee Performance Solutions in Boston, suggests looking for characteristics that already exist in your office. "It's not an exact science, but you want to find out whether this person is going to be a good fit culturally in the office is important," she says. "For that, you just need to tap into the best qualities your existing employees share."
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When your IT department needs a clear-cut leader, it's natural to consider hiring a chief information officer. That's because the definition of the CIO position has shifted and gained prominence over the past decade as smaller, tech-centric companies opt for hiring a chief technologist with an executive-level title rather than just an IT director or vice president of technology.
As the head of IT, even the title CTO is falling out of fashion. Really, the two positions – CTO and CIO – are almost interchangeable in definition, though they mean very different things depending on what company you ask.
Hiring a CIO: What's in a Name?
The focus of a CTO, a position akin to and occasionally still referred to as "vice president of engineering," is typically to develop and implement new technologies. A CIO, in contrast, is predisposed to solve problems through researching and implementing ready-made technologies. A CTO generally works to develop new technology solutions. Where a CIO may, for example, manage in-house technology such as an IT department, a CTO's role is typically more outward-facing, according to Tom Berray, a managing partner at Cabot Consultants, an executive search firm based in Virginia.
"As a general rule, CIOs are more internally focused while CTOs are more focused on working on products for external clients," Berray says. "That said, there are nuances. Some companies have a CTO focused on operations under the CIO. Others have the CTO as the top person for technology at the company and the CIO reports to that person regarding internal systems."
In 2008, according to a study by CIO magazine called "State of the CIO," 60 percent of U.S. heads of their company's IT department surveyed had the title CIO. That's the highest percent in the survey's history. Comparatively, 11 percent had a VP title, and 4 percent were CTOs.
So, roles vary a bit – and so do actual titles. A vice president of engineering or a VP of technology is a CTO/CIO without the executive-level title – and, really, any technologist at the head of a large department performs a similar role.
That's the case at San Francisco-based Ticketfly, the ticket-sales firm founded two years ago by Dan Teree and Andrew Dreskin. "In a start-up context, bands are formed sometimes by happenstance, and my head of engineering absolutely acts as the CTO," Teree says. "We are not big on titles here but make no mistake, he is the guy in charge."
So when is it time to add a CIO to your roster—or to dole out that exalted title? For tech-oriented start-ups, the answer might be from Day One. For existing companies, the moment you begin to have multiple lines of business and staff based in offices across different time zones, hiring a CIO to impose order can be a good move, Berray says.
Hiring a CIO: Define Your Needs While it's true that any new employee needs to be part of the long-term corporate strategy, that couldn't be more important than when hiring an executive teammate. Visualizing where you want to be in five years, one year, and even next quarter, will be critical to see how a new CIO fits into that matrix. The cleanest way to plot out that role is through a well-crafted, future-oriented job description, which can be the single step that begins the hiring process – and makes it simpler, from start to finish.
The basics of a solid job description include title, to whom the position reports (here, it's the CEO and board of directors) and a summary of the position and bullet-pointed specific job duties. For a more thorough document, add names and positions of colleagues that position will work with closely and minimum qualifications.
Even if you do not include them in a description, executive search experts advise thinking specifically about what accomplishments your ideal candidate should have – say, overseeing the creation of a technology parallel to what your company currently needs or managing a team of developers that has grown a technical company as much as you'd like to grow. Remember, for any executive-level position, you need not only be searching for someone with education, qualifications and who's a good match personally, but also someone with a proven track record of growth success.
Because the role of a CIO can vary from company to company, you'll want to assess which departments of your organization the CIO should oversee – whether it's just the IT department or also aspects of the research and development department. Also, ask yourself whether you want to allow some flexibility in hiring based on the strengths of your best candidates.
Hiring a CIO: Recruit Wisely
If your company is in the position to hire a CIO, chances are you have a significant budget for doing so. If that's the case, have you also budgeted for the time and energy it will take to find an ideal hire?
Because most top candidates from related fields are likely entrenched in great jobs already, they're unlikely to be trolling job-posting sites. To reach out to a qualified group of candidates you'll need to prepare to spend significant time on calling and networking with peer CEOs and COOs who oversee and hire for the CIO position – and finding current IT directors in your professional network who might be prime candidates for a leadership position. The other option is to fork over what can be a large fee to enlist the help of an executive search firm.
"You could use a search company, but a lot of start-ups don't have that 20 percent to spend on a head-hunter," says Teree.
Berray, an experienced executive recruiter, says his firm rarely turns online for finding executive-level candidates, due to the daunting task of weeding through "hundreds if not thousands of responses – and getting a lot of irrelevant stuff."
There are exceptions, though. He recommends posting a CIO position online if it's located in a remote geographic area or is in a field different from the one you'd like to hire from. "If you're looking for some cross-industry pollination – if you're open to some people you wouldn't normally think of, it could work," he says.
If you do decide to post a job listing online, let the job description you've already crafted be your guide. Include minimal qualifications, educational background, relevant fields of previous work, and what sort of a track record you're looking for.
For CIOs, you'll want someone who's a demonstrated great leader with a perceptive nature and great business sense. That's on top of being a tech whiz with a knack for profitability. Minimizing cost while maximizing results of technology - be it back-end programming or front-end product distribution – can be a big focus of the CIO's job.
You must also consider how to convey what kind of candidate will be a strong cultural fit. Performance-management expert Jamie Resker, president of Employee Performance Solutions in Boston, suggests looking for characteristics that already exist in your office. "It's not an exact science, but you want to find out whether this person is going to be a good fit culturally in the office is important," she says. "For that, you just need to tap into the best qualities your existing employees share."
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