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The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic impact have hurt many companies, especially small businesses. However, for others, the jarring challenges this year have created opportunities and accelerated changes that were probably going to occur all along.<\/p>\n
One particular area of speedy transformation is technology. It\u2019s never been more important for businesses to wield their internal IT effectively, enable customers and vendors to easily interact with those systems, and make the most of artificial intelligence and \u201cbig data\u201d to spot trends.<\/p>\n
Accomplishing all this is a tall order for even the most energetic business owner or CEO. That\u2019s why many companies end up creating one or more tech-specific executive positions. Assuming you don\u2019t already employ such an individual, should you consider adding an IT exec? Perhaps so.<\/p>\n
3 common positions<\/strong><\/p>\n There are three widely used position titles for technology executives:<\/p>\n 1. Chief Information Officer (CIO).<\/strong> This person is typically responsible for managing a company\u2019s internal IT infrastructure and operations. In fact, an easy way to remember the purpose of this position is to replace the word \u201cInformation\u201d with \u201cInternal.\u201d A CIO\u2019s job is to oversee the purchase, implementation and proper use of technological systems and products that will maximize the efficiency and productivity of the business.<\/p>\n 2. Chief Technology Officer (CTO).<\/strong> In contrast to a CIO, a CTO focuses on external processes \u2014 specifically, with customers and vendors. This person usually oversees the development and eventual production of technological products or services that will meet customer needs and increase revenue. The position demands the ability to live on the cutting edge by doing constant research into tech trends while also being highly collaborative with employees and vendors.<\/p>\n 3. Chief Digital Officer (CDO).<\/strong> For some companies, the CIO and\/or CTO are so busy with their respective job duties that they\u2019re unable to look very far ahead. This is where a CDO typically comes into play. His or her primary objective is to spot new markets, channels or even business models that the company can target, explore and perhaps eventually profit from. So, while a CIO looks internally and a CTO looks externally, a CDO\u2019s gaze is set on a more distant horizon.<\/p>\n Costs vs. benefits<\/strong><\/p>\n As mentioned, these are three of the most common IT executive positions. Their specific objectives and job duties may vary depending on the business in question. And they are by no means the only examples of such positions. There are many variations, including Chief Marketing Technologist and Chief Information Security Officer.<\/p>\n So, getting back to our original question: is this a good time to add one or more of these execs to your staff? The answer very much depends on the financial strength and projected direction of your company. These positions will call for major expenditures in hiring, payroll and benefits. Our firm can help you weigh the costs vs. benefits.<\/p>\n \u00a9 2020<\/em><\/p>\n <\/body> The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic impact have hurt many companies, especially small businesses. However, for others, the jarring challenges this year have created opportunities and accelerated changes that were probably going to occur all along. One particular area of speedy transformation is technology. It\u2019s never been more important for businesses to wield their internal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,14,10],"tags":[8,11,12],"class_list":["post-15182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-business","category-news","tag-articles","tag-news","tag-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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