| Of the many things a CTO(Chief Technology
Officer)must do to be successful，the one that can never be neglected is
simple：maintaining focus on helping your company produce revenue and profits．On
a purely superficial level，this sounds like the job of the CEO or vice president
of sales，but successful CTOs know that being closely involved in the revenue
game is the key ingredient to the growth of your company and your career．
For some technology staff aspiring to the CTO position，there is a sense that getting too close to the money sullies the purity of the greater technology mission Of building elegant products and systems．This may be true in an academic environment，but in the corporate world，those elegant products and systems need to help produce a profit．The CTO works at the strategic intersection of technology and business，and the unique talents of the CTO mean that he or she can leverage technology for the good of the business like no one else on the executive team． To drive revenue in a company，the CTO must work as 3 partner with the CEO and vice president of sales．Quite often，the tech leaders in an organization sit back and wait for executive managers to tell them what to do and then deliver requirements．A successful CTO realizes that the process of working through ideas for new products and services demands his or her participation from idea origination to final implementation． While working as a partner with key executives at a company，the CTO should also keep in close contact with the sales staff members who are out talking to customers on a regular basis．Asking three simple questions of sales staff on a regular basis helps keep the CTO in the loop on the realities of external market conditions：1)What are our customers asking for today?2)What are customers looking for in the next 90 days?And 3)How do customers envision their needs developing in the next year to 18 months?These answers help the CTO with budgeting，strategic planning，and product development，and most importantly，helping to drive revenue and profitability over the short and long term． Finally，as an externally facing executive，the CTO must always have time for existing and potential customers．This means accompanying your sales staff on sales calls and understanding the challenges that your customers face．The CTO can then use the feedback to help the company serve customers more effectively and drive revenue．That's what it's a11 about． |