Freeman Clarke has decades of experience in hiring the best CIOs and CTOs. In several years of refining our screening process, we’ve discovered that good CTOs always have six essential qualities.
technical Expertise. CTOs must have an extensive understanding of technology, security and engineering, and preferably years of experience in the industry. They need to understand infrastructure, business systems and online technology. And since no field changes more rapidly than IT, they need up-to-date and detailed experience of practices, products and vendors. The best CTOs don’t just follow the field, they’re leaders — active at events and in online discussions.
People Skills. Of course, all of business is about people. And all software is built by people, for people. Teamwork is at the heart of any successful venture. So the CTO needs to be a coach and mentor to his team, and to ensure that communication needs flows easily upwards, downwards and sideways. Plus a CTO needs to engage with all the stakeholders, be a source of energy and good-humor, and needs to fit in.
Entrepreneurship. The CTO needs to be passionate about driving growth and fully committed to the ambitions of the business. This means understanding funding and valuation mechanisms, business plans, and disciplines like marketing and legal. Of course, any complex project has issues, and the CTO needs to be creative, agile and proactive to rapidly recognize when changes are necessary to stay on track.
Business Management Skills. Running an IT team requires good planning, communication skills, and a careful attention to detail. As CTOs are often responsible for compliance issues, they need to be aware of the implications of contractual and regulatory frameworks too. They must know how to monitor their budgets, manage contracts, and negotiate prices. Since so much of IT involves external suppliers, CTOs need to maintain good relationships and long-term commitments while keeping costs under control.
Strategic Thinking Skills. technical discussions are often painfully detailed. Custom digital technology is complex and intricate. A good CTO both understands the details and the bigger picture — meaning, how the technology will be part of the business strategy. A CTO should also understand that board-level discussions can be vague; key questions are often about the art of the possible. CTOs need to be comfortable with this and strive for strategies that are creative, sensible, useful and flexible.
Compelling Leadership. The CTO forms part of the senior team. Thus he or she needs to lead from the front — contribute to decision-making, be bold and visionary, and hold others to account. As the business grows, the stakes become higher; the CTO must be able to handle the pressure. Where there are external investors, partners or other stakeholders the CTO needs to represent the business to them. External investors, in particular, need to draw confidence from the CTO, as his or her role is so critical to success.
We devote a huge part of our management effort to the recruitment, screening and selection of CTOs and CIOs. And, because we work in the mid-market, we only select CTOs who can fit in with dynamic businesses, rather than needing the comfort of the corporate environment.
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Why CTOs Are Crucial to the Success of Mid-Market Companies
Many of our clients use custom software and digital initiatives to drive sales, increase efficiency or improve service. Sometimes they are disrupting entire markets. As a result, the requirement for a commercially astute CTO is on the rise. Freeman Clarke Co-Founder and Director Graeme Freeman discusses this in more detail in this video.
Developing Custom Software? Don’t Hire an Interim CTO
As more companies invest in bespoke software, there is an increasing demand for an interim Chief Technology Officer (CTO). But there’s a better way to find a flexible, experienced CTO.
First of all, why build bespoke software?
Many companies have crashed on the rocks of bespoke software. It’s risky. It can get very expensive, and a lot of projects get stuck.
Of course, any project can go awry. But in most situations competent leaders can figure out the problem; they can explain what they want; they can assess progress and issues with their own eyes.
None of this is true for bespoke software. It’s complicated, most of it isn’t visible, and developers are notoriously difficult to communicate with!
Nevertheless, bespoke software can extremely be valuable. It allows you to do things better than your competitors. It can provide your customers a better experience and provide new revenue streams with new services. It can allow you to scale your business without a proportionate increase in costs. Finally, as intellectual property, custom software amplifies the value of a business.
What is a Chief Technology Officer (CTO)?
A CTO owns all aspects of IT centered on software development. A good CTO also bridges the gap between the business and the development activities, ensuring that the software delivers the business plan. He or she understands market needs and commercial opportunities, and thus can help develop those business plans.
The CTO then ensures that the ideas are turned into effective software. He or she has guaranteed that the software is well-designed, well-engineered, secure, properly tested, and compliant with contractual and regulatory requirements. Finally the CTO makes sure that all software is properly hosted and supported.
How do know you have a good interim CTO?
In order to deliver, an interim CTO must understand the commercial context properly — for example, for ecommerce, they should understand external partners like Amazon and eBay, and how search marketing is optimized.
As well as working well with the rest of the executive team, an interim CTO must be able to deal creditably with external investors, advisors, partners and suppliers.
Interim CTOs generally work on fixed-term contracts for a day rate. Interim CTOs normally find their work through agencies and are available at short notice. They will expect their appointment to be full-time for the duration of the contract, and they will generally work alone.
We believe that the interim model lacks flexibility for the client, and it exposes the short-term interests of the interim hire. Instead Freeman Clarke provides flexible, or part-time CTOs. We make a long-term commitment to understanding a client’s business and take a long-term interest in the viability of their work. We can ramp up or down, while remaining flexibly engaged with our clients for the long-term.
CTOs can only join our team after an extensive and rigorous screening process, so we guarantee that our people really are the best in the business.
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How Mid-Market Companies Can Recruit a First-Class CTO
Ambitious mid-market or externally funded start-ups are increasingly investing in custom software. They want to seize new opportunities, to disrupt their markets, and to amplify their value.
This is driving the requirement for more commercially focused, flexible, experienced Chief Technology Officers (CTOs). Recruiter Martin Davis spoke to Graeme Freeman, Co-Founder and Director of Freeman Clarke, to find out what CTOs are, and why so many mid-market businesses require them.
Graeme Freeman: So, Martin, can we just start by defining what a CTO does in the mid-market? Martin Davis: Well, the role varies a lot depending on what the company needs. But the key point is that a high-quality CTO is more than just the person who is accountable for the delivery of the technology. Of course that’s vital, but a proper CTO is widely experienced in business and new ventures and properly contributes on an executive level.
GF: So is this an internally facing role? MD: Well again, that depends upon what the company needs. Sometimes it’s all about setting strategy and leading software development. A lot of time may be spent dealing with external suppliers. The CTO may negotiate with suppliers, partners or large customers if necessary. But, importantly, a CTO should be someone who lends credibility to the venture. For example, if there are investors or bankers, the CTO has an important role in liaising with them. He or she needs to understand how they think and work.
GF: Why is it getting harder to find CTOs? Martin Davis: It’s very hard to find great technologynicians who are also leaders and tuned into business and commercial issues. The market for good people is always very tight, but it’s getting more difficult because demand from companies, large and small, is increasing. Areas like fintechnology, proptechnology, healthtechnology and edutechnology are expanding and sucking up lots of great people. And all kinds of businesses are investing in custom software to separate themselves from the market.
GF: So what options do business leaders in the mid-market have? Martin Davis: There are really only three ways forward. Option one is go to the market and recruit someone. This is expensive — of course agents or headhunters charge a very large fee, and the truth is it often goes wrong, because it’s very difficult to assess competence and technical talent. You have to ask yourself whether the best people are available on the market in this way.
Alternatively, companies use interim hires. But they are really just hired-guns, and their commitment lasts until they get a call offering them a higher day-rate. Their flexibility is very limited, if there is any lull or hiatus then they will move on.
But our offer is unique. We have built a team of outstanding people, and they work for our clients on a flexible part-time (we call it “fractional”) basis. So they can be heavily involved during busy periods, and when things are quieter, they can reduce their involvement. They all have first-class records, they’ve seen it and done it, and we have tested and screened their experience. For a CTO that can help a company grow, to work in that company’s best interest and not someone else’s, the best option is Freeman Clarke.
You may also find our ideas on CTOs for software and digital helpful.
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Hiring an Interim Chief Information Officer
Companies often contact us because they want to hire an Interim Chief Information Officer (interim CIO) and they are looking for an interim CIO agency. The term CIO is often used by larger businesses, or by business owners who have a background in larger companies.
We generally use the term IT Director as this is has a broader meaning and covers a wider range of skills and backgrounds.
What is an Interim CIO?
An interim CIO will generally be a Board-level position and will normally have the following objectives:
a robust, secure, trouble-free infrastructure (eg example desktops, email, phones, network, file storage)
efficient line of business systems including processes, people and technology and everything needed to make this work well (eg training, data standards, documentation)
deliver digital initiatives which probably encompass customers, partners and suppliers
ensure compliance and risk management (eg GDPR, PCI, ISO27001).
Click here to download our CIO CTO and IT Director Job Description
The breadth of each of these points and the balance between them will depend very much on the nature of your business.
A larger company on multiple sites with large numbers of people might have complex infrastructure challenges. Poorly designed or poorly managed infrastructure can be expensive, unreliable, difficult to scale and insecure. But these issues are less prevalent than they used to be and infrastructure is often delivered over the cloud.
Some companies have complicated internal processes so automation, integration and reporting are vital to their success. An effective interim CIO can bring the necessary leadership and clarity to deliver major cost reductions and customer service improvements.
Digital initiatives can range from simple websites to full digital transformation programmes that fundamentally change how the business is presented to customers, how the business works internally, and how it works with suppliers and partners.
Compliance and risk challenges vary hugely for companies. For example, do you provide 24/7 critical services; do you manage highly sensitive data; do your clients impose stringent requirements on you; are you in a highly regulated industry? Some businesses have relative simple challenges in this area, others not.
The Right Interim CIO for Your Company’s Strategy
It is critical to establish the balance between the 4 points above and to attract an individual who has a track record in your critical areas.
Your company strategy may be to achieve lower price, better service or both. You may be looking to focus on internal efficiency, or excellent online experience. Or you may just need to overcome specific issues or risks. Before embarking on a search, you should untangle these points so you know the kind of interim CIO you’re looking for.
In addition, there are 2 other fundamental questions:
Are you looking for someone to envisage and lead major change, or to manage gradual improvements and fix specific issues?
Are you looking for someone to manage internal teams or external suppliers or both?
There are personality and behavioural differences between people who thrive in situations of major change and those who manage steadier improvements. Similarly, there is a great difference between people who build and enthuse internal teams, and those who manage external suppliers through contracts.
How to Hire an Interim CIO
There are a large number of agencies available for interim CIOs that can be found easily on the web. Senior professionals are very credible so we would advise careful preparation for interview and that you diligently take up references before making any offers.
We advise that you consider the following points in relation to interim CIOs:
they will rarely want to engage with your company’s culture and values, that is why they have chosen the interim lifestyle
they have little knowledge of, or interest in, the long-term viability or their work
once your project is complete they will immediately be seeking a full-time role elsewhere, and they will not be available to you at all
they may have arrangements with suppliers that they recommend.
We spend a huge amount of our time recruiting the very best CIOs in the business to form our elite team of “fractional CIOs”. Our team are committed to working for our clients for the long-term, on a flexible basis, so during intense periods they can spend the bulk of their time with a client, and during quieter periods then can have a lighter touch to keep the client’s IT on track.
When one of our fractional CIOs joins your senior team then they immerse themselves in your business and aim to be with you for the long-term. We’re completely independent and only recommend the best for you.
There is no lock in to our contracts at all and our clients simply work on a “pay as you go” basis, so our people have to make a difference every day.
We use the term IT Director rather than CIO as it is recognised more broadly in the UK. We use the term fractional rather than interim to emphasise between how we work over the disadvantages of an interim.
If you’d like to discuss in more detail how a fractional CIO can benefit your business, please get in touch via our contact us page or call 0203 020 1864.
7 Key Points When Hiring a CIO, CTO or IT Director
The IT leader is a critical role. But what is this role and how do you hire the best at an affordable salary?
There is no generally accepted definition of the differences between the roles of the IT Director, CIO (Chief Information Officer) and CTO (Chief Technology Officer). So for simplicity we use the term IT Director to encompass all 3 roles. In all cases the role covers information systems and the underlying technology. It may encompass strategy, business process and management information, digital and online, and office and facilities management as well.
The term CIO might be more appropriate for a role emphasising business process alignment, management information and business strategy rather than detailed technical leadership. In addition, they are going to be more focused on the operations and delivery of technology including infrastructure and management of third party service providers.
A CTO is generally someone focussed on software development, perhaps for digital projects. Ecommerce and customer interactive systems from social media through to customer portals are going to be where a CTO will be at home. They may be more aligned with marketing and revenue generation, and able to represent the company in relationships with funders and external parties.
An IT Director is perhaps the broadest term. It generally means an individual able to strategically lead all aspects of IT and its usage in business. They should have experience of business systems, software development, projects of all kinds, and IT infrastructure and facilities.
7 Key questions to consider when defining the role for your organisation:
1. Who will the individual report to? To work across the whole company, to change processes and how people work, the person needs to be part of the senior team and may need to report to the CEO.
2. Will the individual be responsible for your company’s Digital Vision? If you have plans for ecommerce or social media marketing then will the person be responsible for this?
3. Do you need a supplier manager or team builder? If your IT is largely or wholly outsourced then this requires a leader with strong contract management skills who is very used to commercial negotiation and procurement. If your IT is largely insourced then your IT leader needs the personal style and leadership qualities to inspire and build a team.
4. Is the plan for major projects? The mindset and attitude of a leader who drives change is typically quite different to the person who oversees a steady-state.
5. Is there is already strong technical management in place, or IT infrastructure provision is outsourced to suppliers who have proven themselves technically capable. Or do you need a technical leader to provide technical vision and oversight.
6. Does your business include complicated processes and no existing senior leaders with time to address issues?
7. Is there a clear need for good data management or good management information, or are these issues already covered off by existing roles?
We only hire the best in the business – fewer than 1% of the people who apply to join us are able to successfully complete every stage of our recruitment process. We are completely independent and able to provide IT Directors, CTOs and CIOs on a part-time and flexible basis (we call it “fractional”). If you want to talk to us about what one of our team could do for your business then you can get in touch my emailing contact@freemanclarke.com
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Graeme Freeman Co-Founder and Director
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