Room with a view, please

For chief technologists who find themselves increasingly involved in everything from marketing and sales to production, the old Groucho Marx quip, “Hello, room service? Send up a larger room!” may ring more true than funny.

It is increasingly clear as businesses try to sort through the complexities of the Internet, wireless technology, grid computing, and the myriad technologies offering both great promise for increased profitability and potential for increased security risks, that every organization needs a chief technologist — the person with deep technology knowledge who can align the enterprise’s business goals and technology strategy. And that person is often breaking through the proscribed boundaries that have limited IT leaders’ input into corporate strategy in the past. At some smaller companies, the chief technologist may hold a variety of other titles. In Fortune 1000 companies, the chief technologist may hold a formal title such as CTO.

In the chief technologist’s role, however, you should be clear on your function, even if others aren’t. You are the go-to leader whose role includes some or all of the following:

∙Deep technology knowledge, at a granular level. The chief technologist isn’t writing code today, but may well have written code at sometime in the past (and may still do it, as a hobby). This is the IT leader who knows what works — and what doesn’t work.

∙Crucial input on any technology buys, with a clear mandate to ensure that new technology fits into the overall strategic plan.

∙The power to set standards for the enterprise.

∙Veto power over any technology buys. Everything stops at the chief technologist’s desk, and a “no” from this technology leader will send a vendor packing.

∙The power to determine when a new technology is ready for prime time. The chief technologist knows that determining “when” is crucial — and involves consideration of the technology itself as only part of a complex set of judgments about where the company is today, where the company is headed, and when a technology buy makes the most sense. For an example of how crucial chief technologists are in determining when their companies should launch a new technology, check out Associate Editor Jack McCarthy’s in-depth look at the decision-making process some chief technologists are using to implement VoIP in the enterprise (see “CTOs call up VoIP in the enterprise”).

∙A clear, visionary sense of how to marry the technology strategy to the business strategy. 

Ironically, the faltering economy, with all its shattered high tech stocks, is one reason the chief technologist’s role has become even more vital to every organization’s efforts to throw off the malaise. Sure, chief technologists have been crucial in creating efficiencies. But beyond the downsizing, rightsizing, and outsourcing that you have likely had a hand in during the past 18 months, the real strategic importance chief technologists will play now and in the coming months is in making the technology calls that move organizations to the next level of productivity and profitability.

In this way, the role of the chief technologist mirrors the role technology now plays in the enterprise. It’s not surprising that the chief technologist’s role has expanded and crossed boundaries when the technology itself, from Web services to wireless, offers a more integrated, real-time environment that will expedite decision-making in all departments and facilitate partnerships both inside and outside the enterprise. Anyone who manages technology in that kind of a fluid environment must be involved in all aspects of the corporate structure.

So next time somebody tries to pigeonhole you into IT roles from the past, tell them you’re a chief technologist. And tell them to send up a larger room.