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Chief digital officer vs. chief technology officer: An explainer
For many enterprise organizations, CDOs focus mostly on digital strategy and customer engagement, while CTOs focus on managing and improving internal tech systems.
The functions of the chief digital officer and the chief technology officer might overlap, but each position fulfills a distinct mission in enterprise IT.
The number of C-suite positions expanded in the early 21st century. The CDO was one of the most notable new executive positions, focusing on creating and executing the organization's overarching digital strategy. Meanwhile, the CTO generally takes charge of the company's technology products and services.
Another of the important tech-related C-suite jobs that manage a company's IT wants and needs is the chief data officer, also abbreviated as CDO, who is responsible for the company's data strategy as well as data management and governance. The CIO role focuses on implementing and managing the IT systems that enable the organization's workers to perform their tasks in the most effective ways. The chief information security officer, or CISO, creates and implements the policies, procedures and technical controls required to protect the organization's systems and data from threats. All of these positions focus on helping their companies use technology in strategic ways.
Here's how to further distinguish between a chief digital officer vs. a chief technology officer.
CDO vs. CTO: What's the difference?
The CDO and CTO are similar, if not synonymous, jobs in many ways. Indeed, the responsibilities of each position do overlap. For example, in some organizations, company leaders might assign duties that traditionally go to a CTO to a CDO and vice versa, particularly if their organization employs only one of the two positions.
Where and how the CDO and CTO responsibilities overlap or differ is further complicated by whether a company employs other tech-related roles, such as a CIO, a chief data and analytics officer or a chief AI officer. It's important to note that few organizations require the full spectrum of tech-centric titles among their executive ranks.
Still, the exact makeup of a company's C-suite and its reporting structure helps determine the division of responsibilities when and if there is both a chief digital officer and a chief technology officer. An organization's industry also affects the responsibilities of these two employees. For example, a CTO at a hardware or software vendor focuses on a more defined scope of duties, such as the development of the products and services that the company sells.
Even in organizations outside the IT vendor space, a CTO's key responsibility is managing the technology sold or used by the organization's clients or customers. This responsibility includes developing a strategic vision, crafting a roadmap to achieve that vision and executing against the roadmap. In addition, CTOs oversee the day-to-day tasks required to manage and maintain the company's tech products that are under the CTO's jurisdiction and manage the teams that complete these tasks.
On the other hand, the chief digital officer is responsible for the ways in which the organization's employees use digital technologies to perform their work and engage with stakeholders -- primarily existing and potential customers, but also business partners, vendors and others, including the overall marketplace. The CDO also decides how the company will use existing and emerging technologies to improve internal operations and market positioning.
While some of that work might overlap with the CTO's domain, the CDO takes on a broader scope of duties. For example, the CDO does not typically focus on developing and managing the tech products and services that the organization might sell. That task falls under the CTO's purview. Instead, the CDO decides at a high level how those products fit into the company's overall digital and transformation strategy.
It's important to stress that the CDO and CTO jobs and responsibilities vary based on the organization's size, industry and market position, and technical and digital maturity. Both roles cover different duties, but support the company's overall tech strategy.
What are a CDO's responsibilities?
The chief digital officer's title provides a clear indication of the position's main responsibility: driving the organization's digital strategy. The CDO plans and executes how the company will use the full range of available digital technologies, such as cloud computing and AI, to continually perform better through new ways of working and engaging with customers.
The CDO is expected to use digital technologies to continually transform the organization's processes, products and services. The goal is to increase the company's value in the marketplace and its profits from those digital activities, thereby making sure it is a disruptor in the market and not the one being disrupted by others.
Given that a CDO's responsibilities overlap with those of a CIO, some organizations have combined the two jobs into a chief digital and information officer. The CDIO typically reports to the CEO.
What are a CTO's responsibilities?
The chief technology officer focuses on creating, delivering and managing technology products and services that advance and help achieve an organization's business goals and objectives in the marketplace.
Moreover, the CTO typically develops the organization's strategy for using technology to create products and services, primarily for the needs of external stakeholders. External stakeholders are mostly existing and potential customers, but possibly business partners and vendors too.
The CTO is responsible for identifying which technologies the company can use and if it should use them. The CTO would then be involved in developing and implementing these technologies.
An additional CTO duty is overseeing the teams that create and manage those tech products and services throughout their lifecycle. To do that successfully, the CTO must understand both market trends and customer needs so that they can develop profitable, in-demand technology products and services. That responsibility generally means the CTO must engage with the market and manage customer relations.
The CTO position is most common in hardware makers, software vendors, and biotech and other technology companies. Some CTOs also manage the IT department that serves the organization's internal operations; in such cases, the CTO either serves as the CIO or oversees the CIO. Many CTOs report to the CEO, but some report to the CIO.
How a CDO and a CTO can collaborate
As is the case with all members of an organization's executive leadership team, the CDO and CTO are expected to collaborate and cooperate to make sure the C-suite is unified in setting the strategic course and moving all its teams in the same direction.
However, multiple areas exist in which the CDO and CTO should collaborate more closely. More specifically, the two positions should work together on their organization's strategic vision for digital and information technologies. They also should involve other tech executives in this planning, such as the CIO and chief data officer, if they exist.
In support of that work, the CDO and CTO should work together to understand current and future market needs. The two will set the digital and technical agendas that enable their company to fulfill market needs or, in a potentially more profitable move, generate a market demand for their organization's products, thanks to its digital and technical products, services and customer engagement.
The CDO and CTO should consider teaming up with the CIO to make sure their organization supports the required IT infrastructure and ecosystem to deliver on current and future business goals in the tech and digital sphere.
Mary K. Pratt is an award-winning freelance journalist with a focus on covering enterprise IT and cybersecurity management.
