Anton Ruddenklau, partner
Head of digital and innovation, financial services, KPMG
“In three years’ time, the most powerful person after the CEO will be the CTO. Digital is not a bunch of technologies, it is not a mindset. It is about services and how we think about how we deliver services that haven’t been delivered before and about how we create incremental value.
“You cannot magically hire a Google person and then you are digital. Grow your own. Test and try things. We are not in a linear world anymore. We have to try things, make mistakes, iterate, try and try again. Digital transformation at KPMG is a trial and error but we move forward and we learn and then we move forward again. We work in increments rather than follow absolute strategies.
“If you are to hire a CTO, the number-one skill set they should have is collaboration. If they can co-create and they can make things together with people and can be effective at fostering the right type of culture, you are on to a winner. The rest comes easy.
“Money is the enemy of innovation. Having a zero budget for innovation is the most innovative thing you can do.
“Stop being so hierarchical. The people who really make the difference are the people who deliver our services day in and day out. Give them a good listening to and encourage them to be part of our digital transformation.”
Alice Newton-Rex
Vice-president of product, WorldRemit
“Your CTO is not a glorified head of IT. Your CTO is not your lead developer. Your CTO should be having a say on the company strategy and the direction of the company and how that is going to be enabled by technology.
“The CTO is the guardian of your long-term technical strategy, which is inextricable from your business strategy. They are also a technical evangelist. The CTO is the person who is making the case for investment in technology and explaining why it is so important. They are the maintainer of the culture and the spiritual leader of the engineers.
“When hiring a CTO, don’t forget motivation, integrity and culture fit. Although technical expertise is important, that doesn’t mean you can neglect all the other things you would think about when hiring any other leader.
“Don’t be dazzled by someone with amazing technical expertise. If any of these other three things aren’t right, they won’t gel with your business and they won’t help you in the long run.”
Emma Long, head of corporate strategy
LGIM Real Assets
“Having someone in the business that understands what we are trying to achieve and can do the translation piece back to the wider business about what we need in order to be able to innovate in our space is essential.
“If people on the ground don’t understand what innovation is bringing, then they are not going to be embracing it with open arms.
“A lot of people already in the industry are probably hiding their light under a bushel in terms of how effective they can be because they have not been given the opportunity or the platform to do that. If you have the top-down support, then people feel empowered by that and that is going to enable us to retain talent.
“Millennials are a different generation. We want the opportunity to be able to learn, to grow and to see the impact that we are having on an organisation.”
Charlie Wade
UK managing director, VTS
“CTO is probably the most important role behind the CEO because they are the connection between everything that is happening, whether it is the people in your company, the people outside your company or the industry. They become so crucial.
“Go and try some stuff. Don’t get too caught up in the red tape, don’t think that you must tick every single box. Failing often is okay. It is much better than not trying in the first place.
“The industry has underestimated just how much capital is going to be required to execute a proper digital transformation. That pot of capital that they had 10 years ago for the IT budget is not going to cut it any more.
“Don’t just form a committee that will have no power, that is just a bunch of young people who think they are getting their voice heard. Actually advertise that to the business, show the returns, show the good ideas that they come up with because the ROI on technology is huge.”
