Call of fast digitalisation drives up demand for CTOs, pay packages

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Rapid digitalisation is driving the demand for chief technology officers as the country’s industry scramble to switch from the analogue way of doing business, The Economic Times has reported. The development is seen panning out across crucial sectors such as banking, insurance, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and even conglomerates.

Numerous companies are scouring the market for senior professionals with talent and experience to drive technology transformation, innovation and new levels of operational efficiencies as customers, both businesses and retail, become more anr more receptive to digital services.

Major companies such as Aviva India, Perfios, Tata AIG General Insurance, BharatPe, Arya.Ag, Telerad Group, Medikabazaar and ElectraEV have appointed CTOs in the past 9-10 months.

With the rise in digitisation and the centrality of technology in the businesses of different organisations, the role of a CTO has steadily risen in significance to attain a status enjoyed by CFOs (chief financial officer).

Shiv Agrawal, managing director of executive search and talent advisory firm ABC Consultants, and a veteran in the talent hunting business told the newspaper, “Even traditional companies, including big business houses, which once looked at it as a support function are now upping their game, given the shift towards digital. CTOs are getting a seat at the table. “This is an investment and the RoI (return on investment) isn’t for here and now – it’s for the future; to navigate how businesses transform, not just internally but also in how they deal with clients.”

Some companies are also interchangeably using the labels CIOs (chief information officer) or CDOs (chief data officer) for CTOs, said Agarwal.

“There has been a substantial increase in CTO mandates owing to tech continuing to evolve as more strategic function than support. Sometimes, a founder who was acting as a de facto CTO wants to hire a professional for the role. Also, a lot of startups had engineering and product heads reporting to founders without a CTO in place because of cost concerns. However, now demand is soaring since this is at the core of product tech organisations,” remarked Pranshu Upadhyay, regional director of Michael Page India.

For Michael Page, a recruitment firm, the demand for CTOs jumped 27% in the December quarter from a year earlier. The experience and a study of the trend in the market led its chief to predict that this demand will “grow further this year as the tech market starts to see signs of revival.”

While the mandate to hunt for potential CTO candidates is rising, annual pay packages which begin around Rs 1.3 crore a year have started reaching about Rs 3-5 crore. Benefits come beside this amount.

Data compiled by Xpheno also show that the publicly listed demand for CTOs is about one-third to half of the total active demand for CXO roles.