A Virtuoso Fostering a Superior Harmony of Technological Advancements

A Chief Technology Officer (CTO) plays a pivotal role in any organization, as a thriving business in today’s landscape demands a distinctive blend of technical prowess and business insight. Oshri Cohen, with experience as a CTO for startups and a Fractional-CTO for well-established companies, asserts that the responsibilities of a CTO evolve based on the maturity and business model of the organization. Cohen’s perspectives on the essential characteristics of a CTO and the transformative impact of technological upgrades on business scenarios consistently make headlines in the business world. His profound insights attract startups and Fortune-100 companies seeking guidance on refining leadership styles, boosting efficiency, and steering towards a more productive business model. Notably, numerous C-suite executives and business leaders consider him an invaluable advisor, relying on his expertise to navigate through technical challenges.

The Characteristics of Success

As per Cohen, key attributes contributing to a CTO’s success include prioritizing business considerations, possessing strong engineering skills, demonstrating kindness, and holding multi-disciplinary experience. He advocates for a CTO’s focus on understanding how technology can strategically impact the business, especially when acquiring new technology. Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of adapting commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products to align with the company’s requirements is deemed crucial.

Cohen advises against the tendency to be overly concerned with pleasing everyone, emphasizing that this approach may disrupt one’s influence and impact as a leader within the organization. Instead, he encourages kindness in communication and interaction, balancing the ability to decline requests while offering support in finding alternative solutions—a hallmark characteristic of effective leadership.

Lastly, Cohen underscores the significance of multidisciplinary experience. Drawing from his diverse background in HealthTech, Logistics, Marketing, E-commerce, and Transportation, he leverages insights gained across industries. Cohen often integrates marketing client experiences from the past into new Fractional-CTO roles, showcasing the value of a well-rounded professional background.

Unexplored Frontiers of Technological Transformations

As the pace of technological evolution accelerates, it becomes imperative for tech leaders to delve into untapped technological realms, ensuring they remain at the forefront of innovation. Embracing emerging technologies and comprehending their potential enables these leaders to secure a competitive edge in the market and foster innovation within their organizations. Keeping abreast of evolving technologies also empowers tech leaders to anticipate and navigate potential disruptions in their industries. By proactively understanding the potential impact of emerging technologies on their businesses, tech leaders can adjust their strategies and stay ahead of the curve.

While Cohen has provided consultancy on AI enablement for numerous clients, he expresses a desire to delve deeper into building machine learning models, driven by a keen interest in the industry’s future trajectory. Additionally, although he gained experience with IoT in the transportation sector early in his career, he has yet to undertake the deployment of extensive IoT solutions, presenting an area he is eager to explore further.

The Guiding Factors of a CTO

CTO should stay curious, embrace change, foster innovation, and relentlessly focus on delivering value to customers. Similar ideology resonates with Cohen too. He enunciated that he lives by three mantras. The first is “Don’t be nice, be kind.” In leadership, it is important to care about people, but one should not be a people pleaser. Affirming yes to every request can prevent a leader or anything of substantial value from getting done or come into the picture. The second mantra is “Never just say No”. While this may contradict the first mantra, one cannot merely say no to a request. Cohen emphasizes on always helping the team members to find a solution, even though it takes longer to do. This gains a lot of “leadership capital” that one can use later on with difficult decisions and conversations. Finally, his third mantra is “Don’t stay in your lane.” Cohen believes that every aspiring leader needs to see how the rest of the organization functions because, at some point, how they work will impact how technology works. This is essential to bring the impact in the industry and carve a better future for everyone altogether.

Integration of Technological Progressions

Cohen believes that automation and intelligence are two systems that work together and take up all their time. Automation reduces humans from a process to make it run more efficiently. However, with every task that is automated, businesses must replace it with visibility in the form of reports and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) with attached alerts to ensure that the automation is error free.

Whereas, intelligence differs greatly from report construction in terms of how intelligence is acquired. Such a report is the layout of what is happening so that a person may analyze it and take action. When a system is granted with the power of intelligence, it will notify you to the problem by previously decided actions. So, instead of receiving daily findings from a human study, they now check a website to discover what problems have been found.

A clear requirement of constant upkeep as company requirements change and new issues need to be resolved; ergo, reports will eventually go out of style but AI can help identify outliers.

In order to find patterns and connections between data points that the organization was unaware of or even knew to seek for, Data Science may be used in this situation. He advises his clients to be in close contact with a data scientist to find solutions to their problems. Many businesses misunderstand the role of a data scientist, which is one that discovers patterns instead of looking for a pattern that is already known, which would be a data analyst’s  job.

Distinctive Technological Attributes Providing Him an Advantage

Cohen possesses great technology and engineering abilities and is mostly business-focused. As a CTO, it is your responsibility to operate as a “force multiplier” by taking an existing company and, via wise technical choices, improving its velocity and lowering its costs. When situating technology inside a business, an experienced CTO will find potential in maintaining an engineering mentality as with engineering leaders can accomplish anything.

He also added that holding a proper understanding of the distinction between technology management and engineering is a must. Technology is created through engineering, but engineering in and of itself does not generate value; this happens only when it is employed and used properly. The largest issue is how technology is used; an experienced CTO will need to be familiar with techniques for product management, user testing, beta testing, and other areas. You may acquire these talents by working in the startup industry.

Oshri explained that the largest technological problems are not technological at all. To get a hold of the technology is the toughest obstacle. Several businesses approach him asking for the use of AI without the necessary basic data. Data is king when it comes to AI, but most businesses don’t have it formatted in a way that makes it simple for data scientists to utilize it to create the right prediction models.

Businesses are frequently shocked to learn that depending on the age of their data, the time frame for integrating any AI technology is at least 1-3 years. As per him, technology also poses a lot of issues since it is frequently poorly managed and there is little integration between many platforms and tools employed by the organization. Technology is a tool in and of itself, and must be positioned and applied correctly. One of the biggest errors that virtually all businesses make is not outlining their process as a journey map with friction spots highlighted at each stage. When implementing any technology that is intended to increase productivity and cut costs, it is a time-consuming procedure that almost always results in success.

CTO’s Perspectives on Technology Forecasts

As a tech evangelist, Oshri has shared his perspectives on tech predictions, foreseeing a substantial role for AI in all enterprises, given its rapid development. He emphasizes its impact on various aspects, ranging from developers’ productivity to revolutionizing marketing strategies.

Addressing the challenges of integrating AI into businesses, Oshri highlights the common hurdle of lacking infrastructure for acquiring the necessary data to train customized AI. He suggests that as “COTS-AI” (Commercial Off The Shelf AI) becomes more prevalent, standard applications like email clients and CRMs will incorporate AI functionalities, making it advisable for businesses to wait a few years before investing in customized AI solutions. This approach can potentially save both time and significant financial resources.

On a personal level, Oshri adopts a unique practice of dedicating a week every three months to immerse himself in technology. While not aiming to become an expert, he seeks to understand the capabilities and applications of emerging technologies. He believes that new technologies are essentially extensions of preceding generations, providing innovative solutions to contemporary challenges. With a foundational understanding of the underlying technology, one can easily adopt and adapt to new technologies within a few days.

The Path Ahead: A Glimpse into the Future

Oshri has outlined the comprehensive plan for his forthcoming endeavors. While relishing the role of a consultant, where he assists businesses in navigating the intricate realms of technology and software development, his aspirations extend to owning 15 to 20 successful internet businesses. This vision aligns seamlessly with his commitment to establishing an educational institution tailored for children. The institution’s primary focus will be on software development, aiming to equip youngsters with essential tech skills for the future.

Valuable Thoughts from the Tech Expert

“As technology progresses, its essence remains unaltered. The emergence of something new doesn’t necessitate immediate adaptation or modification. Consider the example of banks, which have adhered to the same outdated technology and codebase for the past two decades. While their development may seem gradual, the crucial lesson here is the value of incremental change. Understanding the dynamics of the technology business is essential; solely being a computer expert might not suffice for a thriving career. Technology, as remarkable as it can be, is fundamentally a tool for resolving business challenges; avoid turning it into a problem in its own right.”