Should CTO Office Be Expanded? - Paper Example

Introduction

The British Petroleum Company, tasked with searching for oil and natural gas, which can be harnessed to provide energy use for various purposes. The exploration and identification of fossil fuel is a task requiring expertise to make it a success in the long run. Therefore, a group of professionals is needed to drive innovative processes to create new products, regarding oil and natural gas. The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) office for Digital and Communications Technology (CTO) is significant in driving innovation within the British Petroleum Company. The expansion of CTO office in new regions is inevitable as these smaller units are essential in developing networks which are capable of undertaking research activities, finding solutions on how to harness oil and natural gas in various geographical regions. Through the expansion of the CTO office, a significant transformation will be felt in the various businesses under the central leadership of the British Petroleum Company, by the use of the latest information technology. The nature of the global petroleum business would change (Wolcott and Lippitz 2015, p.7).

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Should CTO Request Larger Budget?

Digital Communication Technology (DCT) budgeting can be a complicated process to undertake, however, it is a critical aspect in ensuring a skillfully designed strategy. Budgeting is essential in supporting the critical developed projects and the future technology required in the implementation of the conceived plan. The CTO office is on the verge of expanding to various regions with the aim of taking additional projects of oil and natural gas exploration, hence need a budget to facilitate their strategic operations. Without a budget, every DCT expenditure may be justifiable thus misappropriation of resources. Therefore, every operational unit will have a focus on the use of funds to minimize wastage. Thus, the innovation into information technology by British Petroleum Company requires numeric manifestation for the DCT adequately communicated and in agreement with the top leadership of the company. Daru borrowed knowledge from the operational procedures of venture capital groups, however, was counterintuitive when it comes to budgetary allocation and use. Requisition of a larger budget would not work; hence the modest budget was just perfect with no formal authority. Acquisition of a larger budget by a central group would lead to resistance; consequently, there would be a disconnection within the general business units of operation (Creeger 2014, p.1). Moreover, limited and modest resources will force the business units located in the various geographical locations to use the funds majorly in the implementation projects. Therefore, the office of the CTO will be well defined as business-minded, but not more of research operations. The CTO will also act as a link between the global enterprises (BP) and small technological firms.

Engagement of Business Units With Top BP Executives

Initially, the office of the CTO was characterized by learning and experimentation in its roles and other operations without proper cooperation among the leadership. Moreover, the connection between the BP business units and the external ecosystem of the IT, not adequately realized. The foreign players, contented in the interaction with the British Petroleum Company leadership, improvement in engagement between the CTO office and top administration of BP made through the use of Blue Chalk events (Wolcott and Lippitz 2015, p.6). These seminars play a significant role in exposing the leadership of BP to the promising emerging DCT trends. The culmination of these seminars is characterized by improved alignment and proper integration between the top BP leadership and the business units.

Works Cited

Creeger, Mache. "CTO Roundtable: Cloud Computing." Queue, vol 7, no. 5, 2009, p. 1. Association For Computing Machinery (ACM), doi:10.1145/1551644.1551646.

Wolcott, Robert, and Michael Lippitz. "BP's Office Of The Chief Technology Officer (A): Driving Open Innovation Through An Advocate Team." Kellog School Of Management, 2015, pp. 1-14.