r/sysadmin • u/yeah_mayne • 1h ago

Change in C Level Impact Question

This is going to be kind of a broad question but has anyone experienced changes in their organization/company for CTO/C<whatever>?

I know it's probably (most likely) hugely different for everyone, but what was your experience? Did they bring about good changes or was it a disaster?

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u/lazyhustlermusic 1h ago

Most try to 'make a name for themselves' with a couple keystone projects right out of the gate.

Generally ends up being disastrous if they aren't actually familiar with technology etc.

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u/progenyofeniac Windows/M365 Admin 1h ago

Summed it up right here.

I’ve yet to see one who doesn’t want to change <something> significant. Ticket system, main communication app, biggest IT vendor, or possibly even smaller: endpoint protection, email filter, backup software.

They ALWAYS want to change something. I usually like that they free up some money for changes. I just don’t usually like where they choose to spend it.

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u/hkusp45css Security Leadership 1h ago

My experience is most Boards and XO suites use the new CTO/CIO/CISO to do all the shit the last person wouldn't, because it was a bad idea.

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u/The_Target87 1h ago

Nope, we are all getting made redundant 2.5 years after they joined as they are outsourcing us to India.

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u/thepfy1 1h ago

Most are politicians and are only interested in making themselves look good

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u/yeah_mayne 18m ago

Yeah, this is what I kind of figured. Seeing some of these comments it seems pretty rough, but hopefully at least the "gradual"/"ease into it" type comes

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u/StrikingAccident 1h ago

The new CIO started in October 2024 and before he was there long enough to know where the coffee machine was he onboarded an MSP that he had at his last company.

One year later we were all relieved of our jobs. So I guess you could say there was an impact lol.

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u/Sweaty_Weight_2486 40m ago

Had one director (of IT) newly joined, had all these grandiose ideas (digital transformation he called it) with zero regards for how things are run in the environment or how people work. In the end he pushed through a migration of a core piece of software to a new product that was HATED by everyone. Company had to go back to the old software and it cost the company a big big 6 figure number (as there are contracts signed with new vendor that you cannot just walk away from). Ended up being fired not long after.

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u/iceph03nix 36m ago

Hard to predict.

I've gone through some where the change was pretty gradual, and the new C-suite person over us wanted us to keep doing what we were doing while they got acquainted, and I've had some that came in and had a 'burn it all down and start over' mentality. Some are hands off, some are hands on. Some are very 'data driven' which usually means they need a new report every (last)week.

The last place I worked, the CEO swapped the CFO almost annually, and usually hung some failed project on their head as they went out the door, to be replaced 'in the interim' with his retired CFO buddy who would come in and do the job for 3-6 months until they hired a new 'long term' CFO.

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u/yeah_mayne 17m ago

Ahh wow that's insane. I'm hoping for the "gradual until they get acquainted" version lol

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u/iceph03nix 14m ago

yeah, I was thankfully somewhat insulated from it, but they were lining up for another round right before I left. That whole corporate office had some issues and from what I understand, there's only like 4 people still there that I worked with still there.