The chief networking officer (CNO) is a

business network A business network is a complex network of companies, working together to accomplish certain objectives. These objectives, which are strategic and operational, are adopted by business networks based on their role in the market. There are two categ ...

ing position in a company or organization. The term refers less commonly to a technical executive position in the computer industry.

Business networking

In the business networking context, a chief networking officer manages the social capital of a company. The CNO connects people and businesses within the company, with other

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

, and with

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

s. The CNO's mission is to facilitate

know-how Know-how (or knowhow, or procedural knowledge) is a term for practical knowledge on how to accomplish something, as opposed to "know-what" (facts), "know-why" (science), or "know-who" (communication). It is also often referred to as street smar ...

transfer and

information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...

flow, fostering

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entit ...

, safeguarding diversity, and facilitating profit growth. Chief networking officers are responsible for creation and cultivation of new communities and acquisition of pre-existing communities. Other definitions, such as one by the Wharton Global Business Forum in India, include managing outreach, communication and logistics, usually in partnership with the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

." As the CNO position builds on soft skills culturally common to women, it can advance women’s careers in areas such as public policy and large-scale business development. Although the position has been around since 2004, there is an ongoing academic debate related to the issue of CNOs—or even the need for CNOs— in modern business.

Responsibilities

A Chief Networking Officer (CNO) is the corporate business networks portfolio manager. The Chief Networking Officer centrally manages the business networks' environment. Their responsibility is to solve conflicts in ways that serve mutual best interests. The CNO is a direct contact, although not primary, and should be able to assume the management of any partnership with any stakeholders during primary network manager absence. This professional maps out and organizes all resources available inside the network, i.e., contacts, experiences, success stories, knowledge, competences and business opportunities. They set up long-term partnerships with mutually beneficial gains with each stakeholder inside all business networks. The CNO is concerned with the self-development of each member of the internal network, and qualifying them to reach their goals. The CNO can only directly impact the employees network. All others are outside their direct control. The CNO achieves recognition of peers from various networks, creating interdependence among all parties. The CNO is the business networks' portfolio strategist, acting as coach and trainer during implementation of related projects during transition from existing and traditional model towards a virtual agile global networking enterprise. To successfully implement this project, the CNO must have cooperation from all departments. The CNO position requires negotiation experience, knowledge of the company, and knowledge of the marketplace plus an understanding of coaching methodology is useful.

Computer networking

In computer networking, the chief networking officer is "responsible for network strategy, advanced network product development, and translation to line products of future networking and distributed computing technologies."Guest biography for Sun Microsystem Chief Networking Officer Geoffrey Baehr
September 16, 1999, sun.com. Retrieved on June 25, 2007.

Notes and references

{{Corporate titles Computer occupations *