Warrior shared the stage with fellow CTO Shane Robison, who told a similar story about his role at HP. "If I had to capture it in a word, I’d say 'strategy,'" Robison said.

He and his team of business-unit CTOs look out for major technology and business trends. "[We then] develop a context in which we can make business decisions about where to invest and where to place our bets going forward," he said.

This involves factoring in business, technology and market strategies, Robison added.

Then the business unit CTOs go back to their units and relay those conclusions to the unit managers, which use them as a primary factor in HP's decision-making process for plans in areas such as business, product development and marketing.