About the vCIO

The intention of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) role and responsibilities is to help you align technology with your organization’s vision, mission, culture, strategy, and goals.

We use the term virtual as a placeholder for part-time, as-needed, and on-demand.  You receive all the benefits and value of a CIO without the high cost of finding and retaining full-time in-house expertise.

The CIO is concerned with leveraging and aligning information technology for:

• Fulfilling your vision and mission
• Increasing revenue and profits
• Creating and leveraging competitive advantages
• Increasing productivity
• Ensuring a return on investment
• Reducing and managing risk

Here are 4 reasons why all small business owners and operators needs a vCIO.

1. Achieve Successful Outcomes

Look at your business plans and ideas.  Look at your goals.  What outcomes are are you intent on achieving?  And how much of this has some connection with, or even depends on, information technology?

Prioritize your objectives.  What does success look like?  Is information technology a critical factor?  The skills and abilities of a chief information officer can make this happen.  If you don’t have someone on your team with those skills and abilities, you need a vCIO.

2. Uncover Blind Spots

With respect to what it’s going to take to achieve successful outcomes, you know what you know and you know what you don’t know.

But what don’t you know that you don’t know?  What are your blind spots?

You need a vCIO to walk you through the questions that will help uncover any blind spots that stand in the way of success or even create new opportunities for success.

3. Employee Retention

The difficulty and cost in finding and hiring your team is extraordinary.

According to the fantastic book First Break All The Rules, the second most important question for someone on your team is “Do I have the tools I need to do my job.”

Anything other than an unequivocal “yes” to that question likely leads to frustration, upset, lost productivity, and delays.  It also contributes to dissatisfaction and unhappiness that often leads to looking elsewhere for joy in their career.

If you want to retain your best employees, you need the skills and abilities of a vCIO.

4. Do What You Do Best

What do you do best?  What brings you the most satisfaction?  What brings you the most money?

Is it being the best sales person?  Is it leading and managing your team?  Is it being the best one to deliver your product or service?

Are you really the best at aligning technology with your organization’s vision, mission, culture, strategy, and goals?  If yes, then do it!  If no, focus on what you do best and engage a vCIO!

Conclusion

The Virtual CIO is an affordable way to leverage the critical knowledge and experience of IT professionals without taking on the salary commitment these in-demand experts command. Service can be provided on-site or as virtual support as needed.

It’s clear that unless you have someone performing effectively with the skills and abilities of a vCIO, it’s unlikely you’ll achieve all that you really want for your business.

Where do you want to go? It’s up to you!