What is a Virtual CIO (vCIO) and Why Do You Need One?
What is a Virtual CIO (vCIO)?
A vCIO serves as a Chief Information Officer, but instead of being a full member of the staff with an expensive salary/benefits package, they work with your company on a flexible basis that is convenient for both parties.
One of the primary benefits of hiring a vCIO over a traditional CIO is that vCIO’s can leverage cross-company experience. Having someone on your team with more diverse experience means that you can utilize what they’ve learned and the different perspectives they’ve gained from working across multiple industries and companies.
A vCIO who’s working with multiple companies will be at the forefront of current best practices across different sectors, so they’re more likely to be aware of what outside developments might impact your organization. On the other hand, A traditional CIO may only have worked at a handful of companies in the same industry throughout their entire career. Paying attention to what’s going on outside of the business might be part of their job, but their focus is going to be much more narrow.
A traditional CIO will also be more likely to struggle to view the business from an outside perspective. For a vCIO, this comes naturally since they will be used to handling a lot more projects simultaneously.
The primary function of a vCIO is to help your company create strategic IT goals, manage those developed strategies, and implement larger IT projects. Virtual CIOs are hired through IT consulting service firms or offered through managed service providers like Commprise.
What do virtual CIOs do?
A virtual CIO will work to understand your business’s core processes so that they can properly develop a strategic blueprint. The strategy they develop should emphasize the security of your company. It’s easy to overlook important things such as IT audits, compliance issues and keeping up to date with the latest tech so your company can avoid or get past any technological gaps.
A vCIO would take these tasks off your hands in an efficient way that aligns your technological needs with your core business goals. Despite having a flexible schedule, the vCIO will also be available to provide your company with advice and insights regarding your business’s technological infrastructure and needs.
They will be able to dive into any current IT projects that are underway and suggest ways to upgrade or restructure them for greater performance.
One of the other benefits of going with a vCIO contracted through an MSP is that they’ll be able to not only create the strategies your business needs to succeed, but they’ll also have the resources of the MSP behind them so that your business can implement the projects they come up with. It’s important to note that while a vCIO typically comes as a single individual, what you’re really paying for is the experience and services they provide. You can get those things from an MSP as well.
A vCIO for Your Unique Business Needs
The way your company manages its technology can make or break your business. On the one hand, technology helps you scale and can increase productivity, but if your IT systems encounter a disruptive event or your team struggles to adapt to the constant change, it can grind things to a halt.
Avoid the downsides of technological risk at a cost that makes sense for your business by contacting Commprise about our vCIO services that come as part of our Managed IT services.
