{"id":71540,"date":"2019-03-28T08:26:43","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T12:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spadetechnology.com\/is-your-it-company-offering-vcio-services\/"},"modified":"2023-03-29T13:41:51","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T13:41:51","slug":"is-your-it-company-offering-vcio-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spadetechnology.com\/is-your-it-company-offering-vcio-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Your IT Company Offering vCIO Services?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"vCIO\"<\/p>\n

If your IT department is like many in the U.S., you are struggling with day-to-day operations \u2014 leaving very little time for strategic thinking about your business. Even if the time was available, would your team have the expertise and skillsets necessary to create a fully-featured technology plan, budget and business plans for the future? Organizations often hire all-purpose employees, people who are able to wear multiple hats. These generalists are excellent at keeping the business running and creating a great deal of value, but may not have the depth of knowledge required to survey the technology landscape and make recommendations that will guide the future of your business. As organizations turn to IT managed services partners to outsource more of their technology needs, there\u2019s still a gap in terms of strategic thinking. A virtual CIO can help step into that gap and provide your business with the long-term strategic insight that will help you optimize your operations and crush the competition.<\/p>\n

What is a vCIO?<\/h2>\n

Chief Information Officers, or CIOs, are rarely found in small to mid-size businesses as this can be an extremely expensive skillset. You may not need someone employed at this level full-time, but there are several times throughout the year when their guidance would come in handy. Budgeting, competitive analysis, operational efficiency planning and cybersecurity are a few of the topics that a CIO would address in an enterprise, and smaller businesses have the same concerns with a greatly reduced annual budget. A virtual CIO is a high-level executive who is able to step into your organization, understand your business needs and model, and make solid recommendations that will help your business be competitive in the future.<\/p>\n

How Can a vCIO Help My Business?<\/h2>\n

You can see how a vCIO could help with budgeting, and\u00a0longer-term strategic planning<\/a>, but are there other ways that these individuals could add value to your business? Planning for the next several years requires a solid understanding of your business model, employees and competitive landscape. Your vCIO will also need to a great deal of research to understand your current software and hardware platforms and other options that are on the market. Your vCIO can also:<\/p>\n