Your Own Virtual CIO
There is much confusion and misunderstanding in the
information technology (IT) community. Many do not understand the
purpose of the technologies that they deploy daily; they proceed in
a fog. They do not understand why the IT industry is a $1.5
trillion-plus worldwide industry growing at over 10 percent per
year. Some think the purpose is to "save money," some think it is
to "help in making better and faster decisions," and others think
it is to simply improve productivity. This understanding is very
near-sighted and shallow; they have entirely missed the deeper
point.
The purpose of IT is
competitiveness. The purpose of IT is
to provide a robust resource for the building, compounding, and
sustaining of competitive advantage for the enterprise. Cost
reduction, expedited decision making, and improved productivity,
while of course important, are but specific instances of this
greater purpose. In the new millennium, the purpose of IT is to be
the foundation of competitive advantage for the business. The
purpose of IT is to enable the business to engage in IT fighting:
The uses of IT as the primary resource and weapon system to build,
compound, and sustain competitive advantage.*
The Problem
There are powerful reasons that large,
successful organizations always have a CIO (Chief Information
Officer). With the right IT leadership, top management can best
understand the capabilities and limitations of IT, and be better
positioned to make wise strategic decisions regarding IT
development, project management, spending, hiring, and
training.
Home businesses, as well as small and medium-sized businesses face
the same problems. However, they lack the resource of the CIO to
turn these problems into opportunities.
The Issues
- Business owners, executives, and most managers are not IT experts
- Tech support staff are not skilled in business or IT strategic thinking
- The cost of a full-time IT manager, much less IT leadership is beyond the reach of small and medium-business
The Solution
Though small and medium-business cannot afford a full-time IT
leader, they also do not require one. What is
needed is a part-time IT leader–The Virtual
CIO!
The Virtual CIO provides your organization with IT leadership to
help turn your problems into strategic opportunities. Knowledgeable
and skilled in both technology and business, the Virtual CIO
becomes part of your executive and leadership team. The Virtual CIO
takes ownership and accountability of all aspects of your IT,
structuring it to be used to your best competitive advantage.
Virtual CIO Benefit Highlights
• IT strategic leadership, IT staff training, and IT project management
• System analysis, needs assessment, and IT architecture design
• Technician and Consultant-level troubleshooting and support
• Fault Tolerance and Disaster Recovery planning
• Total Cost of Ownership Reduction
• Vendor Oversight
• Office move and expansion evaluation and support
• Website search engine optimization
• Annual hardware lifecycle reviews
• Quarterly strategic technology reviews
• Quarterly security reviews
Bottom line... A Virtual CIO can provide your organization with superior, more secure, and more reliable technology solutions at a lower cost allowing your organization to be more effective and competitive.
Call Now to Schedule an Interview
Call Marc Mintz directly at 505.453.0479, or email at
marc@themacxperts.com to schedule an interview to review your
unique environment, and discuss how a Virtual CIO can be a vital
member of your leadership team.
* From The Art of Strategic Planning for Information Technology, Second Edition. Bernard Board. John Wiley & Sons, 2001
Call 505.453.0479
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