Are you feeling neglected by your IT company? Perhaps you’ve recently grown in headcount and revenue, but they haven’t kept pace? Or you’ve experienced a costly breach and they haven’t given you much insight into what happened?
Is your business growing or your landscape changing? Perhaps you have new compliance requirements from your customers, insurers or regulators. Or maybe you just need a sense check on your current IT arrangements to make sure you have everything covered.
These are all reasons to engage a ‘virtual CIO’ – an outsourced version of a Chief Information Officer. A vCIO provides the senior expertise, governance and strategic insight that organisations need as they grow, without the cost of a full-time board-level hire. At Neos-IT, we are proud to act as trusted advisors and vCIOs to a number of our clients.
What does a virtual CIO do in practice?
A virtual CIO works as part of the client’s team to advise on the overall IT strategy and performance, just as a conventional CIO would. That includes steering the overall tech strategy, developing your IT budget, analysing operations and identifying opportunities for IT to make a difference, and managing IT change.
It’s board-level because CIOs are key in determining overall IT strategy and reporting on the IT and information security position as part of the organisation’s wider governance. They also play a crucial role in IT asset planning, as well as developing long-term strategic goals and opportunities to drive innovation and business revenue through technology.
It’s a defined role in comparison to other technical advisory services because a vCIO can take a more strategic view on business and IT alignment, rather than just managing technology service delivery. That’s a distinction a lot of IT managed service providers just don’t ‘get’, which can leave clients feeling let down or without a strong governance force at the helm of their IT.
Virtual CIO vs CIO
CIOs are typically 20+ years into their IT careers. They’re usually highly experienced, accomplished IT professionals who are adept at finding ways to lead a business through the technology minefield. Virtual CIOs allow you to bring in that expertise at a fraction of the cost of a full-time staff member. Like CIOs, vCIOs must have the soft skills to navigate ever-changing business and market environments.
As well as cost savings, outsourcing the role gives a degree of flexibility so you can scale with the changing needs of the business. At Neos-IT, we work as an extension of our clients’ teams, leaning on our decades of experience in the industry to provide governance and advice to firms in regulated and non-regulated industries.
Why bring Neos-IT on board as your virtual CIO
- We look for the opportunities as well as plugging the gaps. We’ll align your IT to your business strategy, not the other way around, communicating effectively with other decision makers in your business.
- We’re on top of emerging technology. It’s our job to stay on top of what’s facing SMEs in IT. We stay ahead of new technology, how it might fit into your portfolio and connect with you to understand how the needs of your business might be changing.
- We help you manage risk. We all know of someone who has experienced a breach or a phishing attack so we identify mitigation steps to reduce your risk.
- We’ll guide you through IT budgeting and cost optimisation strategies, including measuring return on investment for current and prospective technology.
- We’re not at arm’s length. Within clear boundaries, we’ll work closely with your teams to get the most out of IT, adapting to your culture, ways of working and business needs.
- We’ll produce thorough reporting, advise on processes and provide governance documentation – to suit investor, regulator or other stakeholder due diligence, for example.
- We’re objective. We’re a second pair of eyes in addition to your team, and we bring a wealth of external experience into your organisation.