When you’re a small to medium-sized company, you have many more challenges than the big guys have! But the demands on your technology are the same for you all. You can find yourself wondering about securing some experienced, executive-level IT leadership to help you.
The truth is, IT leadership services are for every company. But if you don’t yet have an IT department or a full-time CIO on your senior leadership team, partnering with executive-level services is especially beneficial. For example, they can:
- Give your organization a competitive edge.
- Identify gaps and weaknesses within your overall IT infrastructure and applications that are working against you long term.
- Bring your company into the future sooner rather than later – at a lower rate than hiring a full-time CIO.
Who Benefits from IT Solutions Consulting?
As we mentioned, you benefit most if you’re
- a small to medium-sized company with no tech leadership, or
- a firm using older technology or shadow IT that’s causing technical debt and introducing high risk in your setup, or
- a business that needs assistance for a specific project.
You might be in a business area such as real estate, manufacturing, logistics, reverse logistics, etc.
In any business area, however, a Fractional CIO has real-world executive experience and brings you the overall benefit of helping with critical technological decisions wherever tech matters for your organization.
Finally, a consumption-model CIO service often benefits you financially. You pay for what you need!
So, let’s dive into IT leadership services, and what they look like.
What Are IT Leadership Services?
IT leadership services and IT solutions will be vital components of the technology strategies within your company. They’ll serve as a foundation for tech security, stability, and moving your company forward in terms of ROI.
So – any IT solutions suggested by an experienced fractional partner should align with your organization’s goals. With good IT leadership on board, you’ll find you can get help with a whole-company alignment of your people, processes, and technology, where needed.
Think of IT leadership at executive level as a catalyst to help the overarching goals of your company’s success.
Types of IT Leadership Services and IT Solutions
Although we firmly believe everyone benefits from IT leadership and IT solutions – whether in-house or bought in in the form of a Fractional CIO – many companies still wonder if it’s right for them.
IT leadership services are probably a good investment for your company if you’ve ever worried about:
- Learning more about technology
- Making proper tech decisions that benefit your bottom line
- Keeping your technology up to date
- Getting out of technical debt
- Choosing the proper tech to future-proof your company
- Not having enough time to even consider your tech infrastructure
- Technical concerns about a company you’ve acquired or merged with – or are thinking of doing so
Let’s run through what executive IT leadership services might look like in practice in your business.
1 IT Leadership
IT leadership will often come from your CIO if you have one. They’re the equivalent of a CFO in terms of overall responsibility. They build IT strategies around everything and everyone in your organization.
If your business requires IT leadership and doesn’t have a CIO, a Fractional CIO is probably your best course of action to speed up changes before you have a full-time CIO.
2 IT Wellness
IT “wellness” is about your IT that, for some reason, is ailing – not meeting your needs!
An expert can come in, reevaluate your technology, look at software, hardware, security vulnerabilities, and staffing – and ensure everything is brought up to date and no longer “ailing.”
3 Assistance with Projects
IT leadership is more than just strategizing, organizing, and making good tech decisions.
You can bring in an experienced CIO for project consulting to ensure a specific project is completed on time. This lets you focus on other important matters within your company where your own experience matters most.
The CIO will bring to your project years of real-world experience along with resources, connections, communication skills, and organizational skills.
4 Mergers and Acquisitions
If your company recently merged or acquired another company, you might need assistance performing technology due diligence.
Have you evaluated the new company’s technology? Do they need a complete rework to merge smoothly? Are they compliant, legal, and up to date – but most importantly, do they meet current security standards?
Merging and acquiring other organizations is tricky, and sometimes you need IT leadership to help find precise IT solutions for proper integration.
IT leadership services also help with a post-transaction integration strategy and enable you to avoid surprises after you’ve officially acquired a company.
5 Technology Leadership for CEOs
Even with effective and competent people working with you, such as CFOs, VPs, accountants, IT directors, and even IT managers, you can wonder how effective your strategies are.
- You realize you need to align your IT with your business goals. But how?
- You know you need an MSP. But which one?
- Your MSP relationship is not working well. How can you sort it out?
IT leadership services can help you choose the correct strategy for your particular problem.
6 Spending Money on IT Correctly
You’ll want to spend on IT – knowing it’s false economy not to – but you also want to be sure you’re investing in the right tech and getting good value.
But how do you know if you’re spending business money well? This is where bringing in a Fractional CIO can assist you with their expert knowledge.
7 Understanding Which Software and Systems are Good for Your Business
Bringing in technology leadership allows you to consult about various software packages and systems that best meet your company’s needs.
The right IT leadership helps you
- improve your IT’s performance in terms of operations and cybersecurity,
- understand which items you could outsource on a SaaS or IaaS basis, and
- acquire the tools that will maximize your business success.
Do You Need Good IT Leadership?
At CIO Suite, we provide best-in-class Executive IT Leadership Services – bringing you over 40 years’ experience in advising C-level executives and business owners.
We can assist in reorganizing and re-strategizing your IT – with a specific focus on small to medium-sized companies, helping you win in the modern business world.
Crucially, understanding your business matters to us. We ensure we tailor every strategy to your organization. This makes for a nimble, economically sound solution for you.
Interested to learn more? Give us a call today and schedule a discovery meeting to talk about your IT leadership needs.