A CIO, or Chief Information Officer, manages a company’s IT department. The CIO leads everything from people management and IT strategy to developing workflows and overseeing the IT budget. Most large organizations deem this position essential. Yet, many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) don’t have someone fulfilling this role. That’s where Virtual CIOs come in.
What is a Virtual CIO?
Virtual CIOs (vCIOs) partner with you to understand your business and support your long and short-term IT needs. A virtual CIO’s responsibilities include but are not limited to:
- Developing an IT strategy and budget for your company
- Auditing and optimizing your current IT infrastructure
- Offering advice on which tools and technologies to invest in
- Management of large and complicated IT projects
- Guidance on IT compliance as well as software and hardware maintenance and updates
The Benefits of Working with a vCIO:
Small business owners should consider the following benefits when hiring for this role. Partnering with a vCIO means you gain:
- A technology expert: A vCIO helps optimizes IT infrastructure while reducing potential risks and the resulting costs.
- Unbiased advice and planning: vCIOs are not swayed by internal politics. Instead, they offer valuable and objective insights based on expertise and data.
- Costs savings: Leveraging consultants enables you to skip the logistics, costs, and time involved in the onboarding and management of full-time employees.
- A trusted business partner and advisor: Some vCIOs will be able to provide both a technology and business perspective. At Smooth-IT, we serve SMBs, but we are an SMB. So we are uniquely poised to understand and respond to your challenges.
In short, hiring a vCIO gives you the benefits of a CIO for a fraction of the investment. At Smooth-IT, we combine years of experience with knowledge of a client’s needs to provide strategic guidance on all things IT. Learn more about Smooth-IT’s vCIO services here.
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