Ask yourself—what really is embodied by this virtual CIO service everyone claims to have now?
What is a Virtual CIO?
A virtual CIO exists as a valuable asset to most any businesses in need of clear leadership and vision. Many organizations do not carry an enterprise-level technology budget and can benefit from hiring an outside vision to lead their technological efforts—and for those that do, a VCIO meeting should not simply be a computer telling you something.
The Wrong Approach
Too many virtual CIO & CTO services are focused on technological problems, not business solutions. Too many VCIO meetings consist of a regular roll-call of the past day/week/month’s bugs, outages, malware, etc.
The Effective Virtual CIO
Then there are the few VCIOs that take a different approach. Look for one with actual CIO & CTO experience running the technological divisions of companies large & small. Also make sure they have already bested the costly “break-fix” cycle. These are the CIO interactions that can create effective and efficient solutions to strengthen your business going forward.
“Break-Fix” providers make their money every time a patch is put in or a bug is found. But truly effective VCIOs are more concerned with improving your company via technology, rather than finding bugs in the technology itself.
