Fractional CIO Services, A Strategic Move

At NortheastCIOs this is a question we get asked most when talking with prospective clients about how Fractional CIO Services can be applied to their business. It's often misconstrued that if you have an IT team, there isn't a need for a Fractional CIO.

Quite the contrary! There are multiple benefits to consider, that not only apply to the technical program, but the team, and organizational leaders as well. Having an IT team already in place is a great start and adding Fractional CIO Services is a strategic and cost-effective move.

If you haven't hired a proven IT leader because you can't justify the full-time salary of a CIO, or if you delegated leadership responsibilities to tech leads or other leaders in the organization, you could be unintentionally sabotaging your technology program.

It's not that they are incapable—we find most teams are pretty good—it's that they're stretched too thin, and lack that executive-level technology leader who effectively navigates between the tactical and strategic. This leads to missed opportunities for stability and growth.

If you routinely experience:

  • − Systems downtime / issues
  • − Stagnation with innovation initiatives
  • − A reactive vs. proactive team
  • − Missing project deadlines
  • − Overspending on technical budget
  • − A leadership team always pulled into technology issues

Then you should consider learning about how Fractional CIOs can positively impact your team and organization.

Multiple Fractional CIO Benefits

Price

A key benefit of a Fractional CIO is their price. They are part-time IT leaders, capable of improving every facet of a technology program. Paying a fraction of a salary for an executive that's laser focused on your program starts to make sense, and that justification, easier to digest.

Technology

Let's consider the technical benefits. Fractional CIOs are part-time CIOs with extensive enterprise-level technology exposure, with years of experience solving the industry's most complex problems. Having the ability to stabilize operations, enhance systems, and identify innovation for technical gain is part of their DNA, and another important benefit.

Teams

A Fractional CIO will guide and mentor the IT team and align actions to business goals. They can identify gaps in training, team structure, and team communications. They alleviate the pressures often put upon reactive teams that are spread too thin, allowing tech leads to focus on areas of responsibility more effectively. The benefit is a cohesive IT unit capable of driving initiatives forward.

Efficiency

The business side of IT is another area a Fractional CIO has extensive experience with—overseeing support and system metrics, portfolio / project activities, and optimizing the technology budget. The benefits: a focused IT leader who streamlines program processes and creates transparent communications that effectively report out on progress to goals.

Time

An overlooked benefit is time. With the lack of a senior leadership voice, those team members—whether in tech or throughout the leadership team—are spinning cycles trying to figure out the best paths forward with roadmaps, issues, and risk. This takes them away from their regular responsibilities. A Fractional CIO alleviates these pressures and gives the gift of time back to key employees.

Setup Your Technology Program For Success

Don't let price or the myth of "we already have an IT team" stop you from exploring the multiple benefits that our Fractional CIO Consulting Firm and our IT leadership consultants can offer you.

Stabilizing operations, improving processes, and enabling innovation are the traditional benefits—but also building a high-performing team and giving time back to key leaders, all for a fraction of the cost of a full-time CIO, make this a viable IT leadership consulting model to consider.

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