Your business has come a long way. But now, it has overgrown existing technology. Or perhaps you are aiming to future-proof your technologies and remain on top of the competition. Whatever the reason, if you’re planning to improve the internal technologies and IT posture of your business, you need the vision and experience of a Chief Information Officer.
However, onboarding a full-time CIO can be prohibitively costly. The vision of a CIO comes with decades of experience, and leveraging this experience comes with a cost. This is where a fractional CIO comes in.
A fractional CIO provides your business with the same level of tech vision at a fraction of the money charged by a full-time CIO. Take the productivity in your organisation to the next level with the realistic and visionary technical know-how of a fractional CIO.
Who Exactly Is a Fractional CIO? What Does the Person Do?
To understand who a fractional CIO is, let’s first understand who actually is a CIO. A CIO or Chief Information Officer uses their vision and experience to optimise, upgrade and improve the internal technology and IT infrastructure of a business. The aim is to improve the quality of workflow and enhance the productivity of the entire business.
Unlike a CTO, the CIO does not directly oversee the technological aspect of the product or services sold by a company. Their primary job is to oversee the adoption or optimisation of internal technology – technology that is needed to improve the productivity of a business.
A fractional CIO does the same thing – but the person will share their time with mutiple companies. This is beneficial for businesses that aren’t too big but still need the expertise of a CIO. At the same time, this results in more than just monetary benefits. For businesses that are not too large, onboarding a fractional CIO might be an overkill. A fractional CIO provides the perfect balance between expertise and processes.
What Does a Fractional CIO Do?
A fractional CIO does everything that a full-time CEO does. The only differences are the amount of time he or she works for and the kind of agreement between the company and the person.
Technology Roadmap:
The fractional CIO acts as the brain of the business as far as IT and technology are concerned. Such a C-suite executive analyses the process, roadblocks and long-term vision of the company and prepares a technology roadmap that’s aligned with this vision. What technologies should be used? How should they be implemented? What technologies should be deprecated? How to improve the productivity of the business using technology? How to solve a particular IT roadblock? The fractional CIO is there to find answers to these pressing questions.
Process Improvement With Technology:
A CIO is different from a CTO in that the former oversees the improvement of internal technology used by a company to improve productivity. In this respect, one of the primary jobs of a CIO is to find ways to improve the work process in a business by modernising or upgrading technologies, tools and the overall IT posture. A fractional CIO does the same thing. But they also keep in mind the size of the company. The plans and strategies used by the C-level executive are feasible and practical to suit the needs of a company of a particular size.
Balancing Risk and Reward:
When it comes to technology, the world is filled with noise. A fractional CIO empowers the business to make the right decisions in terms of technology adoption and upgrades. Implementing newer software, tools, and IT best practices is a costly affair. When you implement software and tools that fail to help your business, you effectively burn your company’s hard-earned money. Fractional CIOs help organisations make the right decisions in terms of technology adoption.
Budget Management:
Going ahead with technology changes and upgrades is a costly affair. The fractional CIO takes a realistic approach in this regard. The executive works in close collaboration with the CFO, CEO, and other stakeholders to earmark a realistic budget for technology management and technology changes.
Security & Compliance:
Data has been the new oil for quite a long time. However, securing enterprise data is a big challenge. If any data breach happens, you will lose not only your reputation but also your competitive advantage. A fractional CIO works in close collaboration with your security team and makes sure that your internal tech tools are secure and comply with the data protection laws of the land.
Who Should Engage a Fractional CIO and Why?
Any growing company that intends to implement future-proof tech infrastructure to enhance productivity should onboard a fractional CIO. Companies that have outgrown legacy technologies and are in dire need of a technology overhaul should also onboard a fractional CIO for a smooth digital transformation. Here’s a brief list of companies that should hire a fractional CIO:
- Growing businesses that need a vision in terms of tech-adoption
- Businesses that don’t have a strong internal IT department
- Companies that have outgrown legacy technologies and need a digital transformation
- Companies undergoing a specific technology adoption or change
- Companies that need an interim CIO
Now coming to the ‘why’ part. There are several reasons why growing businesses need the expertise of a fractional CIO:
- To Not Get Overwhelmed With Too Much Technicalities or Processes
Let’s give you an example. If you have a growing business, chances are you might not need a full ERP like SAP S/4 Hana. Rather, you might need SAP Business One. A fractional CIO knows the pain points of growing businesses and oversees technology adoption or changes, keeping the size of the company in mind. A full-time CIO might be too overwhelming for a growing business.
- To Make the Right Decision
Growing businesses might not have a full in-house IT department. It might have a team of IT workers who need a technological vision. These companies approach fractional CIOs to leverage this vision. Vision comes from years of experience.
- To Remain Competitive
Growing businesses have to compete with established competitors. They need to have a sound technological posture to be able to work efficiently and competitively. The guidance of a fractional CIO helps a growing business remain competitive from day one.
- To Get the Guidance of a C-Level Executive in an Affordable Way
Let’s face it. Experience has a cost. You need to spend a lot of money to get the guidance of a full-time CIO. But most growing businesses can’t spend that kind of money. They can’t even if they want to. Onboarding a fractional CIO helps them take advantage of the kind of C-level expertise. Since fractional CIOs share their time with multiple companies, the cost gets shared as well. It’s a win-win situation for all.
How to Select the Perfect Fractional CIO for Your Business
Every company has unique needs and pain points. Keep these in mind while onboarding a fractional CIO.
- Define your requirements. What do you actually want from a fractional CIO? Are you onboarding the person to maximise efficiency? Are you onboarding them to upgrade your existing technology? Or perhaps you are just starting out and need to leverage the vision of the CIO? You need to have clear answers to these questions.
- Make sure that the potential fractional CIO has relevant industry experience. For example, if you have a manufacturing business, it’s preferable for the potential fractional CIO to have experience in leading a similar kind of business.
- Make sure that the potential CIO has a teacher-like attitude so that he or she can teach, inspire and motivate your in-house team.
- Above all, the potential C-suite executive should be able to culturally align with your business. Make sure of that.
Why COHIRE Is the Best Platform to Find and Engage a Fractional CIO
A fractional CIO can address severe pain points faced by growing businesses. However, finding a fractional CIO who is a great match for your business can be challenging. COHIRE addresses this challenge head-on. COHIRE is a platform where you can hire fractional CXOs based on your requirements. Here’s how COHIRE helps growing businesses:
- Go to the COHIRE platform. List your requirements – tell us what you want from the fractional CIO.
- We will handpick the best CIO from our database. Remember, this is not a simple match-making process. We take special care to make sure that you get the best CIO needed for your requirements.
- Onboard the selected CIO after initial talks and get ready for exponential growth.
COHIRE is not a marketplace. It’s our responsibility to find the perfect CIO for your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How much does a fractional CIO cost?
Ans. It depends on the expertise you are looking for and the kind of purpose for which you want to onboard a fractional CIO. But be assured, the cost of fractional CIO will be well within your reach. Head over to COHIRE, tell us your requirements and get a fair idea of the salary of a fractional CIO.
2. What are the benefits of onboarding a fractional CIO?
Ans. The single most important benefit of hiring a fractional CIO is the fact that the executive makes your decision-making easier. Implementing, changing or upgrading technologies and software is a costly affair. One mistake and your money will get wasted. A fractional CIO helps you avoid costly mistakes in this regard. Secondly, the CIO empowers the business with decades of experience, helping it make all the right decisions in terms of technology so that it can remain competitive. And on an overall basis, engaging a fractional CIO is the right choice for businesses that want to stay compliant in terms of technology.
3. How does a fractional CIO help a company?
Ans. A fractional CIO helps a company in three ways. The fractional CIO gives businesses the option to leverage the expertise of a CIO at a fraction of the amount charged by a full-time CIO. Secondly, the fractional CIO creates a technology roadmap for businesses, enabling them to remain ready for the evolving tech landscape. And thirdly, the fractional CIO drives efficiency and productivity with the help of technology.