Why Your Business Needs a Part-Time CIO

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, CIO career roles are expected to rise by a whopping 32 percent by 2028. In 2020, according to Enterprises Project‘s job guide, CIOs will be among the highest-paid technology experts in the consulting sector.

Once a company grows to a certain level, balancing all of these duties while still operating the firm may be difficult. Companies will frequently engage subject matter experts to supervise each of these jobs when this occurs. The task is typically too much for the CEO to handle alone but not enough to warrant full-time hiring.

A part-time CIO can help in this situation. A senior executive in a part-time job helps numerous firms for a few hours each week. You pay for a fraction of the time and a fraction of the expense of the position. Usually, the expense of a full-time CIO is prohibitive for a small firm. Still, with the tremendous digital revolution taking place in the marketplace, nearly every business owner understands that technology is critical to being competitive and successful. The solution may be to hire a part-time CIO.

What Is a Part-Time CIO?

A part-time Chief Information Officer (or CIO) is a senior consultant who specialises in integrating information technology (IT) with business objectives. A virtual CIO or part-time CIO is another term for a part-time CIO. To put it another way, a part-time CIO works for a fraction of the time and expense of employing a full-time executive to fill the job. This setup might be a cost-effective alternative for firms that want professional guidance but cannot afford to engage another C-level executive due to pay and perks.

The majority of part-time CIOs work with several businesses at once. Mentoring, vendor management, and dealing with compliance issues are all services that a part-time CIO might be hired to do.

What is the Responsibility of a Part-Time CIO?

The person in charge of a company’s information technology (IT) strategy is known as the Chief Information Officer (CIO). The job of the CIO might vary; some will focus solely on IT initiatives, while others will play a more strategic role in achieving the organisation’s objectives. Data security may now be used to forecast an entity’s health — even the most successful businesses have been known to collapse after a major data leak. It may be good to engage a part-time CIO as data security becomes more critical.

What Does a Part-Time CIO Do?

In most businesses, the CIO is in charge of the IT and computer systems that support its goals. It is the responsibility of the CIO to innovate, cooperate, manage the IT budget, and inspire IT personnel. A CIO aims to:

• Manage IT personnel and establish departmental objectives
• Prepare and monitor the IT budget
• IT systems and operations planning, deployment, and maintenance
• Handle the company’s software development requirements
• Establish rules, procedures, and best practices in the field of Information Technology
• Keep up with IT developments and new technology
• Establish and implement IT best practices throughout the company
• Ensure IT plans and processes complement the company’s overall business objectives
• Manage vendors, contractors, and service provider relationships
• Describe the advantages and dangers of new IT-related initiatives to the board of directors and senior executives

Should I Hire a Part-Time CIO?

A part-time CIO makes sense for business owners for a variety of reasons. The fundamental purpose of hiring a part-time CIO is to assist you in strategic decision-making in the field of technology. It becomes increasingly difficult to keep a pulse on how sales, administration, and finance are all performing as your company expands. A CIO can help you with this. It depends on whether a firm hires a full-time CIO or a part-time CIO. Here are some reasons a part-time CIO may benefit your business:

Management Skills

As part-time CIOs have the freedom to work with more than one firm at a time, they can manage multiple tasks at hand simultaneously. Good management skills are essential for a company’s overall development and growth. If a professional you hire has good management skills, it will give you an edge over your competitors as your organization would work more smoothly.

Business Savvy

Part-time CIOs have a keen business sense and are well acquainted with how the industry works in general. It can bring huge profit for a business as they will be hiring a professional who has prior skills and expertise in the domain. You can benefit from this as your competitors who might be working with full-time CIOs with less experience will be left behind by your part-time CIOs’ expertise and good experience.

High Flexibility

Unlike the full-time CIOs, part-time CIOs are more flexible to work with. You do not have to coordinate with the CIO regularly; they are available whenever there is some work for them. Once a month or once a week, for example. Depending on the firm’s requirements.

Less Time & Money Investment

It will save you a lot of time and money compared to full-time CIOs. No long-term contracts and lower expenses on salary, equity, holiday pay, and other perks will need to be covered if you choose to bring on a full-time senior IT leader.

Key Takeaways

Leadership Services has many highly experienced IT Directors, CTOs and CIOs who have been in the IT game for a long time. They have worked across multiple industries and have deep expertise in the full spectrum of IT services.

We’re always happy to have a no-strings, free-of-charge conversation about how one of our IT leaders can help give your company a competitive advantage with a robust, technology-driven strategy that aligns with your business-specific business goals. If you’d like to discuss how we can help, please get in touch or you can read more about our services here.