5 Reasons to Engage a CIO Advisory for IT Strategy Dev
CIO Advisory for IT Strategy Dev
CIO advisory is a service that provides a business with an experienced IT leadership professional who can help align technology tools and costs with overall business development goals. This includes developing processes to enable businesses to leverage their existing IT investments, including leveraging cloud services where appropriate. The CIO advisor can also act as a sounding board for busy IT leaders and bring a fresh approach to IT strategy, implementation and management.
A successful CIO advisory is one who can make the most of an increasingly complex IT environment, bringing business value to the organization as well as achieving high levels of productivity and security. To do this, a CIO needs to understand a range of issues and be able to adapt their strategies to a fast-changing landscape, such as innovation from vendors, new customer demands and regulatory requirements.
The role of the CIO has evolved from being a traditional IT function into a more strategic business leader. This isn’t easy and many IT departments struggle to shift from being a service provider to a valued partner within the organisation. A CIO advisor can bring a fresh approach to an IT department and quickly establish a strong working relationship with the business to ensure that the IT team is delivering the right capabilities to support the business.
5 Reasons to Engage a CIO Advisory for IT Strategy Dev
A good CIO will be able to identify areas where the IT department is struggling to meet the demands of the business and make recommendations that address them. This can include recommending technology solutions that are more effective at a business level than what is currently being used. For example, a start-up may be using Google apps but this solution has limitations and can’t scale to the demands of a growing business. A CIO advisor would be able to recommend and implement a different solution such as Office 365 that has been designed as an enterprise-level product and can grow with the business.
Many IT teams struggle to find time to develop and innovate because they are constantly being overwhelmed with operational issues. A CIO advisor can work with the IT team to help prioritize issues and introduce new governance, processes and tools to reduce the number of operational issues and give the IT department more time for development and innovation.
New IT functions often struggle to gain recognition and buy-in from the business, especially in large organizations. A CIO advisor can help in this situation by establishing a close relationship with the business and using their vast experience to promote and build a strong IT function that supports the overall business objectives.
Employing a full-time CIO is expensive but the use of a CIO advisor can be more cost effective, enabling businesses to utilize highly skilled people who will be willing to take on the role on a part time basis. This option can be particularly beneficial for start-ups who are looking to leverage the skills and experience of a senior IT leader but who are not yet ready to commit to hiring a permanent CIO.