There are many benefits of a vCIO or Virtual CIO. Most of which apply mainly to small businesses that are not yet ready to hire a full-time CIO. With that being said, there are various reasons why a company would choose a Vcio over a CIO, or vice-versa. Each small business has not only a unique organizational structure but also a unique IT structure. Thus, it is important to view each company as unique and in need of highly customized service.

CIO vs. vCIO?

A vCIO has the same responsibilities as a CIO; the main difference is that a vCIO is an outsourced resource. A vCIO collaborates with the business as an expert advisor to make recommendations for integrating technology to support your workforce further. Being an outsourced resource, the company only needs to pay when the services of the vCIO are required or requested. This is one of the more popular benefits of a vCIO.

Benefits of a vCIO:

• Pay As You Go: This is one of the main benefits of a vCIO. An excellent option for a small business that values technology that is streamlined and properly integrated but isn’t able to afford, or doesn’t need, a full-time CIO. When growing a small business, building scalability into your technology is imperative to prevent various growing pains in the future.
• Blow Past Bottlenecks: Having the right experience and insight make it easy to identify and find solutions to eliminate bottlenecks. Thus, helping to increase productivity and efficiencies while reducing headaches. 
• Hands-on Experience: Every recommendation we make is based on the hands-on experience of deploying the solutions ourselves. Establishing your IT infrastructure correctly will save a lot of time, money, and headaches down the road. With over two decades of experience planning, budgeting, & managing IT operations, we have an in-depth understanding of proper the various needs and nuances that make up productive and efficient integrations. 
• Value-Focused: We don’t make recommendations that are bleeding-edge for its own sake. Your IT needs to provide the right value for your business. Essentially, we are not going to try and sell you the new latest and greatest unless, based on our decades of experience, we feel it is the best option for your specific situation and needs.

Disadvantages:

• Time: Like most new partnerships, there is a learning curve. Both parties are working to figure out the best way to communicate, collaborate, and ultimately, succeed.
• Remote: Working remotely is becoming more necessary than ever due to the pandemic. This can be viewed as a disadvantage if you are used to having a resource in the same building. On the other hand, this opens up the possibility of finding better partners outside of driving distance to your office, which are now a viable and potentially a better option. Therefore, we must find technology that allows us to collaborate and work together from various geographical locations. With that being said, it is essential to factor in time-zone differences. Makes sure that all parties involved in working with the vCIO can make it work within their schedule.

How do I find a Virtual CIO?

The easiest way to find a vCIO is to do a simple google search for companies that offer vCIO services. Make sure to keep these important factors in mind:

• Are you comfortable with a company that is not within driving distance?
• Does the vCIO need to be in the same time-zone as your business?
• How much experience would you like the MSP to have?
• once you have grown out of the need for a vCIO, are there other services that you will be able to grow into?

When looking for a vCIO, it is essential to ensure that they have your best interests in mind. It is crucial to make sure that whichever vCIO/MSP you choose has experience working with various applications and technologies. This ensures that they have sound knowledge of a variety of products and technologies to offer the best recommendations and carry out implementations and integrations correctly the first time.

Why Choose Data-Tech?

The goal for every vCIO should be to grow their client’s business through reliable advice, recommendations, and road maps, with the end goal of helping them grow to the point that they can hire a full-time CIO and no longer needs our vCIO Services.

Data-Tech’s goal with every single vCIO client is to help them grow out of the need for a vCIO. We are confident that with the decades of hands-on experience we have accumulated over the year, we will be able to help grow your business to the point where you can afford and feel comfortable replacing Data-Tech with a full-time CIO.

With that being said, in no way are we trying to push our clients out the door? We have clients that are perfectly content with the business’s size and how it is currently running, and we are happy to be a long-term partner and offer advice and strategy whenever needed.

Usually, the response we get after making the above statement is like this, “why would you want to make this service obsolete to your customers?”

The answer is simple: Our consulting services’ focus is on you. Your business, team, and goals — whatever it is, we want to help you utilize technology to the fullest.

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