Actionable Strategy
Whether the company is between CIOs, has just grown to scale that demands executive IT leadership part time, or wants to improve the performance and capabilities of the incumbent leadership, Phenomenati’s vCIO engagements help determine an effective path forward for IT organization and operations. The output is specific recommendations for improvements in the IT environment, operations, aligned with the business objectives. This includes recommendations for effective organizational structures and processes.
Getting Started
Most vCIO engagements begin with an assessment of the current situation with an executive level review of the IT enterprise. The assessment is intended to confirm strong current practices and specify recommendations for improvements and gaps to fill.
In context, we take a broad view of the current state of technical and operational capabilities and their alignment to business objectives. This means developing an understanding of the current strategy, organization, governance, processes, and operations environment.
Discovery
- Review IT Strategy and Vision and the role of IT in the business
- Review the operational organization—personnel, team structure, lines of authority
- Review the current technical environment—key components, architecture, services, etc.
- Review documentation on current operational processes, practices, and services
- Review operational performance and service level commitments and their measures
- Review relevant contracts for service level agreements (from key supply vendors) and their measures
- Review existing reports, metrics, and recent findings
- Interview relevant stakeholders to understand short-term and long-term plans, business objectives, and risk tolerance
Evaluation
- Identify areas of strength and areas of concern
- Evaluate areas of concern (e.g., resilience, availability issues, or change management processes, enabling capabilities) based on urgency, operational risk, and criticality in meeting business objectives
- Identify complex challenges that warrant deeper analysis
Recommendations
- Work closely with the Executive and IT leadership to select courses of action to make improvements in the current technical environment, organization, and processes in alignment with business objectives and strategy
- Clarify and refine important scalable processes: strategy, governance, risk management, customer engagement, etc.
- Determine options for investments to close the most important gaps in the organization, processes, and services
- Define a review process to ensure continuous and enduring improvements
Execution – Strategy to Task
Often, we work with the executive team and IT leadership to execute improvements, identify and on-board needed senior staff, operationalize effective practices.
On Wrapping Up...
The value proposition of leveraging part-time, virtual CIO services lies in the efficient allocation of resources, cost-effective access to strategic expertise, and the ability to adapt quickly to changing technology landscapes.
Phenomenati’s decades of CIO experience ensure that our Virtual CIO (vCIO) Services provide the competencies and scalability to adapt to each client engagement based on market dynamics, growth trajectory, demand for innovation, and economic constraints, ensuring that your IT strategy aligns with the rapidly evolving demands of your business.