"CIO" Service

CXO advisor has packaged an affordable service that is designed to meet the needs of small to mid size businesses that cannot afford or find a full time CIO, but understand the need to extract more value from their IT investments by managing IT in a business like fashion.

We typically find in this target market, that IT is managed in a technology focused manner, is non-existent or has been outsourced to a vendor, without the necessary controls to ensure that the business is receiving value. The result of which is that management have become increasingly concerned and frustrated with their IT investment and the role that IT is playing in their business.

IT has become a ‘black hole” which seems to cost too much, not work very well, and not deliver what it promises. This issue has been further exacerbated by the release of the King III and the inclusion of IT Governance in April of this year which requires Boards of businesses to take responsibility for IT and the value it brings to IT.( See our King III IT services.)

Our CIO service is designed to address business management concerns through an ongoing service which delivers the following CIO outputs;

  • A business aligned IT strategy based on business drivers not IT drivers
  • A supporting IT budget and financial management that will be understood by management and the board and is King III aligned.
  • An IT operating model with clear roles and responsibilities linked to Measurable KPI’s.
  • Governance structures that support both the operating model and the interface requirement to the business to ensure business needs are met.
  • Set up IT policies, processes and standards and other operational management frameworks to ensure the recurring manageability and quality of IT service.
  • Management consulting service to the business on improving the performance of the business by the use of technology.
  • Provide a vendor independent technology procurement service driven by business value rather than an individuals preference for a vendor or a particular technology.
  • Management of the systems that control your day to day IT operations.
  • All of the above services are delivered by CXO Advisor’s own qualified CIO’s and are supported by our own research and our 3RoleModel IT Management Framework together with access to Ovum’s Global IT and vertical industry research.
 

What are the benefits?

There are many benefits to utilizing CXO Advisor’s service:
  • In essence your business receives the value of a CIO without having to incur the costs normally associated with having a full time CIO on board.
  • We give back control of IT to the business whilst, at the same time executive management can be assured that their IT investment is being appropriately managed in a business focused manner.
  • Your IT governance requirements will be met and managed appropriately to your business
  • The IT “black hole” of costs will be understood, because we use a language that business and financial management understand. As a result informed decisions can be made
  • Major IT decisions can be made with less risk and with a full understanding of value that the business can expect.
  • Your decision will be supported by our access to Global and local IT research which is normally only affordable by large business. This research assists with decision making by providing assurance and guidance based on global experience
  • The relationship between Business line managers and IT will improve along with the better utilization of your technology in the business.
  • You will find that your IT service quality will improve along with business productivity, less down time and higher end user satisfaction.
 

Contract Flexibility

With this CXO Advisor service you pay a monthly service fee based on a 12 to 36 month contract period. Against this fee CXO Advisor commits to a Service Level Agreement with you on a number of tangible deliverables based on what the business is trying to achieve.  These deliverables can be based on quarterly, annual or a mixture of timeframe- what ever makes sense to what we are trying to achieve.
 
Through this same mechanism we are also able to vary the service fee over the term of the contract to suite business conditions. Thus if there is an upswing in the business resulting in a requirement for additional IT management time we can accommodate the need. Likewise in times when less time is required we can reduce the fee to a level that meets the minimum requirements. This flexibility allows you to increase or decrease your IT intensity to suite your business cycles.