What To Expect From An Interim CIO Engagement

An Interim CIO Meets a Vital but Temporary Need

If your company is in a period of transition – such as rapid growth, downsizing or filling a gap left by a recently departed CIO – an interim CIO like those at Shared CxO can come on board for as little or as much time as you need him to ensure your company’s technology continues to run smoothly.

Transition periods are times of change and change brings chaos. The one place you never want to find chaos is in your tech – be it the software your employees use, the way your network’s arranged or the security of your data. An interim CIO is a vital component of any transition plan, especially since business owners and other leaders involved in the transition process may not have the time to take on the CIO role while trying to push the company through challenging times.

An Interim CIO is There When You Need Him

Unlike a full-time CIO, an interim CIO can be utilized flexibly. If you’re growing, hiring new employees and need new software or hardware solutions to accommodate the growth, your interim CIO can take over the process and be as engaged as you need him to be for as long as you need him. When things calm down, he can step aside and simply monitor tech operations for any areas of inefficiency, instability or insecurity. And when you no longer need his services, an interim CIO hands the torch to the next CIO or IT department with parting guidance and grace.

One of the aspects of Shared CxO’s outsourcing that I find most appealing is its sheer flexibility. With a full-time employee you have a set wage or salary that you have to worry about, and with freelancers you often have a contractually-obliged minimum amount of hours for the engagement. But with Shared CxO, our interim CIOs are available on-call – no pressure, just help when you need it.

Interim CIOs Ensure Your Technology is Ready for Change 

Whether your company’s technology is well-established or still in development, an interim CIO will review every aspect including what’s already in place or planned, what’s best for your needs and what’s best for your customer or client’s needs. He’ll also take into consideration emerging trends in technology and whether or not your business could benefit from a totally cutting-edge system, or something more traditional – or a bit of both.

Your interim CIO will then put together a strategy for your tech that can scale along with your business, so that every step in your company’s trajectory the technology you’re using is up-to-date, efficient, secure and exactly what you need to get ahead of the competition.

Interim CIOs Can Manage Specific Projects 

If your only real need for an interim CIO is to oversee the acquisition and implementation of technology or some other one-time project, that sort of temporary guidance is well within the scope of his job. An interim CIO’s engagement doesn’t need to be grand or all-encompassing, there’s no ego to satisfy. In fact, like most people in IT, a quality interim CIO is extremely focused and results-driven. He’ll hit the ground running with whatever task he’s given, problem solve as necessary, implement a solution or process and if that’s all you require, he’ll get out of the way when the job’s done.

Unlike a full-time employee, you won’t feel as though you need to constantly feed your interim CIO new work.

An Interim CIO is Dedicated to Your Business 

A good interim CIO has to be completely dedicated to and invested in your business in order to serve it to the best of his abilities. He has to truly care about how technology affects your company. That’s why such dedication is a key quality we look for when selecting the CIOs to work with us at Shared CxO. I know that your CIO has to be meticulous and methodical. It’s his job to make sure your technology is stable and serves your every need. It’s also his job to make sure it’s compliant with a myriad of rules and regulations that can lead to heavy fines or other problems if ignored. And in a day and age when security and privacy are arguably more important, and certainly more tricky than ever, it’s his job to make sure your company’s data is protected.

Without dedication it would be easy for any one of those aspects of an interim CIO’s job to be done poorly at a dear cost to you. Just because your interim CIO’s engagement with your company may only be temporary doesn’t mean you should settle for anything less than 100% investment in your business’s best interests, and I’m proud to say that’s exactly what we provide at Shared CxO.