A vCIO, or virtual CIO, is an individual contractor or company that serves as an organization’s chief information officer. vCIOs collaborate with and advise their client companies’ IT departments and leaders. vCIOs can be valuable to small and medium sized companies that don’t want to incur the salary of hiring an internal CIO.
Similar to CIOs, the duties of a vCIO include setting strategic IT goals, planning the IT budget; analyzing and reworking business processes and facilitating technology changes.
For companies that seek to outsource their IT counsel and maintain a competitive advantage, retaining a vCIO can be a wise business decision.
Rather than waiting for problems to arise, the vCIO will proactively recommend solutions, services and business changes to clients.