Beyond survival, COVID-19 disruptions present a unique opportunity for small and medium businesses to rationalize staffing structures, reallocate and optimize resources by leveraging new generation digital technology resulting in reduced operating costs as well as a nimbler, more secure and efficient enterprise. This is best accomplished by onboarding a part-time Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to support stakeholders (owners). Bringing in needed experience and expertise, the part-time CTO quickly sizes up the situation, aligns with leadership goals and then drives the effort to carry out improvement plans.
Using an affordable, practical, nuts and bolts approach to harness a combination of existing technologies and capabilities with new digital solutions, services, and updated processes to rapidly achieve leadership objectives: overcoming current barriers to growth and increased profitability.
There is no way to sugarcoat this:
It is difficult for nonprofits or small – medium sized businesses to extrapolate past successes to secure their futures.
An organization model without an effective “digital core” cannot survive.
It is time to strengthen the executive team with a Chief Technology Officer with the skills and experience required to swiftly plan and supervise an affordable transformation of existing assets while building new ones which form a robust digital foundation for the future ready organization.
A foundation that will set the stage to be competitive and grow in the current and emerging digital economy.
Role of Digital Technology in every organization, regardless of size
System Types
Regardless of size, every organization today uses digital technology in some form or another.
Whatever the form, they address 4 basic dimensions of every organization’s existence:
- Productivity of staff and resources
- Engagement with people in the world outside
- Operations to create and/or provide value
- Integration to exchange data with the world outside
The Technology Core comprises systems for internet connections, Wi-Fi, file servers, printers, scanners, cyber security, IoT devices, cloud, and such.
Need and Impact
- Regardless of size, every organization, today, needs to invest in establishing and maintaining systems performing specific roles in each of the 5 areas of operation.
- These are non-trivial expenditures that have serious implications to the existence of the organization.
- Regardless of size, the capability and performance of every organization today is impacted significantly by the capability and performance of these 5 types of systems in whatever form they are adopted and used.
Simple but Complex
These systems may be simple to use but are complex under the hood. So it takes knowledge and expertise to:
- Make the right selection;
- Manage the acquisition and implementation;
- Ensure that the systems provide value commensurate with the money spent on them;
- Ensure that the systems are effectively serving organizational mission and vision.
Regardless of size, every organization today needs qualified and proven skills and expertise to oversee the role of digital technology in its very existence. Every organization needs a Chief Technology Officer a member of the executive leadership team.
Digital Leadership
Alongside the leadership of Financial Management, Marketing, Operations, Supply Chain and Customer Success:
Regardless of size, every organization today needs qualified and proven skills and expertise to oversee the role of digital technology in its very existence.
Every organization needs to include a Chief Technology Officer as a member of the executive leadership team.
For small, mid-size, nonprofit organizations and startups a part-time CTO is affordable and great value
Surely, we’re too small to need a CTO?
No organization is too small. With the pivotal role of digital technology in the very existence of every organization, regardless of size, the CTO role provides critical leadership. This is occasionally the purview of the CFO or other managers, as an add-on responsibility.
We already have an excellent system administrator.
What would a CTO do?
- The system administrator is focused on maintaining the systems and keeping the lights on. Often this is outsourced.
- The CTO is a strategic leadership role.
- The CTO participates in the efforts and deliberations of executive leadership to scale operations and drive topline growth.
Is the spend on a CTO justified?
- CTO provides critical leadership in an often-neglected area of operation of an organization that is small or medium sized or a nonprofit.
- Savings in operating costs, improvements in productivity, reductions in the cost of regulatory compliance are just some impacts that a CTO can have and thus easily justify the spend
- The CTO oversees expenditure on systems and services
- The CTO monitors effectiveness of systems for their given cost
- The size of savings are commonly greater than the cost of a CTO
We’ve never staffed such a role. How does the role fit in?
- Digital Value Creation provides clients with knowledgeable and skilled senior level executives to play the role of CTO on a part-time basis.
- This enables them to obtain the full benefits, and value of this increasingly critical leadership role at a fraction of the cost of a full-time equivalent.
- Given their experience they easily slide into the role using a standard playbook (that is constantly refined) to quickly understand the organization’s dynamics and assess the current role of digital technology in its operations.
- The opportunities for improvement are identified.
- Through discussions with other members of the executive leadership team a future state for the digital core is defined.
- Completion of a strategic roadmap to achieve the future state then sets the stage for next steps.
Don’t have a budget. Can we wait?
- Given the significant role of digital technology in the very existence of every organization there is urgency in the need to onboard a CTO. It is not really an option.
- Delays imply potential revenue leakage as well as losses due increased costs of operation.
- The costs of being out regulatory compliance often exceed the costs of using digital systems to ensure compliance.
- Then there is the aspect of Cybersecurity. National Cyber Security Alliance reports that more than 70% of cyberattacks target small businesses. They also found 60% of hacked SMBs go out of business within 6 months!
- Its not a question of IF your business will be attacked. It’s a question of WHEN, how severely and… will you survive?
Older or underpowered digital technology will slow you down and impede efforts to grow your business to execute your mission.
With no cost or obligation, consider a one-hour initial meeting with you and your team to understand your immediate and long-term mission and the current state of the digital technology supporting your business functions.
The outcome of this meeting will shape next steps.
Contact us via the chat or the contact form and we’ll get back to you in short order.
DVC’s part-time CTO becomes a part of the executive leadership team to facilitate the deployment and operation of a solid digital capability that will play a foundational role in the ability of the organization to operate successfully in the digital economy.
