A Chief Technology Officer (CTO), as the name suggests, is a key executive role inside a company or organization responsible for understanding the business drivers and align the technologies that are required for meeting the business objectives. Considering the speed of technology advances, it is extremely important (if not vital) to constantly adapt the business with these advances in order to keep up with the competition which makes the role of CTO critical for any modern business.

However, despite the importance of the CTO position for any organization, many Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) simply can’t afford the overhead of a full-time CTO or simply are not of the size that would require a full-time CTO.

So is there a solution? Of course – Virtual CTO!

What is Virtual CTO?

Like so many other examples (such as Cloud Computing), the advance of communications has created many business models and facilities where you only have to pay for a service as much as you need it. And Virtual CTO is exactly that.

Just like in a cloud server where you don’t need to pay for the costs of a dedicated server, a Virtual CTO is actually a consulting service provided by some service providers that fulfills the exact role of a CTO when required for any size of a business at very competitive prices.

This is an ideal service for any SMB, enabling these companies to keep up with the technology and make the best out of it.

What services should you expect from a Virtual CTO Service?

Like almost anything else in this world, you have a range of good and bad Virtual CTO services offered at different costs. The services you should expect from a good Virtual CTO would include:

• Carefully analyzing your business models and your available resources and infrastructure and giving you a clear analysis of your system efficiency.
• Providing consultation and suggestions on how your organization can utilize new technologies to increase outcome and improve efficiency.
• Enabling you to take informed technology decisions and properly manage technology within your business.
• Providing unbiased technical consultation for your business problems.
• Ensuring you would receive the highest ROI (return of investment) for all your technology investments.
• Helping you in saving on costs by utilizing the right technology.
• Managing your vendor relationships and negotiations for best interest of your company in new purchases.
• Ensuring correct software solutions are designed and developed.
• Managing your technology projects.

What are the benefits of a Virtual CTO for SMBs?

I would highly encourage a Virtual CTO service to SMBs because:

• It can maximize the ROI (return of investment) in IT systems, saving great time and effort without the need to pay for a full-time position.
• It can provide you the combination of knowledge and expertise of a full team of experts, rather than depending on a one-person’s ideas and knowledge.
• It enables you to focus on your core business, while experts fulfill this important aspect of your business.
• There are many ways that by utilizing the correct IT technologies you are boost your performance, save costs and stay ahead of your competitors – you simply can’t take the risk of missing the opportunity.