Our Virtual CIO (Chief Information Officer) service helps small and medium-sized enterprises manage Information Technology to redirect their focus away from IT problems and towards their core business. Among other things, a Virtual CIO will take charge of your information technology infrastructure to:

1. Ensure Operational Productivity– your critical business systems must be proactively managed to reduce the likelihood of unplanned business downtime.

2. Maintain Connectivity – Network and Message– keeping you constantly connected to your office, customer co-workers and s.

3. Manage Security Risks– taking precautions to guard confidential information and free you from viruses, spyware and spam.

4. Create a Disaster Recovery Strategy to avoid unnecessary downtime and recover from foreseeable computer problems in a timely and predictable fashion. We must prepare for not “if” but “when” a problem will occur.

Virtual CIO Process

1. Assess your current state with an IT Systems Audit. This covers all hardware and software systems and network security.

2. Document Findings Results are presented as a comprehensive report outlining areas of strength, weakness, and recommendations.

3. Present Recommendations include  Tactical recommendations—things you must do to stay in business (e.g., no back-ups, set up the firewall, etc.). b. Strategic recommendations—things you should do to maintain business continuity (e.g., upgrade the operating system, implement system monitoring, virtualise servers, etc.).

4. Implement mutually agreed-upon recommendations.

5. Continually assess business needs.

Virtual CIO Benefits

When you rent a CIO, or “part-time CIO”, as some people call it, remember that a Virtual CIO is your business partner, helping you focus on your business needs. While we may have excellent technical skills, we are much more than a technical employee looking for direction. We help set the direction for your business, develop the plan, and ensure that the plan is executed.

• Through our Virtual CIO, you get access to our experts who can provide a broader spectrum of experience across many technologies, eliminating the need for you to support a staff trained in multiple disciplines.

• As a result of specialists handling tasks instead of generalists – you get better service and solutions.

• Your Virtual CIO should lower your IT-related expenses – since you only pay for services you use.

• A Virtual CIO has established methods and procedures for accounting for work performed—a level of accountability you likely would not receive from technical employees.

FIBCO’s experience, and that of our customers, is that a Virtual CIO can provide your business with better, more reliable and more secure technology solutions at lower cost.