Who is in charge of IT?
Who runs your IT?
This is a question that many business owners struggle to answer. Do you have a Technology Director or a CTO? Have you outsourced your IT to a technology firm? Is the CFO running IT? Are you?
As a day-to-day technology support provider – many companies think that Big Fish runs their IT. For some, that is correct. For others it is not. Most of the time, companies have outsourced Big Fish for the day-to-day support, but the reality is, they are still in charge. The client decides the technology direction for the business, they arrange for their complimentary consulting with Big Fish, they evaluate their IT budget, they evaluate their compliance, security insurance, acceptable use policy, common office environment, replacement technology, upcoming technology, and the list goes on.
This is a point of confusion not just for business owners and clients at Big Fish, but for business owners everywhere. If you have outsourced your day-to-day support to a technology firm – you still run the program. The technology firm may offer free consulting with their support, but the planning, evaluation, budgeting, and review is up to you – you are the technology director.
Some businesses and business owners do not want this role, and for that, we have what we call Virtual Chief Technology Officer (VCTO), where a seasoned tech takes a seat on the client’s side of the table one day a week and is the acting CTO on a part-time basis. During the time in that seat, they work on the technology roadmap, IT budget, evaluation of compliance, security insurance, acceptable use policy, common office environment, replacement technology, upcoming technology, and the list goes on.