For most businesses, technology is an enabler. It may not appear that way at first, or maybe it’s in a very subtle way, but it’s impressive how technology has improved our lives. From the first computer to the countless smartphones we have today, technology constantly transforms how we live, interact, and do business.
For your company to keep up with its competition, you need to implement effective information technology (IT) innovations that can boost its performance and help facilitate growth. IT forms an integral part of every business organization. It involves using the internet, computers, servers, and other modern tools to streamline business operations.
Information technology also allows businesses to utilize fewer resources to maximize their returns. That’s why you’ll always find every business enterprise struggling to have a functioning IT department. This is where a Chief Information Officer or CIO comes into play.
What is a CIO? A CIO is a trained individual whose role is to lead the technology strategy in an organization. In other words, they’re the most senior person in the information technology department.
A CIO analyzes the various available technologies and helps businesses implement or adapt such technologies. Therefore, a CIO is a professional who oversees the information technology department’s resources. They also monitor or supervise other staff members in the IT department.
These individuals play a very substantial role in any company. Since the world of technology is evolving at a high-speed rate, useful technology a few months ago might not be helpful today. Therefore, any business lagging behind modern technologies might not remain relevant or competitive.
The good news is that you can work with a CIO and outshine other firms in the industry. Some of the reasons you need to hire a CIO for your business include:
Improving Security
Security is a significant concern to every business enterprise, whether large or small. Today, hackers utilize modern technologies to access, alter, manipulate, or steal data from the business system. And when your business data is stolen, you might be forced to close down shop. This is because the process of having to restore your data can incur a lot of your company’s resources, affecting business profitability.
Fortunately, you can avoid this by hiring a CIO. Since a CIO is trained in matters regarding security, they can lead your IT team in implementing data security preventive measures.
One of the ways a CIO can help secure your data is by regularly updating your business systems. Most hackers compromise cybersecurity by scanning your older software versions to identify their vulnerabilities. So with outdated applications, hackers can easily access your business systems.
Updating Business Systems
As a business owner or a manager, you have other things to address. Maybe you need to attend a business seminar, sit on a staff recruitment committee, attend to your other personal matters, and do other things, all within one day. This means that you’re too busy and might not get time to update your business systems regularly.
However, a CIO can help update your business systems in various ways. Apart from manually updating them, they can help install software that automatically does system updates. Such software ensures that your business systems always remain up-to-date.
Digitizing Records
Your physical documents can also pose a significant risk to your business. When accessed by the wrong people, such people can use your critical information to their advantage. Besides, they can share your documents with your competitors and other outsiders, hugely affecting your business.
That’s where a CIO comes in. A CIO can help build an automated document management system to help store your files in digital form. Besides, they can help create strong passwords for anyone who should access specific documents. This limits the number of people who can access your records, thus boosting your business security. Even when you lose your files, a CIO can help implement the best data recovery solutions to help retrieve your files.
Providing Professional Advice
Most business owners are trained managers and are not experienced in information-related matters. If you’re one of them, you might consider hiring a CIO.
As noted earlier, a CIO is trained to tackle IT-related matters. They can advise you on the best course of action any time you’re about to make decisions regarding your IT department.
Especially now, as new technologies are invented daily, and people are starting to see the grave importance of information technology, a CIO can analyze and provide advice on which technologies best suit your business needs. Therefore, you can adapt the most valuable technologies and trends through a CIO’s advice, thus staying ahead of the competition.
Improving Budget Planning
Budgeting is one of the most critical activities in a business enterprise. It involves creating estimates on how to raise and utilize funds. Such funds are distributed to various departments according to their needs.
One of the primary departments that can benefit from your budget allocation is information technology. You need money to purchase computing systems, upgrade your application by paying monthly subscriptions, and pay your internal department staff. Therefore, if you’re not careful, such areas can quickly exhaust your resources.
A CIO understands all areas of the IT department. They know which specific areas need more money than the others. Besides, they can help you identify redundant members of the IT department. Therefore, you can eliminate such individuals, enabling you to improve your overall budget planning.
Training And Coaching
As your business grows, sometimes you might want to hire more than one person to be in charge of IT-related matters. This is important, especially when you don’t plan to outsource your IT functions anytime soon. As such, you might want to hire a CIO with training, coaching, and mentoring experience.
A CIO can help you identify potential future leaders within the information technology department. From there, they can provide training, coaching, and mentorship to such individuals, giving you future IT experts that can potentially help your business thrive in the industry.
Final Thoughts
Adoption of information technology is the way to go if you want your business to remain competitive for the foreseeable future. It involves using modern tools, strategies, and techniques to streamline business operations, helping promote efficiency and productivity in the workplace.
Hiring a CIO to bring IT innovations into your business might at first appear to be daunting and challenging. But it doesn’t have to be. If you approach the whole process with intelligence, you can save yourself and your company a lot of trouble and money.
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