STRATEGY
Developing and executing a business-aligned IT strategy is more important than ever. Given the growing importance of technology in every business, organizations must have clear strategic direction and priorities that are closely linked to the business strategy. If you don’t define your goals, you’ll never achieve them.
Fractional CIO/CTO
A Fractional CIO/CTO is an experienced, multi-faceted senior technology executive who serves as the part-time Chief Information Officer (CIO) or Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for organizations that have not budgeted or do not require a full time executive. A Fractional C level resource can also be leveraged as a precursor to hiring a full time employee.
- Key Benefits - The key business benefit of retaining a Fractional CIO/CTO is that they provide the same expertise, experience and capability of a full-time C level resource without the associated level of salary, benefits, search firm fees and overhead expense associated with augmenting the leadership team. Fractional CIO/CTO’s are typically available on short notice which mitigates the lengthy hiring process associated with a senior level position.
- Strategic Perspective – CIO/CTO’s provide strategic advice to executive teams. They are solely responsible for designing a technology strategy, infrastructure, staff and supporting applications that your business requires to meet its goals. A fractional CIO/CTO’s perspective is unique having worked in many different industries, providing solutions and guidance to very challenging environments.
- Business Alignment – As a member of your executive team, this resource will collaborate with other business unit leaders and the technology teams ensuring that your business drivers and needs are being met by current and future technology strategy or product development. Your CIO/CTO can translate business concepts into technology terms and also explain technology solutions in layman’s terms. This fosters alignment between business and technology teams by mutual understanding of goals, technology, and business drivers.
- Mitigating Risk – A CIO/CTO has typically served many companies in many industries and has worked with them at various stages in their life cycle. This unique perspective provides your business with an experienced leader who understands which techniques, technologies and processes have failed to deliver results and those which have been successful. Risk mitigation reduces threats to your business while cultivating opportunities and success.
- Budgetary Analysis – Your Fractional CIO/CTO will align technology spending with your budget, identify overspending or recommend areas where deficiency in spending can stymie growth or innovation. By measuring technology expenses, maintaining budgets, renegotiating contracts and calculating ROI (Return on Investment) a Fractional C level resource will correctly allocate the budgetary spend to the right projects.
TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT
If you Don’t Know Where You Are and Where You’d Like to Be, then How Will You Get There?
A technical assessment is a discovery process that documents your company’s technology footprint, maturity, security posture, operations, and the effectiveness of software solutions in use. Your technical assessment will be the result of interviews with your staff, technical teams, and leadership. Recommendations are made based on issues uncovered, gaps in technology practices, and best practices successfully used by the G’Stato team with other clients.
G’Stato’s project team will guide your team throughout the process. The knowledge and perspectives of many within your organization provide us with a 360° view of your organization that will be translated into a written Report of Findings and Recommendations. The Report will have several sections including an Executive Overview, The Purpose of this Initiative, Scope of the Effort, an Overview of Applications, Processes, Infrastructure, Staff, and Security, Issues & Risks, and lastly Recommendations and Conclusions
Why Do I need a Technical Assessment?
Given the growing importance of technology in every business, organizations must understand the advantages, risks, and inefficiencies their technology imposes on their business. An assessment’s purpose is to provide an unbiased evaluation to ensure your company has a stable and efficient technology foundation and is prepared to address a crisis, an expansion, or a sale of your business.
What does a Technical Assessment Include?
A technical assessment asks detailed questions on several key topics. A few are noted below.
We start by understanding your company, exploring the products & services offered, which states you operate in, types of licenses, roles of key employees, and your goals for the balance of this year and next. These discussions enable us to draft a report and recommendations which is specific to your business.
Process Improvement and Optimization
In these sessions, we’ll discuss what challenges the leadership team is facing and trying to solve, review operational efficiencies, deficiencies, and the effectiveness of applications currently in use. By studying these areas, we’ll uncover performance bottlenecks and be in a position to recommend corrections to the unique challenges you face.
Software Applications
These sessions are designed to profile the software applications used in support of your business, and the areas they impact. Basically, do your current applications support your business today and in the future, do they exchange information effectively and provide the necessary reporting to run the business. Without these features, your teams and business will struggle to succeed.
State Compliance
If you’re a cannabis operator, you’re required to adhere to state regulations. We identify areas of concern, inefficiency, or non-compliance thru the lens of the applications you use. G’Stato focuses on the state compliant applications used, the proficiency of the employees using these applications, and the process followed to ensure compliance.
Infrastructure & Operations
Your infrastructure must be efficient, always available, and well documented. It should not impede your staff’s performance. In these sessions, we’ll profile your On-Premise Devices, Local Area Networks, and Cloud environments. Who built and manages these environments, are proper data retention and restore procedures followed, and are all devices and environments properly patched and upgraded.
Security & Risk Profile
In these sessions, we will discuss the ownership and protection of Domain Names, Identity Management, Desktop Security, Remote User Access, and CyberSecurity. According to Microsoft, 70% of cyber-attacks are phishing related and ransomware is on the rise. We document what measures are currently in place to protect your users and assets and the gaps or risks which should be alleviated.
I’ve received my Assessment, What are my Next Steps?
Your technology assessment provides a detailed view of your current technology environment. G’Stato uses this document and coupled with your business strategy, develops a Technology Roadmap. The roadmap defines where you want to be in the next 1 to 3 years, and which technology challenges or issues your company faces should be corrected.
The Roadmap is a document used to ensure milestones are achieved and technology initiatives continue to align with corporate goals. Once it’s created, elements in the roadmap are prioritized, evaluated against your budget, and executed. G’Stato’s team has developed roadmaps and successfully executed on them for many clients. Give us a call or email us today and start addressing both short-term improvements and a strategic long-term vision.