Why your MSP shouldn’t be your CIO or Fractional CIO
Greg Taffet
Fractional / Interim CIO / IT Executive / Transformational Leader / Startup Specialist / Coral Restoration / Scuba diver
Why you should have a CIO even if you have an MSP
Not every business is large enough to need a full-time CIO, so instead of employing someone full-time, you can hire a fractional CIO or an MSP (Managed Service Provider) to fill the role. MSPs are valuable and provide essential services to many SMBs. They allow a company to outsource a wide range of services that would otherwise require the SMB to hire multiple people at multiple times the cost of the MSP to get the same level of support.?
?Therefore, it is essential to understand and define which technology functions should be retained by a CIO or Fractional CIO and which processes the CIO can delegate to an MSP. While MSPs are trained in the company’s operations, they aren’t always well-equipped to handle the strategic and business functions that CIOs manage on a daily basis. Defining the roadmap of a current, short-term, and long-term strategy is the domain of an experienced Chief Information Officer (CIO). This individual is responsible for selecting future technologies that the company wants to onboard and then integrates the technology into the company.
?So How do Fractional CIOs and MSPs differ
While Fractional CIOs are part-time employees or contractors that serve as a company’s Chief Information Officer, An MSP is an organization that remotely manages the company’s information technology (IT) infrastructure, end-user systems, and potentially cybersecurity as an outsourced IT department.
?The difference between a fractional CIO and MSP is that MSPs perform a contracted set of IT tasks, while the fractional CIO has a proactive, business, and strategic role.??MSPs should also be proactive but at a more tactical than strategic level. The CIO will set the plan. The MSP will implement the plan.
?And for those people with this final question on their mind:
Are Fractional CIOs different from CIOs
Not really. In larger companies, a full-time CIO must handle all the complex responsibilities. While in smaller companies, a Fractional CIO may be able to handle everything at a much cheaper cost. In other cases, a Fractional CIO is brought into a company to support the CIO for a specific project.
?Next Steps
If you are considering hiring a Fractional CIO or want to get some more information, please reach out to me on LinkedIn or at [email protected].
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1 年Many MSP's will promote a senior network engineer to a Virtual CTO, or Virtual CIO, and expect them to steer their client's IT initiatives. These folks typically have never managed IT departments or projects, nor have they had to align the business strategy with IT. These are two completely different skill sets, and most MSPs can't afford to hire a seasoned CIO or CTO to complement their service offering.
Fractional CIO at JAYCO CIO Services | IT Executive | Consultant and Speaker
1 年Excellent points. This must be talked about more. A well-seasoned executive will always be a better answer than hiring an MSP which needs to keep everything as close to a cookie-cutter as possible.