Virtual CTO
How we can help
A lot of organisations understand the importance of technology to their business, but don’t have the high-level staff internally to make the connection between broader business strategy and their IT applications and systems. Without that link, there’s a very real danger of that disconnect becoming an obstacle to growth. Abtec’s Virtual CTO services help organisations to gain a clear, long-term view of their technology requirements to underpin broader business success.
A fraction of the cost of employing a full-time CTO, with Abtec you can tap into a wealth of senior IT and strategy experience as and when you need it.
Our Virtual CTO services are rarely ‘off the shelf’ but can include:
Technology Leadership
The CTO has become a significant member of the C-Suite in recent years as technology has matured from a support function to a source of strategic importance and competitive advantage. Any ambitious company needs a technology representative at the top table to inform and challenge business thinking, champion technology as a growth enabler, and provide direction over major technology projects and acquisitions.
Our team perform these functions for businesses across many sectors and sizes, bringing with them their own extensive individual experience, as well as a team of experts behind them, that ensures every opinion given is well-informed and appropriate for every individual client.
Evaluation and Procurement Guidance
There are many factors impacting a business’s IT landscape – beyond budget and internal need, there are often regulatory forces and supplier / client demands applying pressures. A virtual CTO can not only engage in these conversations on your behalf, but they can also provide a clear view of what’s really needed, what’s nice to have, and what’s superfluous. That enables you can meet any data security and governance concerns, negotiate appropriate SLAs with suppliers, and avoid unnecessary, or unexpected costs from poor purchase decisions
Technology Roadmaps and Cloud Strategy
A key part of any CTO role is to define a long-term roadmap for the business that aligns with and underpins the broader business goals. This roadmap, however, needs to be more than a ‘wishlist’ of technologies likely to be of use in the future, it should encompass detailed planning, maintenance, optimisation and retirement schedules of existing assets, define KPIs and performance criteria for technology, and track deployments, and project lifecycles to maximise business efficiency and return on investment.
Of course, in the modern age, a key part of any roadmap is likely to include and an appropriate set of KPIs and measurements to inform cloud migration and ongoing optimisation.
Major Project Management
Project Management may be deemed below the pay grade of some CTOs. At Abtec we place great importance on ensuring major projects remain closely aligned to business outcomes, and that the initial requirements of the business aren’t lost during delivery. In such instances, it’s important that the CTO remains close to the project, has the respect of the IT delivery team and can conduct technical conversations, but can also remain the commercial voice of the business through out project design and delivery.
