Thank you for taking the time to read this post explaining the duties of a virtual IT executive (VITE). Today I will take the time to explain the concept behind a VITE (pronounced Vie-Tay). First let me tell you what it is not. A VITE is not someone who works from home. It is also not someone who is not a real person. A VITE is a person who augments your IT organization when a full time executive is not needed.
While researching small business IT needs I came upon a concept of a virtual CIO. That intrigued me so I did some more research. In researching it I found that the term is far from standard and covers everything from a CIO that works from home or outside of the office to a CIO that works at many firms . That term also implies a C-Level position that is was not always appropriate for the work the person was doing. Thus was born the concept of a Virtual IT Executive.
The best way to talk about a VITE is to introduce you to one. Let’s meet an imaginary one. Her name is Hannah. Hannah currently has 3 clients in her portfolio. They are all at different stages of their engagement with her as a VITE. Let’s talk about her newest engagement at WidgetCo.
Hannah met the CEO of WidgetCo through a church networking group. WidgetCo has 75 employees and 1 “IT guy”. The CEO is looking to put in an ERP system and the IT person has really only worked on email, networking setup and their website. Hannah just had her first meeting with the CEO and the IT guy and at the end of the week she will deliver them something called “Our first 60 days”. In that Hannah will have laid out a road map for all the things they will accomplish in 60 days. That could include items like, implementing the plan for the ERP, building an asset management strategy, getting a backup and disaster recovery plan in place, using the bulk buying power Hannah has to negotiate better phone and network service, design of the IT dashboard she will deliver that will give the executives the pulse of IT on a page and delivering an annual and 5 year IT plan that will align with the companies business strategy.
The second company Hannah works for is TrimmBo. They build and service automated tree and bush trimmers that work like a RoomBa vac. They have 5 sales and service locations throughout the country with their headquarters here in Milwaukee. Two years ago their business exploded, and the CFO was really struggling to manage his IT team. When Hannah started here 6 months ago they already had an ERP in place and that was in pretty good shape. Just like all of her clients Hannah first built that 60 day plan and actually delivered everything on it in 45 days. Hannah is an awesome VITE. She is now in the process of delivering the items from the annual plan. Below is the one page dashboard she uses with the CFO each week to confirm they are on track to meet the annual plan:
Hannah’s third client is Swanky Service. They are a cleaning service that works like Uber. All of the cleaning people at Swanky service drive company cleaning vehicles with company phones. People who have urgent cleaning needs schedule a cleaning with their smart phone. Hannah has just completed the second year of her engagement at Swanky Service and she is preparing the annual report for the executive committee that runs Swanky Service. The key items in that annual report are a recap of last years results (this is easy for her as she can take the weekly status work she did and summarize the high points), the next years annual plan (also easy because she is engaged with Swanky’s execs in their business planning), an update of the 5 year plan (this is done every year as a rolling 5 year plan), suggested improvements for the weekly status dashboard (since a CRM was added last year they need more information in the same space), and lastly confirmation that her succession plan is on track to hand over to a full time IT executive at the end of next year. Hannah’s greatest accomplishment at Swanky has been taking one of the IT team that was there when she started 2 years ago and turning him into her right hand man. He will be ready at the end of this year to become the IT executive that the organization can move forward with.
Large corporate IT organizations have IT executives who manage multiple business, the concept of a VITE is exactly the same. The VITE can use the processes that they have proven to be successful in the past and apply them to more than one organization. Watch for the next blogs in the series coming soon: Who needs a VITE?
About the author:
Greg Stellflue has 25 years of experience in project management, application ownership and software development. With over 30 years of industry experience he has focused on advancing information technology capabilities in many different organizations.
Email: [email protected]
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