Strategic IT Consulting services are gaining traction because of the unique technology environments many organizations are now facing. Technology scatter is rampant and the consumerization of IT has further complicated the landscape. Below are a few articles we’ve written that explore some of the challenges your organization may be facing—and how a Technology Assessment may be able to help.
FAQs
Like you, many of our clients and prospects have come to us with questions. Here are a few of the most common…
Q: If I already have an internal IT department, how can I benefit from Optimal’s Strategic IT Consulting Services?
A: Strategic IT Consulting can come from a variety of sources including your internal IT team, your CIO, and/or your outsourced IT vendor. Of the utmost importance, however, is that you are receiving assessments and advice based on objective data, industry expertise, and research. And that you are receiving these recommendations from persons qualified to make them—people with both a business and technology background. As an organization with a competent IT department, you may already be receiving the services we offer. In other cases you may not. It never hurts to ask a few questions and have your IT environment evaluated by a third-party.
Q: When should my organization plan to have a Technology Assessment?
A: There are many reasons that people choose to engage us for a Technology Assessment. The most common are below:
- Before an organization is about to make a significant IT investment, and they want to make sure they make their IT dollars count
- If the organization is undergoing a transition, growing (in employees and in number of office locations), merging, relocating, etc.
- If an organization is considering a firm-wide technology/workstation upgrade
- If your organization has questions about migrating to a virtualized computing environment or a cloud computing model
- If your organization has recently been given new data management, archival, or security requirements
- If many of your organization’s employees are remote
Q: What indicators should I look for before engaging Optimal’s Fractional CIO Service?
A: Our Fractional CIO service is most often employed by organizations who realize the limitations of their internal IT teams or their budgets. Sometimes, organizations find that their IT departments are wonderful implementers and project managers, but that they are unfamiliar with looking at technology through a business lens. Other times, organizations know that they can’t afford the six-figure salaries that CIO’s require, and so they choose to engage a Fractional CIO to receive the same strategic benefits, on an as-needed basis. Other clients have chosen this service following a Technology Assessment because they need someone to drive the recommended projects internally. There are a variety of individualized circumstances that would make this service beneficial, and we are happy to discuss with you in more detail about your specific situation.
Contact us to find out how you can start benefitting from one or both of our Strategic IT Consulting services.
