Virtual IT Director

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How can a Virtual IT Director help transform your organisation?

A Virtual IT Director (vITD) – or Virtual CIO (vCIO) – brings all the skills, knowledge and experience of an IT leader into your charity of non-profit organisation at a fraction of the cost of recruiting in-house.

At Smartdesc, we have a team of Virtual IT Directors who work on site with clients typically a few days a week, shifting IT from a reactive “break / fix” state to one that is strategic, forward thinking and proactive. Our Charity IT Directors take ultimate accountability for the IT function within the organisations they represent, reporting to Board level.

A key part of the vITD role is owning the IT Strategy. This often involves working with representatives from across the organisation to create a strategy where none existed before, then overseeing its implementation over a one- or two-year period.
The role is flexible by nature; typically the first few months may need more time to set up or improve processes or systems, then it can scale back to a day or two a week to maintain momentum and provide management information to the Senior Leadership Team.

Our Virtual IT Directors work hand in hand with the existing IT Team – be that in-house, outsourced to another vendor, or a hybrid model. Indeed, ensuring the organisation has the optimum resource model for IT Service Delivery is another responsivity of the vITD, along with:

Implementing a proactive IT roadmap designed exactly to meet the needs of the organisation. 
Managing 3rd party vendors, holding them to account and negotiating new contracts.
Giving expert technical and strategic guidance to create and deliver on the IT Strategy. 
Managing the wider IT team, ensuring service delivery levels improve over time.
Reporting to the Board and Senior Leadership Teams with giving visibility on what is happening within the IT function, on projects and service levels.
Setting and owning the IT budget, tracking actuals and providing forecasts to control costs.
Looking for new, innovative solutions and bringing a wealth of experience to provide an injection of new ideas and thinking into the organisation.
Helping raise the profile, visibility and accountability of IT

As well as the in-depth expertise of the Virtual IT Director, access to the valuable knowledge and experience of the full Smartdesc team is also available.

The service can be delivered as a discreet project, or as an ongoing service. Find out more here.

If you are an NCVO member, click here to find out more about the offers available, including a free consultation with one of our Virtual IT Director’s.

ACEVO members are also able to access complimentary time with one of our Smartdesc Virtual IT Director’s. Click here to find out more.

View some of our Virtual IT Director Case Studies below;