A Chief Information Officer (CIO) works with an organization's leadership and staff to understand existing business and technology challenges and opportunities and define road maps, budgets, and timelines to implement solutions that support the organization's mission, goals, and objectives. Every organization needs a CIO but not every organization needs or can afford to have someone dedicated to this role on staff or, if they do/can, that person could often use some peer level help. That's where a fractional CIO comes in!

A fractional CIO is a trusted adviser, an objective third party, a strategic partner, and a seasoned leader who is entrusted to dig into issues, propose doable solutions, and help organizations get things done -- on a part time or project basis. The role may be a short term gig or series of projects or it may be the long term solution. The part time nature of it makes it an affordable way to get access to and advice from someone who has deep experience and exposure to lots of problems and solutions.

The best fractional CIO is someone who has done the job and believes that any technology implemented is only as good as the business processes it enables and supports. Many years of experience as an organization's CIO builds a knowledge base and network of colleagues that can be leveraged to create actionable strategies to navigate sticky situations, overcome challenges, and leverage new opportunities. Diverse industry experience means that the person can bring innovative ideas to the table that the organization may not have previously considered or drive fresh energy into good ideas that have not been actualized.

At Rous Consulting, we believe that a CIO must have demonstrated their understanding of the various functional aspects of all businesses as well as the nuances of different industries, be in tune with the organization's mission, goals and priorities, and be brilliant at operational IT so they can:

• Spot opportunity and dysfunction across the enterprise
• Drive change and transform operations and culture
• Create internal and external customer value and experiences that promote loyalty and retention
• Prioritize tomorrow's opportunities over yesterday's challenges

Our ideal client sees us as a strategic resource, gives us a seat at their executive table, and values our experience and guidance. We're not concerned about head count or annual revenue as we believe we can be effective in any organization when we are involved, engaged, and part of the team. We're looking for organizations that know they can do better and are ready and willing to do what it takes to get there.

• Business and technology ecosystem assessment and evaluation
• Strategic planning and alignment road map development and review
• Workflow, process, and policy definition and development
• Readiness assessments, planning, and training for things like business continuity, disaster recovery, pandemic response, information governance, information security, and compliance
• Cyber insurance coverage review and proposal response
• System or software requirements definition, selection, and evaluation
• Vendor and service provider selection, review and oversight
• Technology planning for physical office renovation/relocation or for transitioning to a remote workforce
• General project management