What Is Virtual CTO, And How Can It Help In Business Growth?

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) role has significantly changed in recent years and continues to be redefined. A CTO used to be the person who took care of the organization’s technology needs. Now, a CTO is more than that.

The recent disruptions like pandemics have changed the crucial role of technology and the importance of varied CTO responsibilities. As businesses adapt to new conditions, CTOs lead the adaptation of new infrastructure and operating methods. This evolution has increased the need to pursue expertise by sourcing skills and applying remote-ready services and offshore teams that can enable organizations to scale faster. 

Additionally,  Virtual CTO services have allowed businesses to access the expertise of a CTO from a vast talent pool without getting concerned about the added costs of hiring one. Entrepreneurs, startups and corporate businesses use Virtual CTO services to access a dedicated technology expert who supports their growth. This blog will give you an introduction to what a Virtual CTO is and how they can help you grow your business. 

What Is A Virtual CTO?

A Virtual CTO is very much like an oceangoing ship’s captain. They are in charge of ensuring the company’s technological infrastructure succeeds, stays politically neutral and can avoid all kinds of storms through continuous evaluation, adapting and planning ahead. 

The Virtual CTO is an extremely important position to have at any startup because it ensures that your organization will maintain its ability to reach goals by utilizing innovative technology which also plays a vital role in today’s business world by keeping up with market trends and evaluating them in the context of what is needed for the company based on its goals and strategy, mapping out ideas for new products and services, and deciding on the process to deliver high-quality products and services. 

The role of a Virtual CTO is evolving along with the environment that companies are operating in. Companies have become more cross-functional and strategy-oriented. Providing Virtual CTO services no longer means consulting on technological gaps or managing the IT infrastructure. It’s all about enabling the business to build tech-driven solutions. 

Specifically, a Virtual CTO can serve as a guide in 

• Consulting- delivering expertise on the company’s overall tech infrastructure.
• Strategy- provide a roadmap to ensure the business knows its future tech path.
• Infrastructure- investigating the ways to optimize the business infrastructure. 
• Security- ensuring cyber best practices are enabled around IT security management.
• Investments- cutting unnecessary costs, ensuring best value spending and creating strategies for long-term business growth.  

How Does A Virtual CTO Aids Growth?

A Virtual CTO’s work is to support IT initiatives, outline technology strategies and create an approach based on business goals. It ensures the technological infrastructure, tools and teams are well organized to achieve the business objectives. 

But how can this help? Here are some advantages of hiring Virtual CTO services for your business

Establish The Technology Vision

A Virtual CTO helps build a technology vision through which efficient decisions can be taken. This involves understanding the project’s requirements, researching and evaluating different technologies, and deciding which technologies to use.

A Virtual CTO articulates the technical vision to the rest of the team and ensures that everyone is on board with it. They help set up a technology plan blueprint by keeping a view of the business goals and scalability. They select the right mix of programming language, architecture, framework, libraries and tools for the project. 

Related Read: A Guide To Minimum Viable Architecture Points For Any Startup

Shape And Manage The Technical Team

It helps you hire or set the process to find the right candidates and partners. They look after all the elements of the company’s technical operations. A Virtual CTO also ensures that the technical team’s goals are aligned with the company’s overall strategy. They develop and monitor teams that increase productivity and efficiency for the required project. 

They play a major role in allocating or recommending the IT budget for businesses. With the help of an on-demand CTO, businesses can frame KPIs to assess technological performance and make decisions accordingly. 

Assist CEO With Fundraising Strategy

A Virtual CTO improves the relationship between technology and the company by helping to make better strategic and cost-effective decisions. This will impact the quality of the project and indirectly result in higher ROI.

They focus on using technology to grow the business by entering new markets or partnerships or finding an efficient process within the current business model. A Virtual CTO serves not only as the company’s technical voice but also helps raise investments and manages vendor relationships and internal teams. 

Access To Industry Best Practices

A Virtual CTO enables you to access best practices outside the organization’s four walls, offering greater visibility. The vast and varied experience usher in incredible solutions to the business. They ensure various other resources like HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI are applied to have quality work and competitive advantage.

A Virtual CTO validated the project’s acceptance criteria and ensured the best solutions were included to satisfy the needs. They bring on the practices such as clean code and software testing to deliver a quality product. 

Discover Issues And Innovative Solutions For Businesses

The guidance of a Virtual CTO can help businesses identify different issues in the project. They validated the plan prepared and provided insights on the challenges and pitfalls that can be encountered during the development of the product. However, they also identify opportunities to reduce cost, boost productivity and streamline operations. 

Partnering With A Virtual CTO 

There are many perks of partnering with a Virtual CTO. A Virtual CTO can provide expertise and guidance on all aspects of the business, from technology to operations. They can assist you in developing and implementing strategies to grow the business and improve the bottom line.