Expert Advice | Leadership Guidance | Cost and Risk Reduction | Best Practices | Industry Trends | Product Selection
Businesses know what a CFO, COO and CEO are. They are leaders at the top of the corporation that specialize in the big picture planning and guide the business towards goals both short and long term. The CIO is a member of this key team, focused on big-picture planning in the realm of information technology. Most small businesses (even some fairly large ones) don’t have a requirement for a full-time CIO. They are not fundamentally a technology company. They just need the occasional guidance of a senior executive.
Meet the vCIO. Sabre Limited vCIO services entail senior leadership to guide the company through decision-making and planning. vCIO services are intended to keep businesses from making bad or ill-informed information technology decisions. Using this service properly can prevent a business from making an investment in obsolete technology. It provides the “reality check” when technology needs to be selected for the company.
Sabre provides manufacturing vCIO services for all of our customers. Common vCIO services that are provided for manufacturing companies include but are not limited to:
For some manufacturing companies, especially those who expect to invest heavily in IT, the basic vCIO services we provide are not enough. For that reason, we allow customers to upgrade to Sabre IT Excellence a Premium Sabre Limited vCIO Service. The IT Excellence service is intended to provide you with a true fractional CIO, on call for your business. A senior consultant level staff member is assigned to provide ongoing services and really dig into how your business works and what you do.
Under Sabre IT Excellence you are entitled to ongoing and regular access to your vCIO. You may book them for “coaching sessions” at a frequency described below and depending on the level of the service. You are also entitled to other elevated services, such as system performance dashboards, budget and strategic planning assets, and leadership meeting activities. The services of Sabre IT Excellence include:
Choose the vCIO plan that suits your requirements.
Great for small businesses with minimal requirements
Great for a highly progressive or larger business with growth expectations
Ideal for the larger business with big plans or major growth
Like all Sabre service agreements, vCIO services may be cancelled at any time with 90 days notice.
Every company is different, and vCIO services aren’t able to be fit into a one-size fits all model. There are a number of extra on-demand services that a business might need during the year that isn’t covered by the out-of-the-box vCIO services above. As a vCIO service subscriber, the hourly rates for vCIO services are greatly reduced when these extra services are required.
These are some of the examples of extra vCIO activities that are frequently requested by manufacturing customers like you:
Think we missed a common question? Contact us and ask us to add it here.
Your vCIO is available for 1 hour sessions at various frequencies. These are often used for “coaching” purposes. You may book a coaching session with your vCIO at the frequency shown include in the contract. For instance, if you have a Monthly Frequency – you can book the session for any time and then you must wait a month to book the next one.
Normally the vCIO leaves available coaching session slots in their calendar for “next week.” This means that on Monday the 1st – there should be coaching sessions available on Monday the 7th or later. You can book that session, and then when your session is over, immediately book another as long as the appropriate time is set between the sessions.
Coaching sessions are available for the customer when requested, but may not be booked more than one at a time. That means you can’t have a standing “every Tuesday” for coaching.
Leadership meetings are intended for the vCIO and the rest of the organization’s leadership (CEO, CFO, CMO etc.) to meet. The normal use of this is for monthly or quarterly C-Level planning sessions. The vCIO might just attend to listen and stay “in the loop” on what is happening at the business.
The Coaching sessions are meant to (normally) be 1:1 with a C-Level or senior manager at the customer. Maybe the vCIO and the CFO talk about general project planning regularly. These meetings are shorter and less formal.
vCIO or fractional CIO means you are getting a “part time” CIO service. A full time CIO will generally cost $150,000 to $200,000 per year. This service is meant to bridge your requirement before you have the budget or need for that level of service.
Tactical project work such as a project manager or Network Architect would do is not part of vCIO services. The vCIO is not a “working manager” service but rather a strategic leadership service.
vCIO services are for some businesses – not all. Sabre will provide twice yearly Technology Business Reviews (not the premium ones) and you can always submit tickets or requests to discuss strategy questions.
vCIO services can also be paid for on an as-needed basis even if you do not subscribe to one of these plans. The plans are simply for businesses that want committed and timely vCIO services.
A vCIO can significantly help a business in many ways. Risk reduction is a key one. Although a managed service provider is actively working with your business to make sure the technology you have is safe and working at 100%, we are not “plugged in” to what your plans are.
The vCIO service is designed so you and we strategically work together to make plans for your success. Without this service, we usually won’t have the background or knowledge to guide you and help avoid costly mistakes.
Overall the vCIO service helps your business make better decisions and plan the company’s future successes.
The vCIO is normally CAD $250 USD $225 per hour. The vCIO plans average out at about CAD $150 USD $180 or a 33% discount.
Schedule a free call with Robert Jolliffe
Copyright © 2023 SabreLimited.com
