COVID-19 has completely changed how businesses operate; during and after the pandemic, most companies have switched to remote or virtual work rather than having in-office hours.
With the rise in the popularity of communication apps such as Zooms, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, working from home has never been easier. For this reason, most companies prefer hiring virtual assistants and employees. There has been an increasing trend of companies hiring virtual CTOs, especially startups.
In this article, we will discuss the duties and responsibilities of a Chief Technical Officer and why hiring them is important for your business growth. If you’re wondering whether hiring a virtual CTO will benefit your company, keep reading.
What Is A Virtual CTO?
A CTO or Chief Technical Officer deals with all the technical aspects of running a business. Typically, a CTO is well versed in technology, has an astounding hold over tech operations, and can merge and integrate a business model with the latest IT architecture. To put it simply, a virtual CTO will evaluate the network and infrastructure of the business to ensure that they are running smoothly. Their responsibilities include:
- Designing layouts for business projects and training the technical staff to develop technical designs using tech stacks and compatible platforms.
- Strategizing technical decisions to align with business goals and help achieve them at a faster pace
- Overseeing the business’ network infrastructure and ensuring that it is well supported and secured against threats, with minimal downtime
How To Find The Best Virtual CTO For Your Business?
With every process being carried out digitally in today’s era, you’ll likely find your virtual CTO online. If you want to hire a CTO, you can scour through job advertisement websites and applications where people offer their services to the public.
You can also inquire about technologists and ask them for referrals to CTOs looking to work online if they know of any. This will make it easier for you to determine whether the CTO is reliable or not.
When hiring a CTO, remember to ask them these three critical questions: how fast their delivery and service is, what software they require, and their realistic projections about data size. Check the credentials of the person applying, and try asking them to run some tests to assess whether they are qualified for the job or not.
The Advantages Of A Virtual CTO
Here are a few benefits of hiring a virtual CTO for your company:
Analyze Business Models
A thorough analysis of your business models is carried out by CTOs, giving you a clear-cut picture of how efficiently your business is operating. You must have a CTO, especially if you don’t have an in-depth background or understanding of the technological front.
Your company’s CTO will fill in your shoes and help find solutions to complex tech problems and identify when and where you can capitalize on the opportunity of using new technologies. A reliable CTO will be able to provide tech business solutions to your company on your behalf.
Align Technology With Business Goals
A CTO can help align your business goals using software by deriving a technology strategy for your firm. This means that your company’s CTO can introduce the latest technology and software to help you achieve your business goals more efficiently.
A CTO will also define and set strategies for the future that can further help the business prosper.
Cost-Effective
A CTO is one of the highest-paid positions in the world, so hiring a full-time CTO, especially as a startup, can pose a financial burden. Hiring a virtual CTO will allow you to gain technical insights and the best industry practices for a much cheaper rate.
A Virtual CTO will provide you with their expertise and perspective for business solutions; their experience working in different industries will be beneficial in adopting the best practices for your firm. Hiring a virtual CTO will also diminish relocation, transport, and any other costs that are incurred from hiring an in-house employee.
Flexibility
A successful business needs to be flexible and innovative and offer its client’s the very best services; this is where a Virtual CTO comes in. The expertise of innovative solutions offered by a virtual CTO can help a company prosper, especially if it’s a startup.
For start-up companies, hiring a virtual CTO will be more beneficial as they can help your company get on track with its goals. On the other hand, a full-time CTO will prioritize working for well-established companies.
With businesses going online and working digitally, a virtual CTO will be flexible enough to meet up with the demands and expectations of a business and its clientele.
Accessibility
Remote work allows an employee to be more accessible to their employer; having a virtual CTO will enable them to contribute and give in their input and advice regarding a particular situation, regardless of where they are. Remote work also reduces the time and hassle that it takes for your CTO to get to the office or a specific department to provide a solution.
All you have to do is pop them a message, and they’ll get back to you almost instantly. This way, your work gets done quickly, and your CTO can provide you with solutions without rushing into the office.
Adaptability
A virtual CTO will be more likely to adapt to your company’s policies and requirements, depending on how large or small it is. Since a CTO has extensive knowledge about the latest technological systems, they can help your business strategically achieve its objectives, regardless of how large or small they are.
It has also proven to be more difficult for employees to adapt to different work environments. Since your CTO will be working from home, they don’t need to worry about “fitting in” and can just focus on getting their job done.
A virtual CTO will help your business tackle all of its tech-related problems timely and efficiently. CTOs can help participate in management decisions and can be beneficial if you find tech-related stuff overwhelming. Their experience and capabilities will help your business thrive, flourish, and rise to the top.
