Frequently Asked Questions

Details about Contract CIO Consulting Services

Our Answers to Your Questions

Over the years Innovation Vista has received and answered a lot of inquiries from clients and prospective clients. We thought it would be helpful to consolidate and categorize the most common questions with their answers here in one place, for the reference of anyone who may share one or more of these uncertainties… If you have a question that isn’t answered below, please contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss it with you…

About Innovation Vista

Technology Consulting (IT Consulting) is a specialized form of management consulting in which 3rd party technology expertise is sought by an organization to help it improve the performance, stability, and/or capabilities of its IT platform.  The best IT consultants help their clients apply the optimal combination of currently available technologies to solve business problems and take advantage of business opportunities. (Read more…)

Innovation Consulting is a specialized form of management consulting in which 3rd party expertise is sought by an organization to help it discover and develop new ideas for products, services, supply/delivery chain, and/or its entire business model.  The best innovation consultants synergize their own creative ideas with the most promising ideas drawn out from their client’s staff and leadership. (Read more…)

Innovation Vista combines capabilities of Innovation Consulting and Technology Consulting to provide strategic IT consulting at an affordable price to small & midsize organizations.  This is why our tagline is “100% of the Expertise for a Fraction of the Cost“. (Read more…)

In a marketplace saturated with firms offering Contract CIO services, including those which give Virtual CIO and IT strategy services as an add-on to their core offerings, Innovation Vista stands out due to its sole focus on C-level strategy and leadership. With unmatched breadth and depth of expertise, a unique hand-picking process for consultant engagement, and a client-centric approach, Innovation Vista is unique in the sector. (Read more…)

From 2022 when we were named the “most promising” Digital Transformation company, our awards in recent years have progressively expanded to cover more of our service offerings, including being named the #1 Best Provider of CIO Services in 2024. (Read more…)

We have grown our network of C-level experts to over 400 consultants. This enormous pool of talent enables us to hand-pick the best consultant uniquely positioned & qualified to guide each client’s IT strategy & innovation efforts. (Read more…)

Innovation Vista’s approach of hand-picking and subcontracting consultants offers a tailored, effective, and cohesive consulting experience. The benefits of this approach – from industry-specific expertise, strategic alignment, and cultural fit to long-term partnerships and proactive innovation – provide clients with a C-level IT consulting engagement that is not just a service but a strategic partnership, propelling them towards their strategic vision. (Read more…)

The importance of building trust becomes clear for a team embarking on a journey of strategic change or transformation. In its presence, team members will work together and share their concerns and suggestions openly; in its absence, reservations and limited collaboration will doom complex transformation projects to failure. This truth is the reason we have made Build Trust First a cornerstone of our approach to all engagements.. (Read more…)

Jeff Roberts founded Innovation Vista in 2019 to bring to small & midsize clients the tech strategy he succeeded with in 5 tenures as a CIO. Jeff has turned around multiple struggling IT departments, led IT in dozens of successful M&A transactions, guided Digital Transformations in several industries, and transformed multiple IT departments into profit centers. He was a finalist for Enterprise CIO of the Year, and 19 of his former subordinates have later advanced to C-level positions. (Read more…)

Business & Tech Strategy

Keeping the lights on is certainly nice, and efficiency is nice. But Innovation Vista is not satisfied with the same IT approach most industries have followed since last century.  We Innovate Beyond Efficiency® to find ways that IT can also increase market-share and drive revenue for our clients. (Read more…)

True Digital Transformation is not the installation of a certain software package, or automating some business processes. For Innovation Vista, Digital Transformation is a wholesale re-imagining of the way an organization conducts business, factoring in the context of all the recent advances in Information Technology; this vision ranges from how it a company is structured, staffed, and operated, to how it goes to market and engages with customers, to how it creates and delivers value. (Read more…)

We approach Digital Transformation as a an exercise in strategic business planning, in the context of new technology. We analyze a client’s strategy, market positioning, and competitive advantage(s), searching for ways that unique IT capabilities can drive efficiencies, take business from competition, and/or create new revenue streams. (Read more…)

This unique approach to Digital Transformation begins not with a strategic vision of a new org-chart and business model, but with a “bottom-up” prioritization of automation efforts aimed at the duties of roles for which you currently have openings in the organization. (Read more…)

CXOs should realize that their organizations may be left behind if they choose to allow their anxieties to stand in the way of digital transformation. Executives who allow their businesses to evolve with technology will make great strides, while those who don’t will lag behind. This process is inexorable, although it is occurring at different speeds in different industries. (Read more…)

Organizations run the risk of being “inoculated” against the power of innovation if their early investments in technology or digital transformation fails to deliver business benefits. This can happen if the project(s) are over-hyped, or if they are sabotaged (purposefully or inadvertently) by skeptics in leadership. (Read more…)

We recommend some basic considerations about an organization’s data and its commitment to AI before making significant investments: relative completeness and accuracy of data, the level of integration of data, the potential for enriching data from outside sources, and the level of support for investing in initial AI use-case(s). (Read more…)

Innovation requires both collaboration and teamwork, two dynamics which are significantly different, but which are appropriate at different times as teams progress from ideation to execution in the decision-making cycle. Skillful shepherding of this cultural dance between collaboration and teamwork are two key differentiators for effective leaders. (Read more…)

Beyond the responsibilities on the IT team to implement & configure CRMs effectively to align with their sales teams’ operations, leadership has significant influence on the eventually success of a CRM project. Setting the ideal conditions for success involves minimizing churn, protecting prospects from internal poaching, rewarding collaboration and long-term thinking, and ensuring that value is delivered back to the person entering data into the system from analytics. (Read more…)

The right IT strategy for a non-tech startup depends on a large number of variable, including the company’s strategy, positioning, size, growth curve, ownership structure, etc. The only thing that can be stated with confidence is that the right IT leader is desperately needed for all startups. With this dynamic, and because of the huge number of strategic decisions needed in a short period of time, we see startups as one of most obviously use-cases for a Virtual CIO engagement. (Read more…)

In the Digital era, there are myriad ways for IT to increase a company’s market-share and to drive revenue, either by competitive advantage offering tech capabilities their competitors can’t match, or by empowering the sales team with impactful insights on their existing customers. (Read more…)

IT Leadership

The risks and the speed of change in technology have never been higher, so we strongly recommending solving the budget issue with a fractional/virtual consulting arrangement, and not by dropping the standards of qualification for the head of IT, or by relying solely on a vendor service provider. (Read more…)

Not all CIO activities are created equal. Top-flight CIOs and CIO consultants show their value over mediocre & poor IT leadership performance in five key areas: Strategy, Culture, Talent management, Architecture, and Negotiations. (Read more…)

Many small and midsize organizations go without a CIO due to budget constraints, and often make the mistake of thinking that they’re not missing much. They have small C-suites in general, maybe only including a CEO, CFO, and COO. They believe they can get by without a CIO because they don’t have the same scale or complexity of IT needs as larger organizations. However, this kind of thinking can be detrimental to a small or midsize business’s success. (Read more…)

One of the most powerful aspects of Contract CIO services is the flexibility and affordability they offer, when compared with hiring an experienced CIO full-time. Our range of services begins at $1000 per week and increases up depending on the time commitment of the engagement and the scale experience of the consultant. (Read more…)

Gig arrangements for IT leaders can make sense for small and midsize companies where the need for seasoned strategic IT leadership is high, but the budget does not support full-time CIO compensation. (Read more…)

Fractional & Virtual CIOs (vCIOs) serve as the head of IT on a contract basis, usually part-time.  In this capacity they typically fulfill all of the key responsibilities of Chief Information Officers, especially the “highest-leverage” decision points as we’ve identified above. Under their oversight, day-to-day operation of the IT platform can be handled by middle-managers and staff, and/or vendor partners.. (Read more…)

In today’s fast-paced business environment, technology plays a critical role in driving innovation, productivity, and growth. In some industries, it plays the most critical role in business expansion. As companies continue to rely more heavily on technology, having a competent IT manager &/or vendor partner is essential. And for some organizations, this may be sufficient; but not for all. (Read more…)

Innovation Vista recommends treating IT “lights-on” budgets separately from “innovation capital” investments made for ROI. The format and presentation of “lights on” budget components can and should remain fairly static year to year. This is in full contrast to innovation capital project proposals, which by their nature will likely be different in number, scale, type, &/or impact each year. For this reason, they should also be outside of “IT budget vs. last year” comparisons, although they do need their own discipline and organized accountability. (Read more…)

IT Operations

Our team of expert C-level consultants has prepared a list of key information security protections. For CEOs wanting to get some sleep at night, our list at least provides fodder for conversations with their head of IT, and possibly a reason to engage an outside expert consultant. (Read more…)

We have prepared a list of important criteria to factor in when making informed decisions in the realm of enterprise systems. These include the system budget, scalability needs, the user experience, and customization options. (Read more…)

We recommend an approach to brainstorming which mitigates the human nature weaknesses of the traditional brainstorming process.  In this way, we enable the capture of the best ideas from everyone. (Read more…)

Although it is more challenging than many grasp, IT capacity can be managed with a proactive programme of metrics and forward planning. As an introduction, the concepts of Flex capacity, Current capacity, Architectural capacity, and Capacity as insurance are useful concepts to aid your planning. (Read more…)

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