What's it like to be a consulting CIO?
Senior Director CIO Office in Software, 1,001 - 5,000 employees
I never aspired to be a consultant or advisor, I just fell into running a small consulting business. I used to think it would be very frustrating to give advice and not be able to put my ideas into action, but I've actually found the opposite to be true. I have the fortune to work with companies that really seem to value the guidance that I'm giving them, and most of the time they try to do something with it.CIO / Managing Partner in Manufacturing, 2 - 10 employees
It can be very rewarding. I have been primarily a CIO but have also been a consultant and an interim CIO. Each offers their own rewards, and troubles.CIO
- you are living it every day
- focus on building for the longer term etc
- but you also have to deal with the politics etc
- the day to day has to be dealt with
Interim CIO
- shorter term focus
- can look at how you can add value in the near term
- can stay out of a lot of the politics
- you may not get to see the results
- you do not have the security
- you may or may not have to deal with the day to day, depending on the situation
Consultant CIO
- could be a one-off gig or an ongoing few hours per month
- limited ability to influence
- can be difficult to get the full details of the situation
- allows you to provide advice and then leave
- you can avoid getting caught up in the day to day issues
Hope that helps.
CIO Strategic Advisor in Services (non-Government), 2 - 10 employees
I have found being a consulting CIO to be very different from that of an operational CIO. It is a sliding scale and serving as a fractional CIO or interim CIO can provide some of the aspects you may have as an operational CIO. The tradeoff is finding the balance what drives/ interests you and the demand to tap into. Personally, I never planned to serve as an advisor or consultant but found that companies greatly value the advise I have been able to provide.CIO in Energy and Utilities, 1,001 - 5,000 employees
It’s a different experience that is both challenging and rewarding. Challenging in the sense that as a consultant you are considered as one who is external to the organization and may not truly understand the politics and culture within. There is a potential “autoimmune” resistance from long time insiders. On the flip side, being an external resource gives the organization a different insight and fresher outlook on what needs to be changed, improved, or sustained in the organization.CIO and Digital Officer in Finance (non-banking), 201 - 500 employees
Consulting CIO provides more and a better exposure in terms better outlook from outside in view.Consulting CIO can support business from being exposed to certain strategic risks specially on digital transformations. Consulting CIO's role should specialist in areas where typically CIO's lack on like industry technology implementations and benchmarking locally and globally. Roadmap building and Change Management.Group CIO in Manufacturing, 1,001 - 5,000 employees
Been a long-time CIO all my career. I have enjoyed the role especially since it involves the walk-the-talk part. This makes you more cautious about your consulting job as you need to execute what you advise.Over a period we tend to get bored of the operational execution especially when it is repetitive. I have done 3 ERP implementations and do not enjoy it anymore. However, would love to consult on the same.
The role of a full-time CIO prepares you to be a good consulting CIO.
CIO in Services (non-Government), 2 - 10 employees
Once you build up a diverse portfolio of clients it becomes really rewarding as you start to see the common pain points across industries/orgs. As these become obvious, it's easy to start to build response kits to them.The main piece of advice I have to give is to make sure you have plenty of models and frameworks you can draw upon to solve problems.
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