IT Directorship™ Program
/The IT Directorship™ Program is our comprehensive enterprise solution which deploys a team-centric approach to providing IT Management oversight. In contrast to typical managed or other professional services, this divisional integration provides our clients with specialists in IT strategy, cybersecurity, and site operations management - continually optimizing IT performance from time within the business to ensure technology and cyber risk strategies remain aligned with organizational goals.
Fractional IT Leadership: A cost-effective approach for SMEs
Holistic IT Governance & Leadership
The IT Directorship™ Program and its proprietary operating model have been optimized to maximize stakeholder value. It grants you access to a broader range of skills and expertise, enabling your organization to accelerate IT management process maturity and support business growth. This subscription-based approach to hybrid IT leadership can scale to meet the needs of your organization. Whether you’re looking to augment your existing IT team or prefer we assume the role of the acting IT Director's desk, the IT Directorship™ Program gives you fractional IT leadership and access to valuable resources, which allows you to focus on your company’s core competency, knowing your IT division is well managed and continually improving.
Our approach combines experienced IT professionals along with our robust IT management & governance framework to alleviate huge financial burdens for small to mid-sized enterprises.
✔ Gain access to an on-demand IT Directorship™ management team, eliminating recruitment needs, employment or idle time costs.
✔ Achieve elevated levels of IT management process maturity and accelerate the adoption of new capabilities.
✔ Receive a highly experienced ITD Program Director who will take responsibility for IT strategies, budgets and execution oversight.
✔ Increase IT project success through an extended bench of subject matter experts available to support strategic initiatives.
✔ Optimize spend through budgeted, consumption-based billing with transparent time tracking and invoice reporting.
The gateway to our IT Directorship™ Program is through an ITD Assessment. There an initial IT roadmap is established, aligned to the needs and goals of the business, along with a portfolio of IT projects and key initiatives aimed to improve the overall performance of IT throughout the organization. Core IT management processes are matured and activated through a defined IT Directorship™ onboarding project, ensuring the viability of the program for all stakeholders. From there, an ongoing cycle of program activities and related management processes are managed by a dedicated ITD team.
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Our IT Directorship™ Program defines and manages a strategic IT roadmap for wide-scale transformation to IT infrastructure and operations, aligning business goals with technological enablers. IT Directorship™ works with senior leadership and partners to set the technology direction, help define the target state, design future architecture, and prepare the plans for the projects needed to support transformation. Find out more about ITD Assessments.
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Through an annual IT strategy capture process, a budget is created by the ITD Program Director and approved by business stakeholders. Periodic true-ups are scheduled to ensure rolling forecasts are accurate and resources are available to formally initiate strategic enablers.
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Whether undergoing business restructuring, transitioning from legacy to new information systems, or evaluating new technology providers or solutions, effective project management plays a crucial role. Beyond strategy, through ongoing portfolio and change management, ITD team members ensure that all projects, regardless of size, remain aligned with the needs of the business and achieve their desired outcomes. Find out more about IT Project Assurance.
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A dedicated ITD Site Manager is assigned to oversee the IT service delivery function to ensure you receive the best IT performance possible for your day-to-day business operations. By coordinating and executing on IT-related activities such as changes, assets, procurement, and significant events, the IT Directorship™ site operations team ensures your IT environment runs smoothly.
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A lean Cyber Risk & Compliance program provides continued assurance into the integrity of your crown jewel digital assets, operational processes, and key technology systems, allowing your business to adhere well within your intended levels of performance, effectiveness, and compliance. Find out more about CyberSurance™.
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An IT Steering Committee is formed to review, monitor and prioritize IT from a cross-functional perspective providing IT stakeholders a platform for strategic alignment, business prioritization, and awareness of the performance of IT.
When is it time to add fractional IT leadership?
As your business grows, you may find that there are technology related areas of expertise and capability gaps inhibiting the next phase of maturity. Or you may have an underperforming team of IT resources lacking ongoing leadership and clear strategic purpose. Additionally, you may be losing revenue as a result of customer complaints or workforce inefficiencies, have increased business risk due to mismanaged IT assets, or have lost opportunity costs associated with delayed transformation initiatives that could streamline business operations. In situations like these, where diminished confidence in IT is evident, it may be time to augment your IT department and adopt a more holistic approach to IT management and governance.
The IT Directorship™ Program allocates fractional IT leadership, highly experienced and equipped with diverse skills, to guide the strategic vision and direction needed to take your business to the next level. Working within your organization, whether in-person or in a remote work capacity, a dedicated “ITD Team” oversees your current technology landscape, identifies areas of needed improvement and guides the ongoing activities to support business growth and resiliency. An ITD Program Director will provide an objective perspective on challenges and opportunities, which can be invaluable for making decisions about future investments in new technology.
What is the scope of work for an IT Directorship™ Program?
The scope of an IT Directorship™ Program is tailored to meet the specific areas of need for a business. Each year, a strategic review is conducted to evaluate the IT environment, understand business demand, draft a budget, and set strategic IT enabler goals. Target-level IT management process and cyber risk capability levels needed to support these goals assist in prioritizing how and where ITD Team time should be optimally allocated. From there, an ITD program schedule and IT project portfolio is defined, managed, and monitored to ensure business value creation is realized.
We take on all aspects of daily technology and strategic leadership including:
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Defining the core information technology goals and enabling IT governance through:
• IT Roadmap to support company growth
• Setting a budget for optimization of IT costs
• Line of business needs assessment
• IT management process and capability maturity milestones
• Cyber risk reduction and IT asset lifecycle planning
• Definition of the cybersecurity program
• Executive IT steering cadence
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Oversee your technology development and support service teams including:
• Working with business and IT stakeholders to identify new technology needs
• Representing the company to industry providers, customers, and partners
• Prioritizing work based on business need, budget, ability to deliver, and overall impact on the business
• Supervising your technology service providers
• Maturing and optimizing IT management policy, process, and procedures
• Overseeing enterprise IT system and HR access change workflows
• Ensuring high-quality, on-time delivery of program outcomes
• Managing technology procurement and corresponding IT contracts
• Monitoring the health and performance of the IT service portfolio
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Timely response to key activities which need IT management intervention including:
• Cyber incident response management
• White-glove VIP support for executive stakeholders and board events
• IT service escalation for business triage and prioritization
• IT management request fulfilment
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Proactive management and optimization of IT risk and the performance of IT controls through:
• Cyber risk register management and optimization
• Cybersecurity process and capability maturity initiatives
• Employee cyber awareness and training
• Periodic assessment of IT controls performance and framework design
• Regulatory audit preparation and 3rd party assurance support
How are IT Transformation strategies approved and governed?
We put forward several key technology recommendations to support IT transformation efforts based on the desired business outcome, cost of delivery, resource capabilities, and IT architecture. A controls framework, approval structure, and IT management process workflows govern the making of fact-based, defensible proposals on right-sized technologies and solutions that suit your needs and ensure compliance with your entity level business controls.
Our IT Directorship™ Program deploys a robust set of process controls including:
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• Delegation of Authority (DOA)
• Authorization of Expenditures (AFEs)
• Authorization of Projects (AFPs)
• Change and Risk Advisory Board (CRAB)
• Project Advisory Board (PAB)
• IT Management Memos
• Executive IT Steering Committee
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• Network Operations (NO)
• Information Security (IS)
• Change Management (CM)
• Data Management (DM)
• Application Controls (AC)
• Cyber Risk Controls (CR)
A strategic lever for long-term success
Our typical IT Directorship Program engagements are on a 12-month recurring schedule. At the start of our work with you, we complete an extensive ITD onboarding process to establish a transition plan for enabling team integration and activating core IT management processes. It sets clear expectations for leadership and provides a framework of change management for the IT service delivery team and outsourced partners.
The long-term goal is to elevate your IT capability and competency to an optimal level where continuous business value creation is achieved. For many, our holistic approach proves to be the most cost-effective way to navigate through the ebbs and flows of business growth. Having the right resources on-demand, flexible to scale up and down as needed.
And for others, following the achievement of target process domain maturity, we can scale back our operational IT management time and work alongside internal IT resources to monitor IT team performance, optimize cyber risk, and ensure IT control compliance.
