Within the Outsourcing context Scott is both a client and a provider
Scott started by having a team of around 18 people in the Philippines as a dedicated team, and now he moved to a network with freelancers from around the Globe, namely India, Pakistan U.S. and Australia.
While assessing the best service model towards providing CTO services to companies, Scott started by hiring a Virtual Assistant and from then onwards having assessed the effectiveness of the model, he jumped into it, growing his team.
Working as an outsourcing provider allows Scott a quality of life, including being able to stand by his family and watching his small son grow, that really makes it worthwhile.
Despite natural doubts at the early stage, it was clear that outsourcing enabled hiring skilled people at a low cost while ensuring a good quality service to his clients, and that was the main trigger.
Pitfalls
Understanding cultural differences and how they will potentially impact a client from a different geography and cultural background, is most relevant when dealing with profiles like a Project Manager who essentially needs to steer the client and maintain an enlightening and assertive communication flow.
Working with any team and mainly in the case of an outsourced team there has to be an interface profile, having the client directly speaking to the expert, the technician won’t work.
Processes and Systems
Scott applies what he preaches hence systematizing work processes is mandatory both towards clients as in-house. And doing so means that the service, in fact, works in a more efficient manner.
On a systematized business the product is the service and no matter who leaves the team, the business will endure
A systems is made of People, Processes and Technology and to begin with one needs to define what is the customer experience that needs to be achieved; then the processes that will enable that; then the people who will best deliver the required services and finally the tools that will make the job easier and more efficient.
The Virtual CTO
Scott points out that in fact we all constantly outsource services even if to the guy down the street who fixes our shoes.
Some small and medium-sized companies do not have the financial capacity to hire a full-time expert CTO and Outsourcing it allows getting higher quality service for a fraction of the “standard” market cost.
Scott points out that in fact we all constantly outsource services even if to the guy down the street who fixes our shoes.
Delivering a service which is highly structured allows added value to clients and that leverages efficiency which in turn improves profit.
The normal growth process of a company implies that at a given point managing the business based on spreadsheets and 1o1 conversations won’t allow further growth; it is time to structure the business. Having the company, not the capacity or even the need to have a CTO as a collaborator, this is the time when clients will look at a Virtual CTO.
The client interface, the Project Manager is usually a local person who supports the client closely on-site and then the development teams can be wherever the best-suited profiles reside.
Client Profiles
Labour intensive businesses like agencies, consultants, engineers are the ones that over the years Scott has found to benefit the most out of a Virtual CTO support while also contributing to structure their processes and Modus Operandi.
The support becomes more relevant as these companies are on the verge of moving forward into a market expansion initiative or launching a new product or service.
The Virtual CTO creates a roadmap towards best-fit tools that better integrate amongst themselves over the colossal number of tools available in the market.
Therefore in one hand the role is of advisory and mentorship as on the other of coordinating the required teams to assure that the goals are met.
Having the proper Project Manager in place will lead to a successful endeavor