Time-sharing CIO Interim for an SME: What's in it for me?

Podcast with Pierre-Albert Carlier

Information Systems Consultant, Pierre-Albert Carlier is a CIO with over 25 years' experience. He is a member of the Communauté Infortive, France's leading community of Transition CIOs.

In this podcast, he shares with us the advantages of using a CIO on a timeshare basis within an SME, particularly when it comes to upgrading the skills of employees in key areas.  

In his interview, he discusses :

• Beliefs to revisit about buying a timeshare CIO
• 3 examples of CIO Transition assignments
• The benefits for a company of hiring a timeshare CIO

Enjoy!

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Beliefs to revisit about buying a timeshare CIO

Pierre-Albert discusses the beliefs that need to be revisited when it comes to hiring a timeshare CIO. Many believe that it will be less efficient, that it will be expensive, that it won't be able to handle emergencies, and that projects will take longer.

However, Pierre-Albert is adamant: you can be more efficient than full-time.

"Integrating a CIO on a timeshare basis will enable us, for the same budget, to have someone with more experience, who will get to the heart of the matter more quickly, who will dialogue more easily at a management committee level, and who will be more open-minded because he or she will be multi-experienced and multicultural. So it allows for accelerations that you don't necessarily get with someone who's part of the walls."

Hiring a timeshare CIO three days a week may cost the company less. However, this requires some thought in terms of deliverables versus time spent.

"It also forces the company to be more focused, to be clearer about the real priorities. The time-sharing CIO is less likely to be pushed around. His posture is better, he's more confident."

"Questions that can wait 24 or 48 hours will wait until I'm present within the walls. The subjects then benefit from a period of reflection and maturation that is very often beneficial."

Another essential point, which is a particular advantage of Transition CIOs:

"I draw a lot of inspiration from different customers. Every experience benefits all my customers."

He also reminds us that precise knowledge of the business is not always essential, as the assignments essentially concern aspects of governance, tidying up, supplier management, negotiation, calls for tender and team structuring.

Pierre-Albert also relies on the Infortive Community, and can call on members of the network to decode the essential elements of a domain that may not yet be known.

Examples of CIO Transition assignments

Pierre-Albert presents some of his missions:

In one case, he was called in to help an in-house IT manager who wasn't quite up to the job of CIO. He had the intellectual capacity, but he didn't want the constraints and stress of the job. The assignment enabled him to become aware of what was at stake, and to move from a zone of silence with his superiors to one of free speech. He kept his project management responsibilities, but not the CIO position the company needed.

In a second case, Pierre-Albert worked with an IT manager with international responsibilities, but who lacked key reflexes. For example, he never went out into the field. So they organized trips together to model best practices and demonstrate the importance of building links with BUs before dealing with mission problems. Another basic tip shared on this occasion: halfway through the trip, phone the boss to give him an update and listen to his needs. Pierre-Albert worked for 6 months on these aspects of "tutoring" at a rate of two days a week. Then at the end ½ day every 15 days.  

Another structuring assignment, this time for a company with several business units. Pierre-Albert had to identify priorities, establish a roadmap, recruit and set up a CIO.

In his role as Transition CIO, Pierre-Albert stresses the importance of striking the right balance between short and long timeframes, to show results quickly while taking the time needed to accomplish critical tasks.‍

"The balance between short and long term is key in the role of interim manager. You have to show results quickly to gain trust. But some things take time! You need to be able to judge what you need to produce in terms of rapid, visible results, and what people are going to be satisfied with, to save time where you need it! You have to be able to manage this cursor all the time."

The benefits of hiring a Transitional CIO

Among the feedback Pierre-Albert has shared with us, one of the key challenges faced by the organizations he has worked with has been to upgrade the skills of the manager in place to a CIO position, rather than looking for someone from outside the organization:

"For a company, it's more interesting and rewarding to be able to nurture and develop someone internally into a CIO position than to find replacement solutions. The person will get to know the business, the people, and so on. If, after that, it's just a matter of changing postures and developing reflexes, it's extremely beneficial."

Using an interim CIO also gives you the time to recruit with greater peace of mind. Infortive has launched a Transition Management + Recruitment combo offer to enable companies to deal immediately with a managerial emergency by deploying a Transition Manager, while taking the time needed to launch the headhunting process and recruit the ideal person for a long-term position.

Stéphanie Quirino, HR Manager at Veolia Water Information Systems, talks about this combo offer

Another benefit: pleasure! Being a freelancer gives Pierre Albert a great deal of satisfaction in the way he does his job. The fact that there's a real before-and-after relationship is a source of pleasure shared with the client and the teams in place. You can see the work that's been done.

In conclusion, purchasing a timeshare CIO Transition service has a positive impact on the maturation of subjects and projects, as well as on the prioritization of objectives. This implies a different management style, but requires maturity on the part of both the manager and the company. The Transition CIO must intervene in different contexts to deliver the promised value at key milestones, with a focus on passing on expertise to ensure a successful Transition on both human and organizational levels.