Understanding CIOs’ Top Three Needs Leads to Growth

About two years ago, Jessica Allen embarked on a mission to build the Technology & Business Transformation Services practice of BDO in Cincinnati. The goal was to help Cincinnati companies better leverage technology to achieve business goals. Fast forward, and the team is now proud to serve six active Cincinnati-based clients, including firms in the financial and healthcare industries.

"Our growth comes from our deep understanding of the CIO’s needs," says Allen, who serves as director in the BDO Technology and Business Transformation Services practice. "Our consultants’ exceptional talent, plus our team’s ability to flexibly respond to clients’ needs have spurred this growth. We plan to hire two to five additional people over the next year in Cincinnati."

Though CIOs’ challenges may be many, there are three critical drivers today, according to Allen and her team: CIOs need to better leverage technology to enable the business strategy, mitigate risk and get the "biggest bang for the buck."

Enabling the business strategy

Recently, a BDO client in the legal industry with a local presence was experiencing challenges supporting the company’s overall business strategy. The BDO Technology and Business Transformation Services team created a technology strategy and roadmap to help the client not only align to the business goals and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), but to make them happen.

"The client was very happy with the results of the engagement with the BDO team, which provided an achievable plan that aligned to their business strategy," Allen says.

"CIOs today can be disruptive or be disrupted," says Brian Berning, BDO managing partner and chairman of the board at the Circuit. "For example, our BDO Drive Shared Services Center in Columbus. It will provide a lower cost alternative for routine bookkeeping services like sales and use tax compliance. This allows CPAs to outsource procedural work to focus on value add."

Mitigate risk

For CIOs today, mitigating risk through cybersecurity and data privacy is paramount.

"A local healthcare and financial services firm was bringing in a new client that required them to have new vendor risk management and IT cybersecurity policies," Allen says. "Our client was happy with the support we provided touching multiple groups across the BDO landscape to drive their success meeting the demands and landing a key client."

BDO is seeing multiple needs in cybersecurity and risk management with increasing demand for regulatory remediation including SEC, New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and others. Many CIOs are seeking assistance to understand the requirements and implement the necessary controls to comply.

More bang for the buck

Adding to a CIOs’ needs and stressors, they are being asked to do more with less more often.

"One local financial firm asked us to assess the infrastructure services they are receiving from another local managed services firm. They wanted to make sure they were getting a good value," Allen says. "Happily, for both local firms, it turns out they were receiving exceptional services compared to Gartner benchmarks for their industry, revenue and company size."

Growing together in Cincinnati

Expanding relationships in Cincinnati is helping BDO Technology and Business Transformation Services expand organically.

"What I really enjoy about this work is the relationships," Allen says. "It is amazing how the relationships propel us all forward. In Cincinnati, we are fiercely loyal and understand the value of a good relationship. It allows us to sustain each other and grow together. I am proud to be a part of this community."

BDO is located at 221 East Fourth Street, Suite 2600, Cincinnati, OH 45202. For more information, call 513.592.2400 or visit www.bdo.com.