Ann Garnier, Founder and CEO at Lisa Health
Posted on Jun 18, 2024
Innovation Vista
2 Reviews
Verified
Innovate Beyond Efficiency
Strategic, Affordable IT Guidance for Midsize Organizations. Leverage IT strategy & leadership services from an expert in your industry, hand-picked for your engagement from 400+ proven C-level tech consultants. 100% of the Expertise, a Fraction of the Cost® of a full-time CIO. Stabilize → Optimize → Monetize your IT.
United States
5300 N Braeswood Blvd #4.5014,
Houston,
Texas
77096
8322719100
$200 - $300/hr
2 - 9
2019
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Evans Mitchell, IT Project Manager at FastCasual IT
Posted on Oct 18, 2023
Our experience working with Innovation Vista was outstanding
Executive Interview of Innovation Vista
Jeff Roberts
Founder & CEO
Please provide your feedback on how GoodFirms has contributed to increasing your visibility among potential clients.
GoodFirms is one of the leading company review directories on the internet, and the multiple 5-star reviews visitors find there for our firm definitely increase our reputation and credibility with potential clients who are researching options in our industry.
Please introduce your company and describe your role within the organization.
Innovation Vista provides C-level IT experts to midsize organizations for tech strategy & leadership services. I founded the company in 2019 after a career as a 5-time CIO for midsize companies.
What inspired the founding of your company, and what is the story behind its inception?
I saw a need for midsize companies to leverage seasoned IT leadership as an upgrade from the middle managers and/or vendor dependence they live with today. Most organizations that are too small to have a full-time CIO still have a need for expert guidance in their architecture, policies, methodologies, and IT strategy. I founded Innovation Vista to provide this tech expertise to these clients via tailored affordable engagements.
What are the core values and principles that drive your company's culture, and how do you ensure alignment with these values across your team?
Our focus is on excellent client service, and we ensure this in two ways – 1) selecting only skilled consultants who bring a “business impact” mindset to their work of IT strategy guidance, and 2) tailoring each client’s agreement to ensure we’re prioritizing impactful work, with enough time allocated for success, but no more than that, to control our costs.
Can you highlight some of the key achievements or milestones your company has accomplished since its inception?
Innovation Vista surpassed 400 consultants in the spring of 2024, making us the largest team of C-level IT consultants in the industry. Over the years we’ve been honored with awards for Innovation, for our Digital Transformation framework, as a Disruptive company in the tech consulting space, and for the last few years in a row, as the #1 Top CIO Services Provider.
Could you explain your company's business model? Do you primarily operate with an in-house team or utilize third-party vendors/outsourcing?
We have purposefully avoided building a “bench” of full-time consultants, to avoid being forced to put square pegs in round holes for client projects. Instead, we subcontract all of our projects to the best match from our team of 400+ consultants, matching based not only on technical expertise but also on industry experience and other variables. We make heavy use of other outsourced services as well, for marketing, SEO, legal, and accounting.
How does your company differentiate itself from competitors in the industry?
The “network” approach is distinct in our industry, and better than the traditional “bench” utilized by our main competitors, due to our ability to match based on industry vertical in every case. Also, we focus on finding top-line impact for our clients via technology, in the form of increased market share, and new & accelerated revenue streams; this differs significantly from the automation & efficiency focus of our competitors.
How would you describe the dynamics within your team, and how do you foster collaboration and teamwork to achieve common goals?
I stay in frequent contact with our consultant network, particularly with consultants who are serving clients. We try to let them “be the face” of Innovation Vista with the client directly but to support them with research and materials behind the scenes to put them in a position to succeed.
What measures do you take to support the professional development and growth of your employees? Do you offer training programs or opportunities for skill enhancement?
We license all contractors on active projects to a library of IT best practices, presentation materials, and product reviews, in order to give them insights about the leading edge of tech at their fingertips.
Could you share a notable success story or case study that exemplifies the impact your company has had on a client's business?
We provided IT leadership to turn around IT for a B2B services company whose tech group had been decimated by 90% turnover in the preceding months. We stabilized and rebuilt the organization, and initiated a platform uplift with an investment of just over $1M. In total the enhancements drove $1M of incremental revenue and $4M of recurring savings from efficiencies, creating a year-one ROI of over 300%.
What industries do you primarily cater to, and do you have a significant percentage of repeat clients? If so, what is the ratio of repeat clients?
Initially, we focused on Financial Services, Real Estate, Logistics, Education, and Healthcare, and we are still strongest in those verticals in terms of number of consultants and clients. Having over 400 consultants in total now, though, we have expertise in every vertical and are marketing to every major industry.
What initiatives does your company undertake to foster innovation and stay at the forefront of industry trends? Do you invest in research and development projects?
R&D is embedded in our work helping clients navigate the leading edge of technology, so in many ways, it comes for free due to our focus on those services. The 3rd party reference library to which we subscribe all of our consultants is a specific investment we make to ensure our team is staying up-to-date with the leading edge.
Please share some of the most sought-after services that clients approach your company for.
With 80% of our clients, we begin with an assessment of their IT platform, organization, and processes. From there, depending on our recommendations, we help them implement improvements via strategy advisory services, project leadership, or group leadership as a Virtual or Interim CIO.
How do you build and maintain strong relationships with your clients, and what mechanisms do you have in place for gathering and acting upon client feedback?
Building trust is the #1 goal with any new client, and a huge part of that is not just being open to feedback, but actively soliciting it, and helping them understand that we truly want to hear how our approach is resonating with their culture. If it’s not, we’d like to know how to make the right adjustments so that it will fit them across the board. We have found that this is best achieved with 1:1 communication and not via a survey or automated request for feedback.
How has your company adapted to changes and challenges in the business landscape, and what strategies have you employed to ensure resilience and sustainability?
One major change that has impacted our sector since COVID is the prevalence of remote work, and the openness of clients to engage consultants via videoconferencing as the main communication medium. As a result of this trend, we focus more on Virtual CIO services now than traditional “Fractional” CIO, wherein the consultant is expected to be in the client’s office on a regular basis. Travel is still an appealing way to start an engagement, but the openness to consultants from other markets has greatly expanded our search parameters, and as a result, has greatly improved the quality of “fit” we can find for each client project.
What payment structure do you typically follow when billing clients? Is it Pay per Feature, Fixed Cost, or Pay per Milestone (phases, months, versions, etc.)?
Our Assessments & Recommendation reports are priced at a fixed rate. For all engagements downstream of that, we tailor our proposals to a client’s needs, generally month-to-month with a weekly target # of hours.
Do you accept projects that meet your basic budget requirements? If yes, what is the minimum budget requirement? If no, what is the minimum budget you have worked with in the past?
Our minimum engagement cost is $900 per week ($3,900 per month).
Can you provide an overview of the price range (minimum and maximum) of the projects your company worked on in 2023?
Our recent range is quite wide – from $3,900 per month ongoing to a large turnaround engagement involving multiple consultants which totaled around $1M.
What technological capabilities does your company possess, and are there any ongoing or planned investments in technology infrastructure or tools to enhance your services?
Generally we are a services company, although expertise in technology is of course central to what we offer. Our internal IP is focused on methodologies & frameworks to aid clients in digital transformation, IT & AI strategy.
Where do you envision your company in the next 10 years? What are your long-term goals and aspirations for growth and development?
We don’t have specific numeric targets for revenue, etc. Our goal is to achieve full “mindshare” in the market – for every midsize organization to be aware of our services and understand how we might help them with IT strategy &/or leadership services.