Outsourced Chief Technology Officer: How a young e-commerce platform achieved its MVP

Online platforms are now used to connect with wider audiences or potential customers, either to sell a product or offer services. This is a necessary tool as every organization adapted or continues to adapt to the boom of the digital age to keep up with the current generational demands. 

However, this is easier said than done. Large organizations spend thousands of dollars hiring personnel to make and maintain an online platform for their services. But, this does not apply to all, especially SMEs who do have enough funds to hire professionals for their respective online platforms. 

Thankfully, another viable option is on the rise: CTO-as-a-Service. Through this platform, small to medium organizations can grow fast amid their technological hindrances, such as in developing an online platform. This was the case of OMAK Island, which employed the services of Privacy Ninja for its e-commerce platform. But before we delve further into that, let’s first explore what CTO-as-a-Service is. 

What is CTO-as-a-Service?

CTO-as-a-Service, also known as Outsourced Chief Technology Officer, refers to part-time tech and business consultancy services provided by a Chief Technology Officer to aid a startup or a company. As it is simply an outsourced CTO, it is responsible for managing an organization’s current technology architecture and for drafting relevant policies. 

While hiring a full-time CTO is ideal, it comes with a hefty price tag, and not all companies can afford it. Different companies have different technical and digital requirements, and these issues typically fall into three common categories:

• Full-time CTOs are expensive – When you hire in-house, you will increase your burn rate and shorten your runway.

• It’s difficult to find and retain a talented CTO – There’s a shortage of capable CTOs in the market.

• Training a new CTO takes time and money – You lose precious time, effort, and resources when you retrain or hire a CTO when your current CTO leaves.

When companies choose to outsource their CTO, the problems above are addressed, and organizations can self-assess their digital readiness and requirements at any time and from any location, access market-proven, and cost-effective digital solutions, and engage expert digital consultants for in-depth advisory and project management services.

OMAK Island with outsourced Chief Technology Officer

OMAK is an acronym for Observe, Merit, Appreciate, and Kindness, and it was developed with a mission to change the world – one purchase at a time. OMAK brings users a curated selection of high-quality products from do-good merchants on our virtual island called OMAK Island. These brands, like us, want to be the change that we want to see in the world.

Unlike other eCommerce platforms, OMAK intended not to earn from transactions made on the OMAK Island. In fact, 100% of its profits will be donated to help increase the impact and reach of OMAK’s charity partners’ initiatives and help curb food insecurity in Singapore and beyond.

OMAK is the pioneer of the “Shop with Purpose,” a movement geared towards advocating shopping with intention. In this digital age, it believes that brands can be extremely influential trendsetters when they choose to use their powers for good. Therefore OMAK wanted to create a culture that rewards brands that care for more than just aesthetics and sales but also for their customers and the community at large too.

However, there was a roadblock in the planning phase of the OMAK Island, and this was the team’s lack of expertise and technical know-how in planning, designing, and building a user-friendly and interactive Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which turned out to be omakglobal.com, its eCommerce platform. 

To solve this problem, OMAK engaged the outsourced Chief Technology Officer service of Privacy Ninja, to help plan, design, and build their MVP, which at this time of writing, is already operational and being used by users and supports many brands on its platform. With Privacy Ninja’s help, OMAK Global kicked off with success, working with renowned influencers and brands on its launch. With its traction and proof of concept validated, OMAK Global has now taken on continuous enhancements in-house and is scaling well.

Aside from that, Privacy Ninja, through its CTO Dexter Ng, assisted with their server-related load balancing matters to ensure continuous uptime due to the high traffic volume of web visitors and handled its email service provisioning.

Privacy Ninja also made sure that the platform’s backend includes a readily customizable content management system for ease of upgrading or enhancement in the future, without the need for much technical knowledge, all in efforts to keep development costs low.

The Privacy Ninja advantage

Outsourcing your CTO requirements to Privacy Ninja gives you the assurance that you can achieve your business goals efficiently and affordably. Our resident CTO, Dexter Ng, has 15 years of experience working with tech startup companies in Singapore and abroad. Under his watch, these companies were provided with cutting-edge technology and ideas. He is also competent in the areas of technical development, business consulting, project management, and data protection.

Under this model, there are two types of services you can harness:

• Dedicated hourly consultation – if you need a quick discussion to validate your roadmap. Choose this to tap on our expertise to get the answers you need instantly.

• Bespoke CTO-as-a-Service – if you require monthly or longer-term engagements from us.

We will fulfill your digital requirements at different stages of your business growth. Whether you’re a young startup with technology at your core, or an SME or enterprise seeking digital adoption, we will help you get onboarded quickly.

Ready to kick start your digitalization journey? Outsource your CTO responsibilities to us today!

Also Read: Privacy Ninja’s Outsourced CTO services: How promising DeFi project benefited