Does a small company need a chief information security officer?
Usually not as a full-time hire, but it needs someone to do the job. A chief information security officer (CISO) owns security strategy, risk and incident response. In a company of a few dozen to a few hundred people, those tasks are often shared: a manager owns the risk, an IT person or provider runs the controls, and an outside adviser or a part-time “virtual CISO” helps with policies, audits and questionnaires. What matters is that every task has a name next to it and that management receives a regular picture. As the company grows or customers demand more, a dedicated role becomes worth it. Tools reduce the watching, not the judging: NetSenX explains each alert so a non-specialist can triage it, but a person still decides what to do.
General information, not legal advice. National laws can add to the EU texts quoted here, for example deadlines, forms or reporting channels: check your own country's rules.