Somewhere between too big to wing it and too small for a full time technology executive, every decision lands on an owner who has nine other jobs. A vCIO is that seat, filled part time: a plan, a budget, a person who says no to the wrong purchase, and an answer when the bank or the acquirer asks how you run your systems.
What gets replaced, when, and why, tied to what the business is trying to do rather than to what is end of life. Written down, dated, and revisited rather than filed.
A real annual number split into run, change and risk, so technology stops being a series of surprises and starts being a line you planned for.
Every subscription and contract on one page with what it costs, who uses it and what overlaps. Then the unwinding: cancellations, migrations and renegotiations, in an order that does not break anything.
Renewals surfaced before they auto renew, terms reviewed, and the awkward conversations with vendors handled by someone who has had them before.
What would actually happen in a breach, an outage or an audit, and what the gap costs to close. Cyber insurance questionnaires and client security reviews answered properly.
When a decision has to be made, an acquisition is being diligenced, or a system is being chosen, there is someone accountable who understands both the technology and what the business is for.
The consulting engagement is a one off forensic audit of what you are spending, with findings and a plan. A vCIO is the ongoing version: the same rigour applied continuously, plus someone accountable for the decisions between audits. Many clients start with the audit and move to this.
No. Some clients take vCIO advisory while another provider runs their help desk, and that is a legitimate arrangement. We are candid about where the seams are when it happens.
A structured quarterly review is the backbone, plus access between them for decisions that cannot wait. The cadence is set in the engagement rather than sold as unlimited, because unlimited access nobody uses is just a higher price.
Then that is the advice. We take no vendor commissions and we do not mark up the products we recommend, which means the only way we make money is being right about what you should spend. Occasionally that means recommending less of us.
Start with the map of what you have and what it costs. The roadmap and the budget come out of it, and the findings are yours whether or not you continue.
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