vCIO & vCISO
A CIO for the weeks you need one, not the salary you don't
Most companies need a good administrator every day and a CIO a few weeks a year. A virtual CIO gives you the second without the six-figure salary.
A virtual CIO is a part-time technology executive. They do what a full-time CIO would do: set the plan, own the budget, manage the vendors and answer to the board. They do it for the hours a smaller company actually needs.
The people who are good at this speak two languages. They understand the technology deeply, and they can explain it to a board in terms of money, risk and time. That second skill is the rare one.
vCISO is the same idea for security. If customers are sending security questionnaires, auditors are asking about controls, or insurers want to know about your defenses, someone needs to own the answers. A vCISO is that someone.
What's included
- Strategy and roadmap
- A multi-year technology plan tied to where the business is going, with the risks and opportunities named.
- Budgeting
- An annual IT budget, spend forecasts, and the places you are paying for things you no longer use.
- Board and leadership reporting
- Someone in the meeting who can explain the technical impact of business decisions, in plain English.
- Security leadership (vCISO)
- Risk management, security policy, staff training and compliance with HIPAA, PCI DSS and SOC 2, for companies without a full-time CISO.
- Vendor and contract management
- Vendor selection, proposals, SLAs and renewals, negotiated by someone who knows what the contract should say.
- Technology procurement
- Needs assessment, on-premise versus cloud decisions, and license management.
- IT staff oversight
- Checking your IT staff are on track, writing job descriptions, vetting candidates, and supporting their training.
- Large project oversight
- Scope, plan, budget, risk and the post-project review, for the projects too big to leave to chance.
- Continuity planning
- Business continuity and disaster recovery plans, and making sure they get tested.
- Escalation
- When something goes badly wrong, someone senior coordinating your internal team, your vendors and your leadership.
A good fit if
- Your board asks technology questions nobody in the room can answer.
- You have an IT person, but nobody setting the direction.
- You are preparing for funding, an audit, an acquisition or a security questionnaire.
- Customers are asking about your security and you need someone accountable for the answer.
How it works
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Discovery
We learn the business, the systems, the people, and what keeps leadership up at night.
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Roadmap and budget
A written plan and a budget, reviewed with you before anything is committed.
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Regular cadence
Monthly or quarterly sessions, plus the meetings that matter in between.
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Board reporting
Technology and risk reported to your leadership in the language they use.
How it's priced
You pay for the hours of senior time you actually use, agreed up front. A full-time CIO costs well into six figures a year; most smaller companies need a fraction of that.
Questions we get asked
How is a vCIO different from managed IT?
Managed IT keeps the systems running. A vCIO decides what the systems should be: the roadmap, the budget, what to stop paying for, and how to answer the board when they ask about AI or cyber insurance. Some clients buy one, some both.
What is the difference between a vCIO and a vCISO?
A vCIO owns technology strategy across the business. A vCISO owns security and compliance specifically. In a smaller company one person often covers both, and we can do either.
Does this work if we are not in Texas?
Yes. Strategy and board work happen over a call and a shared document. A good part of our vCIO work is already for clients in other states and outside the US.
Will you replace our IT staff?
No. A vCIO works alongside your team and makes their work count. We help you hire and develop staff, not replace them.
Related
You started SOC 2 and stalled, or a customer just asked for a report and you do not know where to begin.
ServiceHelp desk & managed ITThe whole IT function for a company that has never had one. Your people call us, and we answer.
ServiceBusiness continuity & disaster recoveryPlans that keep the business running through a hurricane, an outage or a breach, and tested before you need them.
ServiceThirty minutes, and you will know where you stand.
No obligation, no pitch deck. We will tell you what we would do and what the ceiling would be. If that is not worth it, you have lost half an hour.