Keep Your Technology Plan Moving With Virtual CIO (vCIO) Services

A vCIO leads your technology strategy: the roadmap, the budget, vendors and when systems get replaced. A vCISO leads your security: managing risk, owning the security program, planning for incidents and making sure the business meets what insurers, clients and regulators expect. Larger companies usually have both roles. In a smaller business they work closely together, because most technology decisions affect security too, and BCA offers both.

It depends on your size and how much is changing. Many businesses meet monthly or quarterly, with more frequent check-ins during a big project. BCA agrees the meeting schedule with you up front, so you know what to expect.

An IT strategy project produces a plan: a document with priorities, technology standards and a roadmap. A vCIO is the ongoing role that owns that plan, keeps it current and makes sure the work gets done. If you already have a plan, a vCIO can pick it up; if you don't, building one is usually the first job.

Often, yes. Most in-house IT staff are kept busy running systems and helping users, with little time left for budgets, vendor negotiations or long-term planning. A vCIO sets the direction and priorities, and your IT staff carry out the work with that plan in mind. A fractional CIO is also one of the capabilities in BCA's co-managed IT service, for businesses that want help in other areas too.

Yes, if you want that. Your vCIO keeps a list of your technology vendors and contracts, reviews renewals before they're due, compares options for major purchases and deals with vendors on technical questions. You stay in control of what gets signed; the vCIO makes sure you know what you're agreeing to.

Common signs are technology decisions that keep landing on an owner, IT spending that's hard to predict, vendors nobody is managing, a business that keeps outgrowing its systems or an IT person who's too busy fixing things to plan. If you only need a plan written once, an IT strategy project may be enough.

vCIO services are scoped around your size and how much time the role needs, and BCA gives you a clear quote before any work begins. Like our other services, it's billed month to month.