Delivered as part of our Managed IT Services offering or stand along our Virtual Chief Information Officer (CIO) Services provide the technology executive advisory services and deliverables that are the key to successful IT in any organization. Delivering crucial guidance, strategic planning, and business value through a scalable model at a fixed monthly fee.
Business Objectives Meeting
Apex Digital Solutions will work with the customers’ leadership or management teams on aligning technology and process with the business objectives. The purpose of this meeting is to help Apex Digital Solutions better understand the customer environment and recommend solutions that help the business meet its goals.
Current Technology Assessment
In order to provide accurate proposals and recommendations, Apex Digital Solutions will conduct a technology assessment to determine what pieces of technology are currently deployed in the customer environment, how they are configured, how the end-users and systems interface with them, and what common issues are affecting operations.
Vendor Management
As part of the customer’s IT infrastructure, Apex Digital Solutions will actively manage the technology vendor relationships. This key component of the vCIO and vCTO delivery process ensures that the customer has a single point of contact for any issue. Any issues that arise with vendors (ISP or data circuits, hardware troubleshooting and warranty issues, software licensing, etc) will be tracked and reported on.
Status Meetings
Status meetings will be scheduled to occur based on the vCIO agreement with the customer. Meetings may be scheduled monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually. During the status meeting, Apex Digital Solutions will review the reporting deliverables and issues. The information discussed in the meeting will be included in the customer’s Technology Infrastructure Documentation.
Strategy Meetings
Apex Digital Solutions will discuss technology refreshes and aid in the infrastructure planning. The customer will provide information on direction of their organization; Apex Digital Solutions will provide adequate technology recommendations to meet or exceed the customer’s requirements. Strategy meetings should be scheduled to coincide with either status meetings or annual service reviews.
Annual Service Review
Approximately 90 days before the end of the each year’s service contract term, Apex Digital Solutions will contact the customer to schedule an annual service review, which will include a review of all services provided throughout the course of the contract as well as customer feedback.
Annual Hardware Lifecycle Review
Apex Digital Solutions will work with the customer in the budgetary planning cycle for hardware assets and recommend services for environmentally sound disposal or recycling of decommissioned equipment.
Annual Planning/Budgeting
For customers who must be compliant with certain regulations (PCI-DSS, SOX, HIPPAA, NCUA, FDIC, etc), Apex Digital Solutions will recommend appropriate security reviews and audits. Apex Digital Solutions will work with the customer and the auditors to develop remediation plans for identified issues. Implementing security remediation plans are outside the scope of managed services and will be treated as billable projects.
External Security Review
Apex Digital Solutions will work with the customer on the proper handling of data and addressing compliance concerns. Apex Digital Solutions will provide services to help advise the customer on internal security practices as well as additional technologies and processes that can help streamline compliance efforts.
Business Continuity Planning
As part of the vCIO Enterprise offering, Apex Digital Solutions will work with the customer to develop a business continuity plan. Business Continuity Plans may include a combination of virtualization, backup, off-site disaster recovery, and cloud hosted backup or redundant email services. Business Continuity Plans also include documentation and processes to enable the customer to continue operations in the event of a disaster.