Technology Roadmap
3-year plan tied to your business goals. Infrastructure lifecycle, software refresh, cloud strategy, and security maturity milestones.
IT Consulting · Vancouver, BC
IT Consulting Vancouver
Hexafusion offers IT consulting in Vancouver for business leaders who need strategic technology guidance without hiring a full-time CIO. Our virtual CIO service delivers roadmap planning, vendor evaluation, risk management, and budget forecasting from a team that works with BC businesses.
What vCIO Services Include
IT Budget Planning
Annual IT budget development with capital vs operating expense breakdown, priority ranking, and contingency reserves for unplanned work.
Vendor Evaluation
Independent review of software, hardware, and service vendors. Request for proposal (RFP) support, contract negotiation guidance, and total cost of ownership analysis.
Risk Management
Annual risk assessments, cyber insurance guidance, disaster recovery planning, and business impact analysis.
Technology Business Reviews
Quarterly executive reviews covering ticket trends, security posture, budget vs actuals, and upcoming initiatives.
IT Compliance Advisory
PIPEDA, BC PIPA, SOC 2, PCI DSS readiness. Gap analysis, remediation plans, and audit coordination (we do not provide legal or compliance opinions).
Who Needs IT Consulting?
- Companies growing past 20 staff where tech decisions start affecting multiple departments
- Organizations preparing for compliance audits (SOC 2, PIPEDA, industry-specific)
- Executives who want independent strategic input, not sales pitches from product vendors
- Businesses planning a major change: office move, cloud migration, acquisition, rapid hiring
- Teams evaluating IT providers and wanting an informed second opinion
- Boards and owners who want quarterly visibility into technology risk and spend
Included on Managed IT Plans
vCIO services are included on our Professional and Enterprise managed IT plans. Standalone consulting engagements are also available for project-based work like cloud migrations, audit prep, and M&A IT due diligence.
See what is included in each plan
When to bring in a virtual CIO
Most BC businesses under 20 staff get along fine with a managed-IT provider for day-to-day operations. The cost of a dedicated CIO only makes sense once technology decisions start affecting multiple teams or the cost of getting one wrong is high. Common triggers we see:
Compliance pressure
SOC 2, PIPEDA, FINTRAC, or industry-specific regulators are asking for evidence of controls you don't yet have documented. A vCIO maps the gap and runs the remediation program.
Cyber insurance renewal
Your underwriter is asking new questions every year. We translate the questionnaire into concrete projects, then sign off on the technical-controls section of the application.
Major change events
Office move, acquisition, hiring sprint, or new line of business. We sequence the technology work so the change does not turn into a year of post-go-live firefighting.
Vendor or product evaluation
Independent review when sales teams are pitching you on shiny platforms. We write the RFP, score the bids on your criteria, and tell you which one to pick.
Existing provider review
You are not sure your current managed-services provider is doing the job. We audit the environment, the contract, and the response logs, then deliver a written assessment with options.
Board reporting
Your board or insurance carrier wants quarterly technology and security reports. We produce them in plain English with the metrics and risk language non-technical readers actually need.
How a vCIO engagement typically works
Engagements start with a four-to-six-week discovery and design phase, then move into a recurring monthly cadence. We document everything, so when an engagement ends the deliverables remain useful to whoever takes over.
- Week 1 to 2. Discovery. Inventory of systems, vendors, contracts, security controls, business-process dependencies. Stakeholder interviews. Risk register opened.
- Week 3 to 4. Assessment. Maturity scoring against a recognised baseline (NIST CSF for security, ITIL practices for operations). Gap report with quantified business impact.
- Week 5 to 6. Roadmap. Three-year plan with annualised budget, project sequencing, and dependency map. Reviewed with leadership, signed off.
- Month 2 onwards. Monthly working sessions to track delivery, quarterly business reviews with the executive team, ad-hoc availability for vendor calls and incident response.
Common deliverables you keep
- Three-year technology roadmap with annual capital and operating-expense forecast
- Risk register with quantified business impact for each open item
- Vendor inventory, contract end-dates, and renewal calendar
- Security maturity scorecard tied to NIST CSF or ISO 27001 Annex A
- Disaster-recovery and business-continuity plan with documented recovery-time objective (RTO) and recovery-point objective (RPO) targets
- Quarterly board-ready report templates with the metrics already populated
- Standard operating procedures for incident response, change management, vendor onboarding
Frequently asked questions
What does a virtual CIO actually do day-to-day?
Strategic input, not ticket work. We attend leadership meetings as the technology voice, review vendor proposals before you sign them, run quarterly security and budget reviews, and act as the escalation point when something complex needs an experienced opinion. Day-to-day support is handled by our managed-IT team or your existing provider.
How is this different from hiring a full-time CIO?
Cost and breadth. Hiring a senior CIO is rarely justified for businesses under 200 staff who don't have enough technology decisions to keep one fully occupied. A virtual CIO is fractional and brings cross-industry pattern recognition because we see this work across many businesses at once. You get the seniority without the headcount commitment.
Can we use you only for a specific project?
Yes. Cloud migration, M&A IT due diligence, audit preparation, RFP for a new platform, post-incident review. Standalone consulting engagements are fixed scope and fixed price.
Do you provide legal or compliance opinions?
No. We design and implement technical controls and document the evidence. Whether the resulting posture satisfies a specific regulator is a question for legal counsel. We work alongside your privacy lawyer, compliance officer, or external auditor.
How are engagements priced?
Included as part of our Professional and Enterprise managed-IT plans. Standalone vCIO retainers are available on a monthly retainer basis after a scoping conversation. Project-based work is fixed price after a discovery week. Reach out for a tailored quote.
Need strategic IT guidance?
Book a discovery call with a Hexafusion consultant. We will review your current state and identify where a vCIO engagement would add the most value.
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Service areas across Metro Vancouver
Related Hexafusion resources
Deep-dive pages on the cybersecurity and compliance topics referenced above.