How an engagement runs.
Four stages, in order, each with a concrete deliverable. You always know where you are in the sequence and what you're holding at the end of each stage.
Assess
A full environment audit: identity and tenant configuration, endpoints and patch state, network and Wi-Fi, backups and their last successful restore, vendor contracts, and spend. We read the environment the way an examiner would: evidence first.
You receive: A written findings report, risk-ranked, with remediation costs attached. It's yours whether or not you hire us. The audit is designed to be worth having on its own.
Stabilize
The urgent gaps close first: MFA coverage, backup integrity, patching, offboarding leaks, exposed remote access. This phase is measured in weeks, not quarters, because these are the findings attackers and auditors both look for first.
You receive: The same findings report, updated with closure dates, plus the beginnings of your documentation binder: network diagram, asset inventory, credential management.
Manage
Steady-state operations under SLA: helpdesk, monitoring, patching, backup verification, and reporting. The ops board stays green, and you can see it. Onboarding and offboarding run as runbooks; changes are controlled and logged.
You receive: Monthly reporting against SLA, patch and backup status, and a documented environment that stays documented, updated as it changes rather than as an annual scramble.
Advise
Quarterly business reviews, a living 12 to 36 month roadmap, and an annual budget defended line by line. Technology decisions get made ahead of need: refresh cycles planned, renewals negotiated early, risks retired on schedule. This is where the vCIO engagement lives.
You receive: A current roadmap and decision list after every QBR, an annual budget your CFO can interrogate, and an insurance-ready evidence file.
Why the order matters
Most provider relationships fail in one of two ways: strategy pitched before the basics are safe, or years of ticket-taking with no direction. The sequence prevents both. Nothing strategic is credible while backups are untested and MFA is partial, so stabilization comes first. And once operations are steady, "keeping the lights on" stops being the whole relationship. The advisory layer is where technology starts compounding for the business instead of merely not breaking.
The sequence also protects you contractually: the assessment is a fixed, bounded first step. You see exactly how we work, and what we find, before committing to anything ongoing.
FAQ
Stage one is an audit, not a contract.
Findings in writing, risk-ranked, yours to keep. Start there.