Every Hero in Business Needs a Wise IT Advisor

Luke has Yoda; Frodo has Gandalf; Wolverine has Professor X. Just like our favourite heroes, IT leaders can’t rely on their utility belts and clever quips alone to save the day. Organizations need more than software to be successful and secure; they also need a skilled IT advisor to actively protect, improve, and optimize their IT ecosystem.

Thrive serves mid-market clients across every vertical in Canada and beyond, each with its own unique set of challenges. Thrive offers specialized vCIO and vCISO advisory services, staffed with a team of experts dedicated to helping you reach your unique business goals. Both services offer current-state and risk assessments and compliance support to help every client build a strategy that fits their needs.

Today, we’re focusing on the strategic and practical benefits vCIOs bring to each client they work with.

Fireproof Your Business

By partnering with Thrive, clients can achieve IT stability and resilience with the guidance of our vCIOs and practical support from Thrive’s deep bench of specialized experts. The Thrive team takes an all-hands-on-deck approach to understanding and supporting each client.

“I don’t do this in isolation, and neither do they,” reflects Canada-based vCIO Henry Corvers on his daily touchpoints with Thrive Account Managers, Customer Success, and Delivery Specialists. “When we’re on an account together, we’re not off doing our own thing; we come together and do what’s best for the customer.” The benefits of that proactive collaboration behind the scenes are quickly felt by clients.

Mentioning a client’s message of thanks sent to their Thrive Account Manager and Henry, he shares, “Where they are today compared to where they were a year ago is a night and day difference, and they are thankful that we are there working with and alongside them.” Henry assessed their environment and made recommendations and changes that made it more secure and stable. He brought to light some issues that they were not aware of, while others they did know about and were seeking solutions.

Through strategic guidance and continuous gap analysis provided by Thrive’s vCIO advisory team, businesses can build a stronger IT foundation. Whether it’s cloud migration, cybersecurity enhancements, AI readiness and deployment, or ongoing system optimizations, vCIOs help companies implement thoughtful long-term solutions rather than rely on reactive band-aid responses.

Organizations in firefighting mode react to user complaints and vulnerabilities without a comprehensive view of their IT environment, leading to inefficiencies and increased risks. Working alongside a Thrive vCIO, clients develop a strategy that fireproofs their operations by focusing on layered security and scalable infrastructure that reduces downtime and enables the business to pivot when needed.

A Tailored Consultative Approach for Foundations You Can Build On

Thrive vCIO services meet you where you are to gain a deeper understanding of your IT teams, processes, and platforms and align them to your strategic long-term business goals.

vCIOs look at the whole environment and identify the large gaps, issues, and items that should be prioritized to address the foundational components that then provide the stability and security needed to drive innovation, scalability, and efficiency.

“Most of the people that I’m currently meeting with are technical people, and most aren’t surprised by what’s raised. Rather, it helps validate their concerns and clarify where to go next,” says Henry.

Oftentimes, client technical contacts have a good understanding of their environment but may not have all the tools and data available to present the situation in a complete and compelling manner to get stakeholder and Board buy-in. Henry and his fellow vCIOs can help assess and describe the circumstances and provide the strategy and reporting needed to get funding approvals for remedial actions and sustainable long-term investments for continued growth and security.

Examples of Foundational Components

vCIOs work with the customer to understand their environment and set a plan. Below we outline some steps taken during ongoing collaborative sessions.

Executionary: It’s important to note that Thrive’s best practices are aligned with CIS Critical Controls. CIS is a prescriptive, prioritized, and simplified set of cybersecurity baselines used throughout most industries.

• Use the CIS framework to identify priority executionary items
  • Identify gaps with best practices
  • Talk about directionally, where should we head and what should we tackle next
• Put in place MFA and best practices for passwords
  • Ensure device inventory are supported by EDR and other services
  • Validate MFA has been implemented properly
• Draw attention to end of support technologies such as Windows 10 EOS
• Ensure there are no vulnerabilities in unpatched and unsupported software
• Work to update or replace outdated software and processes

Strategic: vCIOs focus on your business priorities to determine how to make your environment even better at serving those goals.

• Regularly scheduled cadence calls talking about what’s happening today and what are we doing tomorrow
• Annual Technology Business Review
  • State of the nation, where are we going in the upcoming year
  • Clear and organized plan with prioritized initiatives to help support the business objectives
  • Roadmap where to focus next

Supporting our customers as a vCIO isn’t simply about advising on technology, it’s about understanding their business goals and objectives, helping them uncover opportunities they didn’t know existed, and building solutions that genuinely drive value.

“In the end, vCIO services are not just a strategic advantage, it’s a partnership built on trust, insight, and a shared commitment to long-term success,” Henry shares. “Collaborating to strengthen our customers’ environments and witnessing their enthusiasm as they reach each new milestone is what makes this work truly rewarding for me.”

Have questions for Henry and his vCIO colleagues? Connect with us here. To learn about Henry’s journey to becoming a trusted advisor, read his story here.