- 3-year
- roadmap tied to where the business is going
- Annual
- budget with capital and running costs laid out
- Quarterly
- reviews with numbers, not anecdotes
- Yours
- the decision, always
What is included.
What ALCO does for you under consulting, in plain terms.
A current-state picture
Every system, contract, dependency and expiry date on one page, with the risks ranked. Most businesses have never seen theirs.
The roadmap
What to do, in what order, why, and roughly what it costs, over three years. Urgent maintenance separated from nice-to-have.
The budget
An annual IT budget with capital and operating costs, renewals and the cost of putting things off, in a form your accountant likes.
Vendor and contract decisions
Evaluations and contract reviews done in your interest, not the vendor's. We will recommend against ourselves when that is the right answer.
Procurement guidance
What to buy, what to skip, when to refresh, and how to buy it. Hardware and licences can be supplied through ALCO or elsewhere; the advice is the same.
Risk and lifecycle
Warranties, end-of-support dates, single points of failure and key-person dependencies tracked, with a plan before they bite.
Quarterly business reviews
Service numbers, spend against budget, risks closed and opened, decisions needed. An hour, well prepared.
Board and audit reporting
A concise technology risk and spend summary for a board, a lender, an insurer or an auditor.
Someone to ring
A new location, an acquisition, a software salesman at the door. Call before you sign.
How it works.
Four steps, each one written down as we go.
- 1
Understand the business
Goals, constraints, existing plans, contracts and what keeps you up at night, before any technology talk.
- 2
Build the picture and the plan
Current state, risks, roadmap and budget, presented plainly and adjusted with you.
- 3
Decide and delegate
You decide. Work can go to ALCO, your own staff or another vendor; the advice does not change.
- 4
Review each quarter
Progress, spend, risks and new facts. The plan is updated when the business changes.
Who this is for.
Owners spending on emergencies and renewals
If the IT budget is whatever broke this year, a plan will cost less than the surprises.
Leadership teams and boards
A clear view of technology risk, ownership and spend, in their language.
Growing or changing businesses
New site, acquisition, new leadership, first compliance obligation. The old plan, if there was one, is out of date.
Questions people ask.
Is this just a way to sell us more ALCO services?
The advice is separated from the selling on purpose. Recommendations come with options and costs, you decide, and the work can go anywhere. We have told clients to buy less from us more than once.
How much time does it take from us?
A few hours at the start, then about an hour a quarter for the review, plus the occasional call when a decision comes up.
Do we need a help desk plan with you for this?
No. vCIO stands alone. It does pair well with the help desk, because the people answering the phone are the same ones who know the plan.
Can you review a contract a vendor sent us?
Yes. Software, telecom, hosting, copier leases. We read it, tell you what it really commits you to, and what to push back on.
What does a quarterly review look like?
A short written pack a few days before, then an hour together: service numbers, spend against budget, risks, upcoming renewals and the decisions we need from you.
- The client area
Everything ALCO does for you, in one place.
Requests, your team, invoices, documents, shared credentials and sign-in security. One sign-in, any device. Take the tour.
Tour myALCO - New · Our work
See the sites we have built.
A newspaper rebuilt headless, a parts storefront, two Boise nonprofits and our own site. Every screenshot is the full page, scrolling live.
Browse our work
Clients we’ve worked with
We’ve worked with businesses, nonprofits and community organizations on managed hosting, website development and everyday IT support. These are some of the current and past clients we’ve supported, each with different systems, priorities and people. Explore their stories to see what working with ALCO looks like.
