IT Strategy Built Around Where Your Business Is Going
Executive-level IT strategy, backed by a team that can actually execute it.
Most virtual CIO services stop at the strategy. You get a roadmap, a budget, and a quarterly report, and then you're on your own to find someone to implement it. Facet is different. Our strategic IT advisory is built on top of an in-house team of engineers, security specialists, and project managers who deliver the plan we help you build. The strategy doesn't sit in a binder. It gets done.
Schedule a Strategy Conversation- Who it's for: Central Illinois businesses, typically 40+ employees, who have outgrown ad-hoc technology decisions.
- Who delivers it: Dedicated account executives with senior engineering and security support.
- What's included: Strategic planning, quarterly business reviews, IT budgeting, and roadmap development for every managed services client.
- Deeper engagements: Available for businesses that need executive-level technology leadership.
- Proven longevity: Our average client relationship is over 10 years, compared to an industry average of 3 to 5 years.
- Response standard: Under 15-minute average helpdesk response, so your strategy is supported by a team that actually shows up.
What Is a Virtual CIO, and What Does Strategic IT Advisory Actually Mean?
A virtual CIO (vCIO) is an outsourced technology executive who helps business leaders make smart, long-term decisions about IT. Strategic IT advisory is the broader category that includes vCIO work: translating business goals into a technology plan, aligning IT spending with growth priorities, planning for compliance and risk, and helping leadership navigate decisions that are too important to guess on.
At Facet, strategic advisory covers:
- Technology roadmaps that map out the next 12 to 36 months based on where your business is headed, not just what's breaking today
- IT budgeting that makes your spending predictable and tied to business outcomes
- Risk and compliance planning for frameworks like HIPAA, PCI DSS, CMMC, and cyber insurance requirements
- Vendor and license management so you're not paying for software no one uses or missing renewal deadlines
- Business continuity and disaster recovery strategy that gets tested, not just written
- Quarterly business reviews that actually review the business, not just ticket counts
- Board-ready reporting when leadership needs to see what IT is delivering
The point of this work is to stop treating technology as a reactive expense and start treating it as a strategic asset your business can plan around.
Who Needs a vCIO or Strategic IT Advisor?
Strategic IT advisory is most valuable for businesses that have reached a specific inflection point. You probably need this kind of partner if:
- Your business has grown past 40 employees and technology decisions are now impacting operations, compliance, or budget in ways that matter to leadership
- You don't have a full-time CIO or CTO, and you don't need one, but you need someone thinking about technology at the executive level
- You have an internal IT person or team, but they're stretched thin handling day-to-day work and can't also drive strategy
- You've been surprised by IT costs, end-of-life equipment, or compliance gaps that should have been planned for
- Your industry has compliance requirements (HIPAA, PCI, CMMC, SOC 2, ISO 27001) that require proactive planning, not reactive scrambling
- You're planning growth, a new location, an acquisition, or a major system change and want technology decisions to align with the business move
- Your leadership team is making technology calls based on opinions rather than strategy
If any of that sounds familiar, you're in the audience this service is built for.
How Does Facet's Approach to vCIO Services Differ From Other Providers?
Most vCIO services fall into one of two camps. The first is pure advisory: someone from outside your business shows up quarterly, reviews where you are, builds a plan, and hands it off. You then have to find a team to execute it. The second is bolted-on advisory from an MSP who treats "vCIO" as an upsell but doesn't actually have the operational capability to deliver on what they recommend.
Facet does it differently.
Strategy and execution are the same team
When your account executive builds a roadmap, our engineers, security specialists, and project managers are involved in the conversation. We know what we can actually deliver, and we recommend what makes sense for your business, not what fits a template.
Your advisor knows your environment
Because we run your managed services, monitoring, and security day-to-day, our strategic advice is based on real data about your network, your team's usage patterns, your incident history, and your growth trajectory. We already know your environment.
Rooted in a local, accountable team
Our entire team works from our office on West Lake Avenue in Peoria. When we commit to a project in your roadmap, the same people you met with in your quarterly review are the ones who execute it. No handoffs to offshore teams.
Vendor-honest, not vendor-neutral
We have partnerships with Microsoft, Fortinet, SentinelOne, and others because those relationships give our clients better pricing and faster support. We'll tell you clearly why we recommend a given product, and we won't recommend something just because we sell it.
What Does the Strategic Advisory Process Look Like?
Discovery and business alignment
We start by understanding your business, not your technology. What are your growth plans? What keeps leadership up at night? Where does technology currently help, and where is it in the way?
Environment assessment
Before we recommend anything, we document the state of your current technology, security posture, and compliance readiness. For existing managed services clients, we already have this data.
Roadmap development
Based on your business goals and current state, we build a 12 to 36 month technology roadmap. It includes what needs attention now, what can wait, what the budget looks like, and how each initiative connects to business outcomes.
Presentation and prioritization
We present the roadmap to your leadership team. You see what we recommend, why, and what the cost and timeline look like. You decide what gets prioritized. Nothing happens without your approval.
Execution with visibility
When projects move forward, they're scoped and delivered by the same team that built the plan. You get regular updates, not surprises.
Quarterly business reviews
Every quarter, we sit down with your leadership to review what's been done, what's changed, and what the next quarter looks like. The roadmap is a living document, not a one-time deliverable.
What Is Included in Strategic Advisory, and What Is a Separate Engagement?
The baseline advisory work is included because we believe every client deserves strategic thinking, not just operational support. The deeper vCIO engagement exists for businesses whose complexity, size, or growth trajectory justifies executive-level time.
Included in Every Managed Services Agreement
- Quarterly business reviews with your account team
- Annual technology roadmap and budget planning
- Compliance planning and framework alignment (remediation work scoped separately)
- Vendor coordination for your IT stack
- Strategic input on major technology decisions as they arise
- Reporting on security posture, uptime, ticket trends, and project status
Available as a Deeper vCIO Engagement
- Monthly executive strategy sessions with your leadership team
- Board-level reporting and technology governance support
- Extended roadmap development across multiple business units or locations
- Acquisition due diligence and IT integration planning
- Digital transformation strategy and technology selection
- Named executive advisor with defined deliverables
What Industries Does Facet Provide Strategic IT Advisory For?
We provide strategic advisory across Central Illinois to businesses in healthcare, manufacturing, food and beverage production, agriculture, government and municipal, water utilities, professional services, and financial services. Our team has specific experience with HIPAA, PCI DSS, and CMMC frameworks, as well as cyber insurance readiness and ongoing audit support.
Our 30+ years serving the region means our strategic advice is grounded in a practical understanding of how businesses in Central Illinois grow, compete, and deal with the realities of our market.
How Does Strategic IT Advisory Connect to the Rest of Facet's Services?
Strategic advisory is the planning layer that sits on top of everything else we do. Your roadmap shapes which of our services make sense for your business:
- Day-to-day operations are handled through managed IT services or co-managed IT if you have internal staff
- Security strategy translates into specific tools and monitoring through our cybersecurity services and managed detection and response
- Infrastructure decisions are executed through cloud services, network projects, and backup and business continuity work
- Compliance planning connects to our compliance partnership and ongoing audit support
Because all of this is delivered by the same in-house team, the plan and the execution stay aligned.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between a vCIO and strategic IT advisory?
They overlap significantly. "vCIO" is the industry term for an outsourced, fractional Chief Information Officer who provides executive-level technology leadership. "Strategic IT advisory" is the broader category of work that includes vCIO services along with roadmap development, IT budgeting, and compliance planning. At Facet, we use both terms because clients search for both.
Do I need to be a managed services client to get strategic advisory?
Most of our strategic advisory work is delivered as part of a managed services engagement, because that gives us the real-time visibility into your environment that makes our advice specific rather than generic. Standalone advisory engagements are possible for businesses in specific situations, but the value of our approach comes from having strategy and execution on the same team.
How is this different from just having regular meetings with my IT provider?
Regular meetings with most IT providers focus on ticket counts, recent issues, and what's broken. Strategic advisory focuses on where your business is headed, what technology decisions need to happen to get there, and how to budget for them. If your current conversations are reactive, you're not getting strategic advisory. You're getting status updates.
How big does my business need to be to benefit from this?
Strategic advisory is typically most valuable for businesses with 40 or more employees. Below that, most businesses are focused on getting the basics right, and advisory work can feel premature. Above 40, technology decisions start affecting budget, operations, and compliance in ways that leadership needs to plan for. That said, we provide strategic input to clients of all sizes through our standard quarterly business reviews, so smaller clients still benefit from the thinking.
Who leads the advisory work at Facet?
Your account executive leads the relationship and serves as your primary strategic advisor, supported by our senior engineers, security specialists, and project management team. For larger engagements or particularly complex situations, our leadership team, including our President, is directly involved.
Can Facet work with my existing internal IT team on strategy?
Yes. A significant portion of our advisory work is delivered in a co-managed arrangement where we provide strategic depth, specialized expertise, and executive-level thinking alongside your internal team. We're not looking to replace internal IT. We're looking to make them more effective.
What does this cost?
Baseline strategic advisory (quarterly reviews, annual roadmap, budget planning, compliance planning and framework alignment) is included in our managed services agreements. Hands-on compliance remediation work, deeper vCIO engagements, and major project work are scoped separately based on the complexity of your business and the level of involvement needed. We'll walk you through exactly what's included before you commit.
How do I get started?
Schedule a strategy conversation using the booking tool below, fill out the contact form, or call us directly at (309) 689-3900. We'll start with a straightforward conversation about your business and whether strategic advisory is the right fit for where you are today.
Let's Talk About Where Your Business Is Going
If your business has outgrown reactive IT decisions, we'd like to have a conversation about what strategic advisory could look like for you. No pressure, no sales script. Just a real discussion about where you are and where you want technology to take you.
Facet Technologies • 3024 W. Lake Ave., Peoria, IL 61615 • Serving Central Illinois for 30+ years
(309) 689-3900
8:00AM – 5:00PM, Monday – Friday
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Peoria Office
3024 W. Lake Ave.
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Peoria, IL 61615
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