Get the Best Virtual Chief Information Officer in Toronto

What is a Virtual Chief Information Officer?

The chief information officer is one of the most important members of a company’s executive suite. These highly experienced professionals are responsible for overseeing all the aspects of a business’s IT network and functions, from cybersecurity to data management and protection. Ultimately, their goal is to grow your IT infrastructure by providing strategies that help you scale your business’ efficiency through IT functionality.



A virtual chief information officer does the same basic functions as a regular CIO, with one major difference: VCIOs are not employed full-time. Rather, VICOs are independent contractors or function separately as a VCIO consulting service. VCIOs are usually engaged in a remote or virtual capacity, hence the name. Both of these factors work together to provide small businesses like yours with a powerful option for IT innovation, protection, and management - though at a rate much less expensive than hiring an in-house CIO. All the while, you still benefit from experienced IT leadership and a host of additional services that come with it.

What Are the Best Virtual CIO Managed Services?

While a VCIO isn’t on your executive staff, your business still benefits from a range of different services and responsibilities they cover. While individual VCIO services in Toronto will vary in their offering scope, you can expect core offerings like IT strategy consultation and applications governance. As an example, here are a few services that BSWI offers as a local Toronto-based VCIO.

Fully Managed IT Services

Some virtual CIO services offer fully managed IT services, in which they will oversee and monitor your network and IT needs entirely for you. This frees up you and your team to focus on other more critical business needs. Consider how much time you and your team will save and what key business needs you can address with your time freed to focus on them. Our Toronto-based VCIO services focus on fully managing your technology and network protection so that you can mostly be hands-free.

IT Planning

IT leadership is a core benefit of VCIO services. Besides helping you address immediate IT concerns, BSWI will also help you construct strategic technology plans that help you avoid costs and technical hurdles in the long run. Our tailored guidance is geared to align your IT network with the goals you have for your business, ensuring your technology will remain scalable and functional as you expand.

Network Auditing

Through detailed IT audits, VCIOs help you gain a comprehensive understanding of your IT environment. This is critical for optimizing and protecting your network, as well as meeting IT regulations, or even a cyber insurance checklist required to gain cyber insurance coverage.

Data Protection and Recovery

Data protection is critical to the longevity of your entire business. Without access to your data, you’re looking at a significant disruption to your regular business functions and major costs simply dealing with the breach. The average cost of data breach fallout in Canada is over $5M. What’s more, 60% of small businesses that do suffer a major data breach end up having to close.

Part of your tailored VCIO services with BSWI involves in-depth data protection services and planning designed to protect your data from internal and external threats. In addition to encryption, this involves working with you to establish robust data backups for all your essential data to ensure that if a breach does happen, your data is still recoverable. From here, we also help you design and implement disaster recovery plans that further strengthen the resilience of your IT infrastructure and business as a whole.

System Design & Integration

Connecting new solutions to your IT network can be complicated and time-consuming. Poorly constructed IT integrations can break or prove unreliable. Some sources estimate that a failed integration can cost businesses up to $500K on average.

Working with a qualified VCIO like BSWI gives you access to custom IT architecture tailored to integrate your technology seamlessly with the rest of your network. Our team brings a proven history of successful system design that revolves around addressing all your unique requirements to successfully integrate new technology with your existing systems.

Cloud Services

Cloud-based IT solutions offer every type of business the best in security, accessibility, and efficiency in their operations. VCIO services like BSWI provide you with not just one, but a team of technology specialists that can help you grow and maintain the cloud technologies you rely on. In addition to cloud migration and implementation projects, as your VCIO, we can help you select the cost-most effective cloud solutions that most align with your goals and needs.

Cybersecurity

Cyber threats are not only becoming more complex, the number of attacks is increasing, especially for small businesses. With this historic rise in cybercrime, Canadian small businesses are most at risk. In 2022 alone, cyber fraud and other cybercrimes cost businesses over $500M. Remember, preventing a cybersecurity breach is way less costly than dealing with a cyberattack. VCIOs can help you do this without overspending your budget.

In addition to a host of other IT support services and management, as your dedicated VCIO, we will help you implement a multi-level cybersecurity structure to protect you from all the threats Toronto businesses face. And this includes a range of services from email encryption to training your staff on the latest cyber threat trends.



24/7 Support

Another key benefit of VCIO services is the level of support you will receive for any IT issues you may have. This not only relieves your internal staff from having to work overtime, but it also means your network is more secure. IT issues don’t follow typical business hours, and neither do we. Our VCIO services offer around-the-clock threat monitoring and issue response.  What’s more, BSWI focuses on fully adapting to your needs. Whether you need in-person VCIO assistance in Toronto or remote troubleshooting, we're ready to help. Ultimately, our goal is to resolve issues before they become problems.

Why Consider a Virtual Chief Information Officer in Toronto

You have a small business, customers, and a budget, so where do IT technology and cyber protection fit in? Well, because your IT network is so vital for modern operations and business growth, network maintenance and development need to be a priority. Otherwise, you could effectively cripple your organization in the long run. Working with a qualified Virtual Chief Information Officer in Toronto helps you get the most out of modern IT network tech while also protecting your business. You win on multiple levels in the arrangement. Let’s look at 5 reasons why you should hire a Toronto-based VCIO now.

1. Business Growth and Competitiveness

While you may have team members with some technology proficiency, this is no substitute for a dedicated IT professional (or team of professionals). Your technology is pivotal to providing quality service to your customers, managing your internal operations efficiently, and helping you expand your functionality. But it can also be a detriment if your network isn’t monitored, updated, and improved. What’s more, inadequate technology can disrupt your business goals.

When it comes to strategic planning, proactive small businesses invest in tools and services that help them continually meet goals while overcoming barriers. The effectiveness of your IT network and applications is the difference between doing both. As an example, consider a goal like increasing your revenue by 50% over the next two years. If you can’t successfully automate your invoicing and service ticketing software, you’ll be hard-pressed to meet this goal. Not to mention you could waste a significant amount of time and money if technical errors threaten your process.  VCIOs work with you to establish the proper infrastructure needed to achieve your business goals continuously. This makes your small business both adaptable and competitive.

2. Easy Compliance

Failure to meet IT compliance laws like the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) and Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act PIPRA can leave your company open to legal repercussions. What’s more, these regulations and requirements also serve to protect both your and your customers’ data. Of course, meeting these compliance rules is easier said than done, which is why working with a virtual chief information officer pays off.

Toronto Virtual Chief Information Officers bring not only the technical knowledge and expertise required to implement these compliance rules, but they also know other local regulations that you may be required to comply with as well. Additionally, all of this work is done by your VCIO, not you, saving you hours dealing with IT compliance setup. From here, VCIOs like BSWI also work to make sure following these requirements is easy for your team and that the technology involved is maintained and functional.

3. Better Network performance

Ultimately, working with a  VCIO provides a highly affordable way to have a smooth-running IT network that continuously improves. Your VCIO not only takes on the task of managing and rolling out your IT projects but also measures and assesses the success of their implementations and repairs.



On this note, it’s important to assess how responsive and attentive your prospective VCIO services provider is. They shouldn’t just be doing their assigned tasks, but actively engaging you and your team so that they remain aware of problems and requirements as they arise. At BSWI, we typically do a debrief after a major project to see how smoothly the implementation went, how clear our communication was, and, of course, how the technology is performing.

4. Affordable Network Security

Antivirus and firewall software are not enough cybersecurity protections today. With the rise of AI use in cybercrime, more complex forms of hacking are being used to infiltrate business securities. On top of this, the number of cyberattacks is increasing too. To avoid data breaches and all the costs associated with cyber attacks, having a well-fortified IT network is essential. But it’s not simply a technology solution. To protect your network, you’ll need a combination of both internal processes and cybersecurity technology.

Working with a cybersecurity-focused VCIO gives you a major advantage in prioritizing cybersecurity alongside other core IT functions. This is because your entire network of solutions is interconnected. Considering ways to stop people from hacking into your system is a complicated question requiring a high level of technical skills and expertise to successfully identify ways in which a penetration can occur. VCIOs focus on solving IT security problems from a holistic perspective. We do this by implementing protections from threats both within and outside of your company, looking for ways both can occur, and then preventing them before they do.

Just recently, we had a client who received a suspicious email from a vendor requesting money and providing invoices. The email filter didn’t flag this message. Fortunately, we were able to determine that the email was legit. Still, because of our client's cybersecurity training, they took necessary precautions and we were able to validate the suspicious email just in case. Had it been a ransomware email, the staff would have taken the right preventative measures to block an attack. At the same time, we also implemented cyber protection programs running on their network to provide additional levels of security. All of these factors (the staff training and cyber protections) compounded to protect their system.

If you have only 10-30 people in your business, you probably don't have a full-time cybersecurity specialist who can manage all the factors of network protection. That’s where a VCIO service comes in handy. Working with a virtual CIO in Toronto can help you establish a truly resilient network but at a cost more aligned with your budget.

5. Cost-Effective VCIO Services in Toronto

By using a virtual CIO, a Totonto small company can have all the IT benefits of a much larger company, but at a much more cost-effective rate. The average rate for an experienced, in-house CIO is well over $308K in Toronto. While your business’ security and functionality are invaluable, most small businesses simply can’t afford this - they’re still growing.



Hiring a virtual chief information officer provides a clear solution. For a monthly retainer fee, you save money while still getting the IT network solutions you need to maximize your business. It’s a win-win that helps you solve problems now while positioning yourself for vertical growth through expert-led IT solutions.

BSWI is Your Experienced, Toronto-based VCIO

AT BSWI, we believe that there are two main qualifications you need to consider when working with a VCIO. Yes, they need to have a deep IT network background and proven effectiveness at helping people launch and run their networks. But they also need business acumen as well. After all, if the VCIO cannot work within your budget and goals, or overextends your IT spend, this isn’t good either.

You need a VCIO who is adaptable to your unique business and has a strong track record of delivering results. For over 20 years, the BSWI team has worked with a wide range of Toronto small businesses to improve and protect their network. With flexible monthly pricing, and a host of Virtual CIO managed services, affordable, reliable IT guidance is only a call away. Start by calling us at 416-805-9296 or scheduling a free IT network analysis.