What About Technical Alignment?

Information Technology is not a “set it and forget it” concept, and neither is your business. Everything changes – smartphones didn’t exist 10 years ago, and global pandemics were supposedly long gone. So, even if your technology is serving you perfectly today, it may not be just weeks later. At VC3, one of our three core processes – Technical Alignment – is dedicated to keeping your IT infrastructure and your unique company needs in alignment - regularly, consistently, and forever.

What is the VC3 Technical Alignment?

The VC3 Technical Alignment is an ongoing process by which we regularly compare your unique IT environment against industry and VC3-specific best practices, standards, and benchmarks. Additionally, we use this process to keep documentation fresh and inform your future decision making. The tool we use to do the heavy lifting for the Technical Alignment is called the Proactive Network Review.

Simple in concept, this Review is a pool of questions, customized to your particular environment, based on what technologies you have and which best practices apply. As your individual environment changes, we update the Review to reflect those changes. As technologies and best practices evolve, we regularly update existing questions or even add or remove questions.

Technical Alignment for all VC3 Clients

Thoroughly detailed and specified to our client’s business technology needs, VC3 is proud to have such an established, successful process. It begins with a Proactive Network Review of your environment, completed by our Proactive Support Analysts (PSAs) every 6 months. For most clients, that means verifying the answer to over 300 questions from a pool of 350+ questions. Our dedicated PSAs each hold varied backgrounds and areas of expertise, bringing you multiple professional perspectives and insights. Reviews are rotated among the PSAs, so you have numerous sets of eyes reviewing your environment.

Most of the Proactive Network Review is performed remotely, including logging into all your critical devices (servers, switches, firewalls, etc.) and checking their configurations against our standards, best practices, and documentation. However, we also do part of the Review onsite. When onsite, we examine environmental factors (i.e. physical security, adequate cooling, cable management, etc.), verify that all equipment is properly labeled, and update photos. Last, but certainly not least, we take the time to speak with all our clients, clarifying important topics based on their input.

Technical Alignment: A Crucial Part of Successful Business Technology

Technical Alignment isn’t just about making sure your devices are configured to best practices. It is a framework that allows us to provide real, tangible benefits to you:

• Fewer Technical Issues
  1. We proactively search for, reduce, and resolve issues before they become dire.
  2. We follow best standards and practices to set up your environment for success, including your security posture.
  3. We ensure proper maintenance activities are happening in a timely fashion, enabling your environment to run smoothly and always be fully protected.

• Streamlined Support
  1. With every deep dive into your network (Proactive Network Review), we compare your environment against our updated, accurate documentation – allowing our Help Desk to have information at their fingertips.
  2. Our accurate photos help a technician walk a client through fixes over the phone, allowing for quicker resolution.

• Clearer Overall IT Strategy
  1. Following the results of the Review, your Advisor has a great “snapshot” of your current environment. They know what’s working in your favor and where things could stand some improvement.
  2. Along with your input on business goals, this snapshot will help your advisor propose realistic budgets and project scopes to meet your future needs.

Success Starts with VC3

No environment remains unchanged, even if it appears that way. Software is constantly being updated and patched behind the scenes. Power blips and heat are ever so slowly weakening electronics. Enterprising hackers are constantly evolving new tactics, while new security measures are invented to block those tactics. The VC3 Technical Alignment process is our way to keep on top of all such things and more. We do so in a fashion that is virtually transparent to your business – another way in which we help create success for all.

If you’d like to learn more about our VC3 process, or simply looking for additional IT and MSP support services, VC3 is here to help!