How Can IT Consulting Services Help Your Business?

Many businesses rely on IT consulting to keep pace with today’s fast-moving IT landscape. Fail to react quickly and accurately and you risk being outpaced by your competitors who are using technology to their advantage!

Successful organizations look ahead, identify where they need to be, and map out the technology that will get them there. For many organizations, IT consultants are a big part of that roadmap.

If you feel you don't have the right internal resources, enlisting IT consulting services may be the missing piece to this picture — whether for a one-time project or ongoing strategic advice and guidance, including our Managed IT Services.

At Tiger Mask, our mission is solely focused on helping our clients leverage their technology investments to improve business performance.

Contact us and set up an exploratory call to see how our technology consulting services can help YOU meet your business needs.

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IT Strategy & Planning

Assistance with strategic IT planning is one of our most frequently requested services. We think of strategic IT as a core competitive strength, helping you to invest in the right technologies to prepare your company today for tomorrow’s challenges.

Tiger Mask IT consultants will work with you to document a detailed strategic plan that maps your business goals to short-term and long-term action plans to achieve those goals.

IT Budgeting

IT budgeting goes hand in hand with strategic IT planning. But trying to build a technology budget without a clear understanding of what your company needs is frustrating.

Tiger Mask IT consultants work with you to develop a realistic IT budget that incorporates both your own assets and resources, plus the projected costs of the new technology that will deliver the most value to your organization and help you reach your business goals.

IT Assessments

Chances are your network has developed gradually over time, with layers of hardware and software that may now be contributing to unintended security gaps or inefficiencies.

Tiger Mask IT consultants can conduct a comprehensive review of your IT environment and examine how your current technology is helping or hindering your business. You receive a written evaluation of the key areas that need improvement, with prioritized recommendations.

Security Risk Assessments

As your business relies more heavily on technology, the inherent risks increase as well. A single data breach or ransomware attack can cause huge financial, legal and reputational damage.

Our comprehensive cybersecurity assessment identifies your level of risk and defines a mitigation approach to minimize and manage your threats and vulnerabilities.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

Many organizations are bound by compliance regulations and standards, such as HIPAA, FINRA, PCI-DSS, NIST/CMMC and ISO standards.

Tiger Mask provides compliance-readiness risk assessments, gap analysis and remediation planning, along with audit preparation. Our IT consulting experts make sure your organization has a clear and well-documented framework that leads to successful industry compliance!

Cloud & Data Migration Services

Many businesses are transferring their data and applications from on-premises data centers to private or public clouds, typically to reduce costs, increase security, and build redundancy.

Our IT consultancy helps you develop the right cloud migration strategy, including having the right cloud security in place. We take you through the pros and cons, help you evaluate cloud providers, calculate costs, and then implement a plan to ensure a successful cloud migration project.

Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (BC/DR)

Business interruptions happen, and a continuity and disaster recovery plan is vital to keep your company up and running through whatever crisis you might face.

As an information technology consulting firm, Tiger Mask helps you formulate a BC/DR plan that encompasses how employees communicate in a crisis, where they go to find the information they need, and how they can access the tools and processes they need to perform their jobs in any situation.

Virtual CIO (vCIO)

A virtual CIO is a semi-dedicated IT executive who provides short- or long-term support for IT strategy, operations, and leadership. If your business needs strategic direction but you don’t have the budget for a full-time CIO, a virtual CIO is an excellent choice to help you set your priorities and manage your day-to-day technology operations.

Our seasoned virtual CIOs have helped hundreds of other companies navigate the same challenges you are facing.

Mobile & Web Custom Application Development

Business growth requires a balance of efficiency, collaboration, and speed—and that’s what our custom application development solutions deliver.

Common solutions include efficiently automating complex processes or creating a “clean handshake” between internal and external business systems. Whatever your needs may be, if you can’t find the right software off the shelf, our expert IT consulting team can build a custom application that delivers exactly what you want.

One of the key areas where an IT consultant can deliver value is to create an IT strategic plan or roadmap for your organization. In general, an IT strategic plan lays out your key business drivers, objectives and goals, and identifies the actions needed to achieve them.

An IT roadmap is crucial to ensure your technology organization is in alignment with the overall business strategy and objectives. Having a documented IT strategy benefits both technology leaders and functional executives by creating transparency and encouraging collaboration across teams.

More specifically, an IT strategic roadmap can help you:

• Create an “end-state vision” that gives you and your team a clear picture of where your company is headed.
• Identify priorities in both the short term and long term, so everyone understands what needs to be tackled first and what can wait.
• Align your business plan to a realistic IT budget that enables you to implement the right level of innovation to meet your organization's needs.
• Gain executive buy-in across all critical stakeholders, allowing for quicker and more efficient execution of the plan.

• Expertise: In many small and mid-sized companies, in-house IT staff are generalists. With an external IT consultant, however, you can gain specialized skills, in-depth knowledge about current solutions, and the tools and capabilities your organization requires.
• Faster project completion: Many consultants engage quickly and require minimal time to get up to speed. They also work quickly, as they bring the right experience and tools to every project.
• Potential cost savings: An IT specialist often can complete technology projects using fewer resources than your in-house might need. The consultant will give you an accurate upfront estimate regarding the cost of the engagement, and once the project is complete, you won’t need to keep the specialist on the payroll.
• Skills transfer: A consultant can share expertise and provide training throughout the engagement, resulting in a stronger in-house team overall.

• Expertise: In many small and mid-sized companies, in-house IT staff are generalists. With an external IT consultant, however, you can gain specialized skills, in-depth knowledge about current solutions, and the tools and capabilities your organization requires.
• Faster project completion: Many consultants engage quickly and require minimal time to get up to speed. They also work quickly, as they bring the right experience and tools to every project.
• Potential cost savings: An IT specialist often can complete technology projects using fewer resources than your in-house might need. The consultant will give you an accurate upfront estimate regarding the cost of the engagement, and once the project is complete, you won’t need to keep the specialist on the payroll.
• Skills transfer: A consultant can share expertise and provide training throughout the engagement, resulting in a stronger in-house team overall.

Hiring an IT consultant to complete a high-profile project means giving them access to your company’s most sensitive information and resources. Just as you shouldn’t hire a job candidate without conducting multiple interviews and performing reference checks, you also shouldn’t hire an IT consultant without vetting them thoroughly.

Here are some questions to get you started:

20 Questions to Ask Your IT Consultant

• How many technical resources will you assign to my project? Will they be dedicated? Are they local?
• How many relevant industry and vendor certifications does your team have?
• Have you completed similar projects (technology and industry) successfully?
• Who will be my primary point of contact for the project?
• Can I meet with your team members before signing the contract?
• What is your geographic coverage?
• Will you be using subcontractors for my project, and if so, how?
• What is the contingency plan if a technical resource leaves your firm or becomes unavailable?
• How often will my project prime meet with me? Will they meet live, or via conference?
• Will your team provide training and documentation to my team as part of the engagement?
• How long do you see this engagement taking to complete?
• What potential risks do you see in this project?
• Do you carry liability insurance? What are the details?
• How are you paid, and what are your payment terms?
• Do you provide outcome-based consulting?
• Are you or your firm compensated by any vendor that may be involved in the project?
• Can you provide a copy of your standard contract?
• What are the terms if we wish to end the contract early?
• What performance guarantees do you offer?
• Can you provide references in my industry, and for solving technology challenges similar to mine?