No one owns the technology decisions
Vendor decisions, renewals, and the AI question all fall to you. That is what vCIO Solutions is for.
Services
Technology management: advisory first, delivery when you want it.
Start with a part-time CIO for the plan, the vendors, and the spend. Specialties: AI management and AI development, technology spend reporting, and Microsoft 365 tenant work. If you have no help desk or no MSP, we find that firm. Delivery is scoped from the review. Board seats stay a separate personal appointment.
Where clients start · sample path
Advisory first
vCIO Solutions · part-time CIOMonthly
AI Use Policy + AI security assessmentReview
Microsoft 365 · licensing and account reviewReview
Applications assessmentScoped
Base dashboard · your own accountScoped
Spend dashboard · AI development · watchMonthly
Help desk / IT provider if you have noneDirected
The order below is the method. Where you start is a decision, and the first meeting is where it gets made.
16 listings, one engagement
One engagement, with the services that support it.
Most listings are parts of the same engagement: advisory first, build second, watch third, with Microsoft 365 as a peer practice. Help desk and onsite IT sit beside that method: partners we appoint, billed by them, directed by us. Start at whichever chapter answers the question you actually have.
Chapter one · start here
Find out what is going on
Before anything gets built: the rules that decide what AI may do, and an honest count of what is already running.
This stage ends in a written policy and a ranked list of gaps. Both are yours, whether or not you ask us to do the rest.
A part-time CIO who decides what technology you buy, what to stop paying for, and where AI fits next.
A one-page rule that says who can use AI, on what work, and who decides.
We find every AI tool already in use, including the ones staff signed up for, and rank what to fix first.
Chapter two · when you want us to build it
Build it in your own account
We list your systems, decide what connects, then set the dashboard up inside a Microsoft cloud account you own, with your technology costs shown on it.
You own the dashboard, the data, and the reporting. There is no custom build to fund before you see a number.
We list every system you run and decide which ones feed the dashboard, and how.
One report on your business and your systems, running in your own Microsoft cloud account, which you own.
Chapter three · ongoing, monthly
Someone watching every month
The dashboard stays honest, the AI rules stay enforced, and manual work gets removed one step at a time.
One monthly read: what changed, what it costs, and what to decide next.
A monthly check that the dashboard is still pulling the right numbers and still telling the truth.
We make the AI rules real: approved tools allowed, sensitive data blocked, new AI sign-ups flagged.
We build automation and AI into the platform you already own, one feature at a time.
The ground the AI sits on
The Microsoft 365 practice
Most of your AI already lives inside Microsoft 365, so we read the licenses and the account setup first.
A written assessment of what you own and what it exposes, then the fixes in an order your IT firm can carry out.
A written assessment on every Microsoft license you pay for: what you use, what to drop, what you pay.
A ranked read on how your Microsoft account is set up, and the gaps that matter.
Tidy up who can see which files before Copilot starts reading them.
Move mail, files, and Teams to Microsoft 365 without stopping work.
A monthly report on your Microsoft account: what you pay for, what is used, what is due.
Coverage through partners
Help desk and onsite, through partners
Tickets and on-site technicians still have to sit with someone. We select the firm that does that work, manage the relationship, and leave the queue with them. They bill you.
Coverage without a Third Shift help desk. The partner provides daily support, and we manage the relationship.
We find the help desk. They take the tickets. We stay on the relationship. They bill you.
We find the onsite IT firm. Their technicians walk the floor. We stay on the relationship. They bill you.
A separate relationship
Independent appointment
One listing sits outside the engagement: a board seat held personally by our principal.
A company has our services or our principal on its board, never both.
A seat on your board for someone who understands technology, held by one person, never sold with our work.
What it costs
One engagement, one monthly bill.
You buy your Azure and security subscriptions from Third Shift, so you get one monthly bill from us instead of several from the vendors. Pax8, a wholesaler, supplies them behind us. Our own work is billed one of two ways: a set monthly fee for ongoing services, or by the hour for project work.
Work is priced after we have reviewed your environment, never from a standard rate card. The vCIO fee is quoted in three tiers once we know the size of the decisions in front of you. There is no charge for the first conversation.
Each listing page says how that piece is billed. Nothing in the catalog obliges you to buy the next one.
Where to start
Find the situation that matches your company.
Staff use AI and no one has written the rules
Start with the AI Use Policy, and the AI security assessment that goes with it.
You pay Microsoft and cannot say what for
Start with the licensing review, or the review of how your Microsoft account is set up.
No one is taking tickets, or no one comes on site
We select a partner for the help desk or onsite IT. They provide daily support and bill you directly, and we manage the relationship.
Questions
Questions about the services
What does Third Shift actually do?
Third Shift is a technology management firm. We serve as the part-time CIO for a small number of companies, owning the plan, the vendors, the spend, and the recommendations. We specialize in AI (the rules, the tools already running, and automation built into what you own), technology spend you can see monthly, and Microsoft 365 tenant work. If you have no help desk or no MSP, we find that firm and stay on the process. We do not run tickets, devices, or day-to-day administration. People still search for “AI management company”; that is a specialty, not the name of the firm.
Can we hire you for advice only?
Yes, you can hire Third Shift for advice only. vCIO Solutions is a set monthly fee for a part-time CIO who owns the plan, the vendors, the budget, and the AI work. It carries no obligation to buy the dashboard, the automation, or anything else. Many companies start there and decide later whether they want us to build anything.
Do we have to do this in your order?
No, you do not have to follow our order. The review comes first because connecting systems before the rules exist creates the very problem we are usually hired to fix. From there, the order follows your plan and your priorities, not ours. Some clients stop after the review, and that is a fine outcome.
What if we already have an AI policy?
If you already have an AI policy, the review starts from your environment rather than from a blank document. We measure what is actually running against the policy you have, fix the gaps that matter, and leave the rest alone. A good existing policy shortens the work rather than restarting it.
Start here
Start with the review.
The first conversation covers what you run today and what AI is already doing inside it. You receive a written assessment and a recommendation, whether or not you continue with us.