IT Consulting

When you need to make an IT decision that will affect your business for years, you want more than generic advice. You want a clear recommendation, backed by real-world experience, that balances reliability, security, performance, and cost.

Silver Networks provides senior-level IT consulting for small (1-100 users) and mid-sized (up to 500 users) organizations. Whether you are planning a redesign, evaluating a technology change, recovering from a painful IT situation, or simply need an experienced second opinion, we help you choose a path that makes good business sense.

Our consulting style is straightforward:

  • We ask the right questions early.

  • We focus on what actually matters to operations.

  • We avoid unnecessary complexity and vendor lock-in.

  • We build plans that are practical to implement and support long-term.

When IT consulting makes sense

IT consulting is a good fit when you need clarity, direction, or a plan, such as:

  • Your environment has grown organically and needs standardization

  • You are planning a major upgrade or redesign

  • You want to reduce recurring issues and stabilize operations

  • You need a clear IT roadmap and budget plan

  • You want to improve security without breaking workflows

  • You are moving systems between on-prem and hosted environments

  • You are dealing with recurring outages, slow performance, or unreliable backups

  • You want an experienced infrastructure engineer to validate or challenge a proposed solution

We can provide consulting as a standalone service, or as the first step before implementation via Technical Support or Hosting Solutions.

Consulting

Consulting services we commonly provide

Systems and network design

  • New office or multi-site network design

  • Secure remote access design (VPN-first where appropriate)

  • Segmentation and access control planning (users, servers, guest networks, IoT)

  • Infrastructure designs that are easier to support and less failure-prone

IT budget optimization and planning

  • Identify where spend is not producing value

  • Reduce tool sprawl and unnecessary recurring costs

  • Build short-term and long-term budget plans

  • Create upgrade schedules based on real needs (reliability, performance, security)

Performance and reliability assessments

  • Identify root causes of recurring issues

  • Review storage, virtualization, backups, and network performance

  • Recommend improvements that reduce incidents and support time

Data protection and disaster recovery readiness

  • Assess backup coverage and restore confidence

  • Review retention, recovery time goals, and operational reality

  • Recommend backup targets, off-site strategy, and recovery testing

Security analysis and risk reduction

  • Review identity and access (least privilege, MFA, credential hygiene)

  • Reduce attack surface by keeping systems private where possible

  • Improve segmentation and secure remote access patterns

  • Make security "painless" for staff through sensible design

Upgrade path planning

  • Server, workstation, and network upgrade planning

  • Virtualization and storage planning

  • Lifecycle strategy that avoids unnecessary replacements

  • Practical guidance for when replacement is justified vs when maintenance is enough

Migration planning

  • On-prem to hosted (or hosted back to on-prem) planning

  • Cloud-to-cloud migration planning

  • Hybrid designs that keep critical systems fast and controlled

  • Cutover plans that minimize downtime and disruption

What you get from a consulting engagement

Deliverables can vary by project, but typically include some combination of:

  • A clear summary of the current state (what is working, what is not)

  • A prioritized list of risks and recommendations

  • 1 to 3 viable solution paths (with pros, cons, and cost drivers)

  • A phased implementation plan that avoids unnecessary downtime

  • Documentation such as network diagrams, architecture notes, and operational standards

  • Budget forecasting ranges and lifecycle planning guidance

If your business has non-technical stakeholders, we can provide an executive-friendly summary that explains the "why" without dumping technical detail.

How the consulting process works

  1. Initial discussion
    We learn what you are trying to accomplish, what is not working today, and what constraints matter (budget, timeline, compliance, privacy, staffing).

  2. Discovery and assessment
    We review the environment in the level of detail needed to make good recommendations. This may include access reviews, configuration analysis, performance checks, and backup verification.

  3. Recommendations and options
    We present findings, explain tradeoffs, and recommend a practical path forward.

  4. Implementation support (optional)
    We can support your internal team, your existing provider, or implement directly through Silver Networks.

For IT providers and partners

We also provide consulting to other IT companies as a white-label friendly escalation resource, especially for server-level and infrastructure design work. If you need a senior engineer to help you scope, validate, or plan an implementation for your client, we can support you behind the scenes and keep communication clean and professional.

Consulting rates

Consulting services are billed at CAD $500.00 per hour, in 1/4 hour increments. A minimum CAD $1,000.00 retainer is required to begin consulting work.

If you are not sure whether consulting is the right starting point, contact us and we will recommend the best way to proceed.