What Next Phase Consulting does

Next Phase Consulting is a privately held, founder-owned boutique IT advisory firm headquartered at 68 Campbell Avenue, Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, operating under the trade name "Go To Next Phase" (gotonextphase.com). The firm delivers three practice areas — Consulting, Security, and Cloud — focused on fractional executive IT leadership (Virtual CIO and Virtual CISO), business and IT strategy, project oversight, risk management, technology assessments, security planning and assessments, CMMC/DFARS public sector compliance, and cloud roadmap/migration/optimization services. The offering is exclusively human-delivered professional services; no proprietary software platform, API, SDK, or product integration is disclosed, and there is no evidence of any AI/ML, machine learning, or automation layer in the service delivery stack. The firm is built around a single named executive, Managing Partner Phil Alberta, whose CISSP and CMMC-AB credentials anchor the security and defense compliance practice.

The business model is professional services revenue through project-based and likely retainer engagements, with pricing quote-based and not publicly disclosed. Go-to-market combines direct enterprise field sales (scheduled consultations) and inside sales (phone at 201.822.5453 and email at [email protected]), supported by content marketing via blog and newsletter and an Office 365 calendar booking integration for consultation scheduling. The firm targets a deliberately diversified vertical mix — law firms, non-profits, retailers, defense contractors, and professional services firms — with named case studies including an 80-person law firm (15% IT cost reduction), a 450-person non-profit, a 100-person retailer, and an 800-person defense contractor (ITAR/DFAR-compliant cloud architecture delivered in under four months).

The firm operates regionally within the Northeast USA, has no disclosed institutional investors or parent company, and reports 1-10 employees. Strategic positioning emphasizes the founder's prior C-suite experience at Tiffany & Co. (1993 onwards) and concurrent executive roles at IPM and Newtek (where IPM was acquired in 2017), along with recognition including CIO Magazine's 2009 "Ones to Watch" Award and Forbes Technology Council membership. The firm holds no patents, has no funded rounds, conducts no M&A activity, and operates with a single minor mutual referral partnership with A.J. O'Connor.

Name

Next Phase Consulting

Legal name

Next Phase Consulting

Website

https://gotonextphase.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Next Phase Consulting is a privately held boutique IT advisory firm in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, offering fractional Virtual CIO/CISO, security, and cloud consulting services to mid-market and SMB clients across legal, non-profit, retail, defense, and professional services verticals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

IT Consulting Services

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Other Management Consulting Services (541618), Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services (541611)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Strategy & Corporate Development Consulting (BPAHACAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Operations & Process Improvement Consulting (BPAHACAB), Risk Management Consulting (Enterprise & Operational Risk) (FSAEADAG)

Keywords

• IT consulting services
• Virtual CIO advisory
• Cybersecurity consulting
• Cloud migration services
• Strategic IT advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

Woodcliff Lake

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Consulting Services: Advisory services including Virtual CIO, Virtual CISO, Business & IT Strategy, Project Oversight, Risk Management, and Technology Assessments. Revenue generated through consulting engagements, likely project-based or retainer arrangements.
2. Security Services: Security Planning, Security Assessments, and Public Sector Compliance services (CMMC-focused). Delivered as consulting engagements to help organizations meet compliance requirements and improve security posture.
3. Cloud Services: Cloud Roadmap, Migration, and Optimization services. Professional services for cloud strategy and implementation.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Next Phase Consulting is a business-first IT advisory firm providing fractional executive technology leadership and operational consulting to organizations. Core offerings include Virtual CIO and Virtual CISO engagements, business and IT strategy alignment, project oversight, risk management, and technology assessments, complemented by dedicated security (planning, assessments, CMMC/ITAR/DFAR public sector compliance) and cloud (roadmap, migration, optimization) practices. All services are expert-delivered advisory and implementation work rather than packaged software.

Product overview

Next Phase Consulting is a business-first IT consulting firm that offers a unified portfolio of advisory and managed services organized across three practice areas: Consulting (Virtual CIO, Virtual CISO, Business & IT Strategy, Project Oversight, Risk Management, Technology Assessments), Security (Security Planning, Security Assessments, Public Sector Compliance), and Cloud (Cloud Roadmap, Cloud Migration, Cloud Optimization). The consulting services are the primary driver of value, with virtual executive roles (vCIO/vCISO) providing strategic leadership while dedicated cloud and security services address operational execution. All services are delivered by human experts rather than a software platform, with no product integrations or APIs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Virtual CIO Executive-level technology advisory delivering C-suite CIO strategic guidance on demand, including investment optimization, solution alignment, resource maximization, and business-centric transformation leadership. Targeted at organizations needing CIO-level expertise without a full-time executive hire.
• Virtual CISO Credentialed cybersecurity counsel providing security framework alignment, risk gap assessments, compliance strategy, and security solution and policy evaluation on a fractional basis. Targeted at organizations that need CISO-level security leadership without a full-time executive hire.
• Business & IT Strategy Strategic consulting that maps business priorities with IT strategies, including IT project planning aligned to business milestones, risk and cost reduction, and vendor selection and negotiation support. Targeted at organizations seeking to align their IT roadmap with business objectives.
• Project Oversight Expert project and program management ensuring rapid time-to-value, covering plan definition, execution oversight, resource direction, and progress reporting and metrics. Targeted at organizations running IT initiatives that need experienced program leadership.
• Risk Management Risk mitigation advisory that identifies security and compliance gaps, develops comprehensive risk profiles, outlines loss exposures, and implements risk avoidance techniques. Targeted at organizations needing formalized IT and security risk management.
• Technology Assessments Field-proven assessment processes delivering health checks and product selection for technology performance evaluation, identifying performance roadblocks, ROI barriers, and architectural issues. Targeted at organizations evaluating or rationalizing their technology stack.
• Security Planning Cybersecurity planning services to prevent loss of availability, integrity, and confidentiality, including ransomware prevention, attack surface gap identification, security plan mapping, and remediation assessment. Targeted at organizations looking to formalize or upgrade their security posture.
• Security Assessments Systematic security posture review that identifies weaknesses, assigns vulnerability severity levels, recommends remediation solutions, and outlines steps for improved security posture. Targeted at organizations needing a third-party view of their cybersecurity risk exposure.
• Public Sector Compliance CMMC-focused services for DFARS compliance, including security plan development, technology solution and control architecture, and compliance best practices for defense contractors. Targeted at public sector organizations and defense contractors subject to CMMC, ITAR, and DFAR requirements.
• Cloud Roadmap Cloud strategy planning services that define cloud strategy, milestones, and goals, including identification of optimal cloud resources, application and data migration planning, and public, private, or hybrid cloud model selection. Targeted at organizations starting or refreshing their cloud journey.
• Cloud Migration Data and application migration to cloud environments, including data and application evaluation, cloud provider and security requirements definition, migration prioritization, and post-migration performance measurement. Targeted at organizations executing workload moves to the cloud.
• Cloud Optimization Cloud resource efficiency and cost management services including idle and unused resource consolidation, rightsizing, security and compliance strategy, and performance bottleneck elimination. Targeted at organizations already in the cloud that need to improve economics and performance.

Quantifiable outcome

• 15% decrease in annual IT costs while improving security, updating infrastructure, and improving disaster recovery
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• A.J. O'ConnorminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerA.J. O'Connor is described as a 'Next Phase Consulting business partner and vCIO customer.' They provide leadership coaching services and transformation consulting, operating in a mutual referral and collaboration relationship. A.J. O'Connor guides organizations to develop high-performing teams and global leaders.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Armanino LLP: Top-25 U.S. advisory firm offering technology consulting, cybersecurity, and cloud advisory services to mid-market clients. Competes with Next Phase on IT strategy, cloud migration, and security/compliance work for similar-sized organizations.
• BDO USA: Global advisory network with a substantial technology and cybersecurity consulting practice serving mid-market clients, including CMMC advisory for defense contractors. A scaled incumbent competing for many of the same compliance and IT strategy engagements.
• Plante Moran: Large U.S. advisory firm with a technology consulting practice covering IT strategy, cybersecurity, and cloud transformation for mid-market and growth-stage clients. Comparable to Next Phase in serving the upper mid-market with multi-vertical advisory work.
• Wipfli LLP: Top-20 U.S. accounting and advisory firm with a substantial technology consulting practice covering IT strategy, cybersecurity, and cloud transformation for mid-market clients. Competes with Next Phase on larger mid-market engagements, particularly for law firm and non-profit clients.
• Baker Tilly US: Major advisory firm with a technology consulting practice covering cybersecurity, CMMC, IT strategy, and cloud services. Competes with Next Phase in the defense contractor compliance space and broader mid-market IT advisory.

Emerging players

• Coretelligent: Managed IT, cloud, and cybersecurity services provider with vCIO offerings for SMB and mid-market clients in the Northeast. A regionally comparable emerging player with overlapping service lines but a stronger managed services orientation than Next Phase's pure advisory model.

Direct peers

• CyberSheath: CMMC-focused managed cybersecurity and compliance provider serving defense contractors and federal supply chain. Directly comparable to Next Phase's Public Sector Compliance and CMMC Level 2 practice, and a more CMMC-specialized competitor.
• Pivot Point Consulting: Healthcare-focused IT consulting firm that provides fractional executive IT advisory, EHR implementations, and managed services to mid-market organizations. Comparable to Next Phase in offering executive-level IT leadership on a fractional/consulting basis, though concentrated in healthcare rather than legal/defense verticals.
• Ntiva: Managed IT services and vCIO provider serving SMB and mid-market organizations across multiple U.S. regions. Overlaps with Next Phase across managed IT, cloud, and vCIO services, though at materially larger scale and broader geographic reach.
• CIO Partners: Specialist fractional CIO advisory firm providing part-time/interim CIO services to mid-market and emerging-growth companies. A direct competitor to Next Phase's Virtual CIO offering, with a comparable model of placing experienced CIOs into SMB/mid-market engagements.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Next Phase Consulting