- Roughly 50 to 500 people, or $10m to $250m in revenue
- Technology matters to how you make money, but is not the product itself
- There is an MSP or a small internal team executing, and nobody setting direction
- A decision is coming that is too big for the current setup to make well
- Somebody at board level has started asking questions nobody can answer
Fractional CIO services
An experienced technology executive, for a few days a month
A fractional CIO is an experienced technology executive who leads your technology strategy part-time, on a retainer, instead of as a full-time hire. You get somebody who has already run technology at a company larger than yours, for a few days a month, with the accountability of an executive rather than the availability of one.
The work
What a fractional CIO actually does
Six things, and none of them is answering tickets. If a firm's answer to this question is a list of technologies rather than a list of decisions, they are selling something else.
Own the roadmap
A twelve-month plan with owners, dates and a budget that survives contact with the finance team, reviewed on a cadence rather than rewritten annually.
Own the technology budget
What is being spent, on what, against what it delivers. Most companies discover between five and fifteen per cent of their spend is on things nobody uses, and nobody found it because nobody owned the question.
Hold the risk register
Exposures named, ranked, dated and worked down, rather than known to somebody and written nowhere. This is the part that turns up in an insurance claim or a customer audit.
Sit on your side in vendor conversations
Selections, renewals and negotiations run by somebody with no product to sell and no referral fee to earn, which is what makes 'do nothing' an available answer.
Hold your provider accountable
An MSP with clear priorities and real oversight performs better. Most do not have either, because the person who would set them does not exist on the client side.
Translate in both directions
Technology decisions explained to a board in terms of money and risk, and business intent explained to engineers as requirements. The gap between those two languages is where most wasted spend lives.
The comparison
Fractional CIO vs vCIO, IT director and full-time CIO
The same four roles most companies are actually choosing between, on the axes that separate them. Including the row where each one is weakest.
| Fractional CIO | vCIO | IT director | Full-time CIO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who employs them | An independent firm, retained by you | Usually your MSP, included in the managed service | You, as a full-time employee | You, as a full-time executive |
| Whose interests they serve | Yours only. No products, no referral fees | Their employer's, which sells you services | Yours, within their own remit | Yours |
| What they are accountable for | The roadmap, the budget and the risk register | The service relationship, and the next upsell | Delivery and operations | Strategy, delivery, team and budget |
| Typical seniority | Has run technology at a larger company | Account-manager to senior-engineer level | Strong operator, less often a board-level voice | Executive |
| Time you get | A defined cadence, days a month | A quarterly review, often shorter in practice | Full time | Full time |
| Where they are weakest | Not there daily. Wrong choice if the need is hands-on | Cannot objectively review the firm that employs them | Rarely has done it at your next size | Costly, and hard to hire before you know what you need |
| Annual cost, roughly | Tens of thousands | Bundled into the managed service fee | A senior salary plus employment costs | $250,000 and up, plus equity and benefits |
The fit
Who this is for, and who it is not
- You need more hands, not more direction. Hire engineers or a managed service
- You are a software company where technology is the product. You need a CTO
- There is already a capable technology executive. A second opinion is a project, not a retainer
- Nobody internally can make decisions. Fractional leadership advises; it cannot supply the authority to act
- You want somebody to hold a pager. That is an operational role, and a different purchase
The engagement
What the first ninety days look like
Evidence first, then the register, then the plan. In that order, because a roadmap built before anybody established what is actually true is a document rather than a plan.
- Weeks 1–3
Find out what is actually true
Evidence rather than interviews: the exports your own systems already produce, read against each other. What the directory says against the licence bill, what the RMM sees against what the asset register lists, what the backup console reports against what was last restored. This is where the disagreements surface, and the disagreements are the work.
- Weeks 3–6
Name and rank the exposures
Everything found gets an owner, a date and a severity. Nothing stays as a note. This becomes the risk register the business keeps using long after the first engagement.
- Weeks 6–9
Build the roadmap against the business plan
Not a technology wish list. What the next twelve months of the business actually require, sequenced, costed, and expressed in the language the board already uses.
- Weeks 9–12
Start executing, and set the cadence
The first items get done, the review rhythm starts, and the standing work begins: renewals tracked, risks reviewed, decisions carried to done or dropped on purpose.
The trigger
When to hire a fractional CIO
Almost never on a plan. It is an event that starts the conversation, and each of these has a window that closes.
You just announced an acquisition90 daysYou've had a security incident30 daysYour MSP contract is up for renewal120 daysYour IT lead just resigned2–4 weeksA major system decision is looming7+ yearsCyber insurance renewal is due60 daysYou've outgrown your IT provider90 daysNew compliance requirements landed60 daysInvestors are asking hard questions6 weeks
The questions
What buyers ask before they commit
What does a fractional CIO cost?
Most of this work is sold as a monthly retainer priced to the mandate, with the cadence as the single largest factor. Our own Technology Leadership Assessment is a fixed $12,500 and retainers are scoped after an intro call. The models, what actually drives the number, and what a quoted fee usually leaves out are set out in full on the cost page.
How is this different from what our MSP already does?
Your MSP executes: tickets, monitoring, infrastructure. A fractional CIO leads: strategy, budgets, vendor oversight and the roadmap, including holding the MSP accountable. The two are complements rather than competitors. The distinction that matters is that a fractional CIO sells you no services, so they can evaluate your provider objectively, which the provider cannot do for itself.
Do we have to replace our IT provider?
No, and most companies do not. Providers frequently get better when somebody on the client side sets clear priorities and reviews the work. If a relationship genuinely is not serving you, a proper selection process is the answer, but 'fire your MSP' should be a finding rather than an opening position.
When should we hire one?
When a decision is coming that the current setup cannot make well, or when somebody has started asking questions nobody can answer. In practice it is almost always triggered by an event rather than a plan: an acquisition, a security incident, a departing IT lead, a contract renewal, an insurance application, or a board that has begun to look closely.
How do we choose between firms?
Three questions separate them quickly. Do you sell or resell anything, or take referral fees from vendors? What exactly do we own at the end, and can we use it if we never work with you again? And who specifically will do the work, as opposed to who is in the pitch? Answers that are vague on any of the three are answers.
How long does an engagement last?
The assessment is a defined piece of work with a start and a finish. Retainers run month to month after the first ninety days, because a retainer that needs a lock-in to survive is not delivering enough to be worth renewing on its merits.