Consulting | Fractional CIO Services
Make your biggest technology decisions with a CIO in the room.
Fractional CIO Services give your firm board-level technology leadership as a separate, additional engagement, not a free add-on to support. An executive who owns your roadmap, knows how you make money, and is measured on outcomes.
Managed IT sets the plan each quarter. A Fractional CIO owns it in between.
Every managed IT client already gets a technology roadmap and a budget, reviewed each quarter in your Quarterly IT Strategy Review. Fractional CIO Services are a separate, additional engagement that takes both much deeper: a granular plan the CIO actively owns, with change management, regular stakeholder engagement, and the bigger bets and boardroom conversations that sit above day-to-day IT.
Strategy as its own seat
For most firms, strategy arrives bundled into a support plan as a free add-on, and it rarely shows up as actual strategy. We make it its own service, with its own seat.
The seat is empty today
Ask a firm under fifty people who owns technology as a business decision, and the honest answer is usually no one: the owner in the gaps between projects, or a capable technician who keeps the lights on but was never there to tie technology to how the firm makes money. A Fractional CIO fills a seat that sits empty today.
Firm after firm, the same vacancy: no one owns the roadmap, the vendor decisions, or the budget, so those decisions get made one renewal at a time.
Practice consultants
What It Produces
Goals first, then a roadmap and a budget built around them
Every managed IT client already has a technology roadmap and an IT budget, reviewed each quarter. A Fractional CIO takes both further: a deeper, more granular plan, built from your goals outward and actively driven between reviews, so every initiative and every dollar traces back to a business outcome and actually gets executed.
The Strategic Technology Roadmap
Your goals, the initiatives chosen to serve each one, sequenced across the year by priority and dependency. Every initiative tagged with the goal it advances.
See a sample roadmapThe Technology Budget
The roadmap with dollars attached: one-time spend separated from run-rate, grouped by quarter, every line traceable to a goal and defensible to the partners.
See a sample budgetThe Engagement
Three levels of Fractional CIO, sized to your firm
Every managed IT client already gets a roadmap and budget reviewed quarterly. Fractional CIO is where that work goes deeper and more granular, actively owned between reviews. Every engagement is scoped on a discovery call; the difference between levels is how often we are at the table and how much we own.
Quarterly + on-call
Strategic Advisor
For firms that need executive direction without a full-time hire.
- A living technology roadmap tied to your business goals
- An annual technology budget, reviewed every quarter
- Vendor and licensing strategy
- Technology, vendor, and concentration-risk oversight
- A leadership sounding board for the decisions that matter
Monthly + active involvement
Strategic Partner
For firms in growth or change, where technology decisions are frequent and consequential.
Everything in Strategic Advisor, plus
- A standing seat in your leadership or board meetings
- Governance of major projects and migrations
- Deeper ownership of the technology budget
- Vendor selection and contract negotiation
- Security and compliance posture leadership
Weekly, embedded in leadership
Embedded CIO
For firms that want a CIO's capability without a full-time executive's cost.
Everything in Strategic Partner, plus
- Acts as your CIO, accountable for technology firm-wide
- Owns the full technology strategy and its execution
- Technology diligence for acquisitions and major moves
- AI adoption leadership, with your Fractional CAIO
- On-call access for the leadership team
PricingFractional CIO engagements are from $4,000 per month, a fraction of the roughly $200,000 a full-time CIO would cost. Not sure which level fits? That is what the discovery call is for.
The Growth Path
When you are ready, add AI leadership
Fractional CIO Services start with your technology strategy. As AI becomes central to how your firm competes, clients move from a pure Fractional CIO to one that includes AI consulting.
Your Fractional Chief AI Officer joins the engagement to set AI direction, governance, and adoption. The move is simple, because the strategy seat is already yours.
Explore Managed AITransactions
Buying, selling, or handing over a firm?
Some of the most consequential technology decisions in a firm's life arrive with a transaction. Inside the Embedded CIO relationship, that work is event-driven and senior-led: the same person who owns your roadmap leads the deal work, because they already know how your firm runs.
Before You Buy
Technology diligence, pre-close
Systems, data, licensing, and the one irreplaceable software person belong on the diligence checklist next to the financials. We tell you what you are actually buying, what it will take to run, and where the surprises are, before you close.
After You Close
Two firms' systems become one
Post-close, two firms' email, files, project data, and licensing have to become one, without losing a project day. We plan the consolidation, sequence it around live projects, and govern it through to done.
Before You Sell
Readiness for a retiring owner
Documented systems, clean data, and technology that does not depend on any one person change what a buyer is willing to pay. We get the technology side of the firm ready before it goes to market.
What Makes This Different
A strategy seat, done the way it should be
Strategy, separated from support
This is executive direction, not the person who also resets passwords. The two roles pull in different directions, so we give strategy its own seat.
Aligned to your outcomes, not product sales
Your Fractional CIO is never compensated on what they sell you. The advice you get is the advice you need, with no quota behind it.
Built around your business
We start with how your firm makes money and where it is going. Strategy that ignores the business is just a shopping list of technology.
Additional to your managed IT
Fractional CIO works alongside your managed IT, whether that is ours, another provider's, or your own internal team. The strategy seat does not require switching anything.
In Their Words
What clients say
Reid and his team have been a fantastic and trustworthy partner for years now. The support team's attention to detail has been top-notch, and Reid's ability to help us overcome unique challenges with ease is impressive. In my experience, most IT firms are nothing more than tech support. Reid has proven to be so much more than that.
James | CEO
Resolved has been an outstanding partner. What truly sets them apart is their commitment to going above and beyond to make sure our needs are met and issues are resolved efficiently. Reid's leadership and expertise have made a meaningful impact on our firm.
Shezmin Jiwa | Principal
Kirsten Reite Architecture
When we joined Reid and his team, we thought we were getting typical IT support. They quickly proved to be so much more. Their commitment to response times is unheard of in the industry, and they are a true partner invested in our overall success.
Eric | Chief Operating Officer
FAQ
Fractional CIO questions
What is a Fractional CIO, and how is it different from IT support or a bundled vCIO? +
It is board-level technology leadership as its own seat: an executive who owns your roadmap, knows how your firm makes money, and is measured on outcomes. It is deliberately separated from support (not the person who also resets passwords) and is a standalone engagement rather than a free add-on bundled into a support plan.
What does a Fractional CIO cost versus a full-time hire? +
Engagements are from $4,000 per month, a fraction of the roughly $200,000 a full-time CIO would cost. The right level is scoped on a discovery call.
Do we have to switch our IT provider to add a Fractional CIO? +
No. It works alongside your managed IT, whether that is ours, another provider's, or your own internal team. The strategy seat does not require switching anything.
How is this different from the roadmap and budget every managed IT client already gets? +
Every managed IT client already gets a roadmap and budget reviewed each quarter. A Fractional CIO takes both deeper: a more granular plan the CIO actively owns between reviews, with change management, stakeholder engagement, and the bigger boardroom bets above day-to-day IT.
Will the CIO's advice be biased toward selling us products? +
No. Your Fractional CIO is never compensated on what they sell you, so the advice you get is the advice you need, with no quota behind it.
Trusted by firms like yours
Next Step
Put a two-year plan behind your IT spend
Most firms buy technology one urgent decision at a time, with no plan behind the spend. A Strategic Technology Assessment fixes that: where your firm is today, where you want to go, and a two-year roadmap and IT budget to get there, quarter by quarter.
No obligation, and you do not have to switch providers to get the assessment. Deliverables yours to keep.
Want to see the deliverables first? See a sample assessment
- Engagement
- 5-6 weeks
- Starts with
- A free 30-minute call
- You keep
- All four deliverables
- If you proceed
- Credited toward onboarding