An IT strategy your CFO can actually read.
Most firms don't need a full-time CIO — but they do need someone who can sit with leadership four times a year, look at where the business is going, and translate it into an IT plan that doesn't read like a vendor pitch. That's the role we play.
Why most IT planning is broken.
The plan is just 'whatever's on fire.'
Every quarter starts with last quarter's crisis, never with a strategy.
The CFO doesn't trust the IT budget.
Numbers feel arbitrary, projects feel optional, ROI is fuzzy.
M&A on the horizon, no plan to integrate.
Each acquisition adds tools, vendors, and security debt. Nobody's mapping it.
Big software contracts renew quietly.
Microsoft, Adobe, the ERP — they're 6-figure decisions made by whoever happened to be in the room.
The vCIO engagement.
- 01
Named senior advisor
One person — typically a senior engineer or partner — assigned to your account. Same person every quarter.
- 02
Quarterly strategy session
Half-day on-site or remote with leadership. Review the prior quarter, plan the next, surface risk and opportunity.
- 03
Annual technology roadmap
12-month plan with named initiatives, dependencies, costs, and ownership. Updated quarterly.
- 04
Budget modeling
Three-year IT spend model. Capital, operational, headcount equivalent. Tied to business growth scenarios.
- 05
Vendor + tooling review
Annual cleanup. What's redundant, what's underused, what's worth replacing.
- 06
Board-ready reports
Executive summary in plain English. We do the math; you get the narrative.
The first 90 days.
- Days 1–14
Discovery sweep
Interviews with leadership, current state assessment, inventory of every tool, every contract, every cost.
- Days 15–30
Baseline report
Where you are today vs. industry benchmarks. Cost per user, risk concentration, vendor sprawl.
- Days 31–60
Strategic alignment session
Two-hour session with leadership. Where's the business going? What does IT need to do to enable that?
- Days 61–90
First roadmap
12-month plan with quarterly milestones. Costed. Resourced. Approved by leadership.
- Then onward
Quarterly cadence
Same advisor, same rhythm. Review, adjust, plan.
What we bring to the table.
What clients typically see.
Average savings in year 1 from vendor consolidation and license optimization.
Named advisor in your office. Or via Teams if you prefer.
Refreshed every quarter so the plan is always current, never stale.
Same senior advisor every quarter. They learn your business.
“Our vCIO sat through three of our quarterly board meetings before he proposed anything. By the time he did, the board already trusted him because he understood the business — not just the tech.”
Who needs this.
- Firms growing fast enough that ad-hoc IT decisions are creating debt.
- M&A acquirers and targets who need a structured integration plan.
- Firms whose CFO is uncomfortable with the IT budget conversation.
- Businesses preparing for an audit, certification, or insurance renewal that requires IT governance.
Q01Is this the same as a CIO?
Is this the same as a CIO?
Similar function, fractional scope. You get a senior advisor 4–8 days a quarter instead of a $250k full-time hire. Right size for most 25–150 person firms.
Q02Do you handle the IT operations too, or only strategy?
Do you handle the IT operations too, or only strategy?
Both, as a bundle, is most common. Some clients only want strategy and run their own ops. Either works.
Q03What's the time commitment from our leadership?
What's the time commitment from our leadership?
About 4 hours per quarter — one strategy session. Plus the named advisor is reachable between sessions for major decisions.
Q04Can you work with our existing IT team?
Can you work with our existing IT team?
Yes — this is co-managed. We become an extension of the team, not a replacement. Many of our vCIO clients have internal IT staff.
Free 90-minute strategy session.
We come to you, walk through your current state, and give you a written one-page assessment of where IT is helping and where it's holding the business back. No commitment.