Fractional CIO
Someone should own technology. Right now it's probably your CFO.
Technology decisions are already being made in your company, by finance, by your MSP, by whichever vendor calls most. Nobody is accountable for whether they add up. A fractional CIO takes that job: one senior owner for the roadmap, the spend, the vendors and the risk story you tell your board.
When this fits
When strategy has no owner.
The CEO or CFO is acting as the default technology executive.
An MSP runs your systems, but no one owns the business technology strategy.
A board member asked about cyber insurance, AI or a breach, and the answer took a week.
You're debating a full-time CIO hire and aren't sure the role is big enough yet.
The engagement path
Set the agenda, then keep it moving.
Get the facts
Find out what you spend, with whom, on what contract terms, and where the real risks and renewal dates sit.
Set the agenda
Turn your business priorities into a short, sequenced roadmap with costs, owners and the decisions you need to make first.
Own it from here
Chair the vendor reviews, bring budget requests to you and your CFO with a recommendation, and write the technology section of the board pack.
Concrete outputs
What you’ll have in hand.
Clear decision rights
What Nova Group owns, and what stays with you.
Nova Group owns
- Technology strategy and a rolling roadmap
- The budget and the case for each investment
- Vendor performance, renewals and sourcing
- Risk and resilience reporting to your board
The client owns
- Business priorities and growth targets
- Day-to-day operations, with your IT staff or MSP
- Executive sponsorship
- Approval of major spend
Practical questions
Questions CEOs ask first.
What does this cost compared with a full-time CIO?
It depends on scope. You pay for the scope you need rather than a full executive package, a recruiting fee and severance risk. The fee is stated in writing before work starts, and if a full-time hire would make more sense, we'll tell you, and help you hire.
How much time does a fractional CIO spend with us?
It depends on how many decisions are in flight. The time is scoped to your situation at the start and can change as priorities do, without defaulting to full-time overhead.
Does this replace our IT manager or MSP?
No. Your IT manager and MSP keep running the systems. The fractional CIO decides what they should be working on, holds them to it, and handles the executive and board conversations they aren't set up for.
Do you also serve as a CTO?
Often, yes. In many mid-market and PE-backed companies, the CTO is the senior executive who owns technology strategy, spend, vendors, security and integration. That is the role we fill, whatever it is called. If you need someone to lead a product engineering team building your software platform, that is a different job, and we will say so on the first call.
Can the role support the board?
Yes, and that's often where it starts. Board reporting on technology spend, cyber risk, resilience and progress can be part of the mandate, in language directors can act on.
Start with the situation
Is Fractional CIO the right fit?
Start with a short call about what’s in front of you. You’ll leave knowing whether it calls for interim, fractional or one-off help, and what we would do first.
Start a conversation