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Fractional CIO
Fractional CIO.
Senior technology leadership, available without the full-time commitment. For growing businesses that have outgrown informal IT support but are not ready for a full-time chief information officer (CIO), the executive accountable for how a business uses technology.
The challenge
Growing businesses often spend heavily on technology with no one accountable for it.
Most growing businesses reach a point where technology touches every part of the plan: customers, margins, reporting, security and now AI. Yet the person looking after it is often an IT manager focused on keeping things running, or a supplier whose job is to deliver what its contract says. Nobody is asking whether the spend is right, whether the supplier is performing or whether the next system fits where the business is heading.
A full-time CIO is the usual answer, and for a business of your size it is a sizeable commitment. Many founders reasonably hold off. The cost of waiting arrives later: contracts renew unchallenged, projects overrun and investors or lenders ask about technology and AI without getting a straight answer. By the time the gap is obvious, closing it takes time and money.
Medasi's fractional CIO service gives you that senior leadership for part of the week. It starts with a fixed-fee technology plan and, if you choose to continue, moves to a monthly retainer. You get an experienced technology leader who works as part of your leadership team, without the cost and lead time of a permanent appointment.
Spend without an owner
Technology costs keep rising and nobody can say what the business gets for them.
Suppliers marking their own homework
Your IT provider reports on its own performance and nobody independent checks it.
No considered view on AI
Your board, investors or customers ask about AI and you have no clear position.
Projects drifting
A system upgrade or programme is late or over budget and you cannot tell why.
How we work
A structured engagement that provides real leadership, not just advisory input.
Every fractional CIO engagement follows a consistent four-phase model — moving from rapid orientation through to active leadership and, where appropriate, a planned transition to a permanent appointment.
1.
Rapid orientation
Weeks one to three: a structured assessment of the technology estate, key vendor relationships, active programmes and the organisation's most pressing technology risks. We establish what needs immediate attention and what can wait.
2.
Strategic positioning
Establishing the technology strategy aligned to the business plan — roadmap, investment logic and vendor governance. This phase sets the direction the organisation will work from for the duration of the engagement.
3.
Active leadership
Ongoing CIO responsibilities: team oversight, vendor management, programme governance, board and executive reporting. Operating as an integrated member of the senior leadership team, not an external adviser.
4.
Transition or continuation
Where a permanent hire is planned, a structured handover that protects continuity and preserves institutional knowledge. Where ongoing fractional coverage is preferred, a steady-state model calibrated to the organisation's evolving needs.
What you get
Tangible outputs, not just a senior presence.
The first three come from the technology plan. The other three build through the retainer.
A technology plan in plain English
A sequenced view of the technology investments your business plan needs, with the reasoning set out so you can take it to a board, investor or lender.
Clear spending priorities
A consistent way to decide what to fund: scoring criteria and approval thresholds that cut ad hoc buying and keep effort on what matters most.
A practical position on AI
A clear view of where AI is worth pursuing in your business, what needs to be in place first and the rules for how staff use it.
Supplier oversight
Performance standards, named accountabilities and a review rhythm for your key technology suppliers, so contracts are managed rather than simply renewed.
A leadership update you can act on
A short, repeatable report on technology risk, spend and project health that a non-technical reader can understand and use.
Risk and security basics
The policies, controls and escalation routes needed to run technology safely, covering information security, data, business continuity and supplier risk.
Cost and scope
Two stages, each with a fixed fee, so you can commit step by step.
Start with a technology plan for a fixed fee. Once it is delivered, we both decide whether to continue on a monthly retainer with an agreed number of days.
All fees exclude VAT.
Stage One
Technology plan from £9,500
A fixed fee covering orientation and direction, led by one named senior leader. The plan underpins everything that follows and is yours to keep whether or not we continue.
Scope and fee agreed in writing before work starts
A plan you can take to your board, investors or lenders
A clear decision point once it is delivered
Stage Two
Retainer from £5,500 a month
Ongoing CIO leadership for an agreed number of days each month, if you choose to continue. Scoped to what your business needs rather than a fixed job description.
Days agreed up front and reviewed regularly
Scales up for busy periods such as a major system change
Scope agreed in writing before work starts
How it fits
Works alongside your suppliers
Your managed service provider keeps running your systems. The fractional CIO sets the standard it is held to and checks that it is met.
Independent of any supplier or product
No commercial interest in selling you more than you need
Brings suppliers into the plan, rather than exclude them from it
What's out of scope
What it does not cover
To keep the role clear, two things sit outside a fractional CIO engagement.
Hands-on programme delivery. We challenge and oversee your delivery partner but do not build or run the programme. For independent oversight of a specific programme, see programme oversight.
Replacing your managed service provider. Day-to-day IT support stays where it is.
Who this is for
Built for organisations that need leadership, not just advice.
A fractional CIO works best where technology matters to the plan but a full-time CIO is not yet justified. That is typically a business turning over £20m to £80m, or a scale-up formalising technology as it grows. Smaller or earlier stage? A one-week readiness snapshot or a shorter advisory engagement may be a better fit.
Founder or Managing Director
Wants confident technology decisions without becoming the technology expert
Finance director
Accountable for technology spend with little sight of what it delivers
Investor or non-executive director
Wants independent assurance that technology decisions and risks are under control
When businesses typically engage us
Outgrown informal IT support
The systems that served a smaller business now strain under growth, and nobody senior owns the decisions about what comes next.
A major contract or system decision is coming
A supplier renewal, new platform or large purchase needs an independent view before you commit.
Growth or acquisition
A new investor, acquisition or integration needs a fast technology assessment and a plan that holds up to scrutiny.
Questions from investors, lenders or customers
Security, data and AI questions are arriving that you cannot yet answer with confidence.
A supplier-led project in difficulty
A project is slipping and you need senior, independent leadership to restore accountability and supplier performance.
Start here
Ready to put senior technology leadership in place?
A short, no-commitment conversation to understand your situation and whether a fractional CIO is the right fit.