Fractional CIO Services
Fractional CIO services for companies that have outgrown ad-hoc IT.
A senior IT executive in your leadership team for one to a few days a month — owning technology strategy, spend, risk and delivery. Based in the Greater Toronto Area, working with clients across Canada and the United States.
Is this you?
When a company needs a fractional CIO.
Most of our fractional CIO engagements start the same way: technology has become material to the business, and nobody at the leadership table owns it.
IT spend is rising without a return
Software, licences, vendors and support cost more every year, and no one can show what the business is getting for it.
Your MSP is running unmanaged
Your managed service provider sets the agenda because there’s no one internal senior enough to hold the contract, the roadmap or the service levels to account.
Growth or acquisition has outpaced IT
New locations, new entities or new headcount are straining infrastructure, licensing, security and support — and integration keeps slipping.
A major decision is coming
You’re choosing an ERP or CRM, moving to the cloud, or committing to an AI investment, and you want an independent executive in the room who isn’t selling the solution.
Cyber and compliance risk is unowned
Insurers, customers or auditors are asking questions about security posture that no one in the business can answer with confidence.
What we deliver
What our fractional CIO services cover.
A fractional CIO from Stratifi joins your leadership team as an accountable executive — not an advisor who leaves a deck behind.
Technology strategy & roadmap
A costed plan tied to business outcomes, reviewed and re-prioritized every quarter.
- Current-state assessment of systems, data and team
- Three-year roadmap with sequencing and budget
- Build, buy and outsource decisions
- Board and leadership reporting
IT budget & cost control
Visibility into what you spend and why, then a plan to spend it better.
- Full spend and licence inventory
- Contract renegotiation and consolidation
- Capital vs. operating planning
- Cost-per-user and cost-per-location benchmarks
Vendor & MSP management
Someone senior on your side of the table, holding providers to what they sold.
- MSP performance and SLA governance
- RFPs, evaluations and selection
- Contract and renewal strategy
- Escalation and relationship ownership
Cybersecurity, risk & compliance
A defensible security posture you can explain to an insurer, a customer or a board.
- Risk assessment and remediation plan
- Identity, access and endpoint controls
- Backup, continuity and incident response
- Policy, awareness training and audit support
Enterprise systems & integration
ERP, CRM and line-of-business platforms selected, implemented and actually adopted.
- System selection and business case
- Implementation oversight and governance
- Data migration and integration architecture
- See managed IT and enterprise systems
Team, structure & succession
The right internal team for the stage you’re at — and a plan for the stage after it.
- Org design and role definition
- Hiring, onboarding and coaching
- Skills and capacity planning
- Recruiting and handover to a permanent CIO
The choice
Fractional CIO, full-time CIO, or MSP?
These three options solve different problems, and mid-market companies often buy the wrong one. Here’s the honest comparison we give prospective clients.
- Fractional CIO
Executive judgement, part-time
Strategy, budget, risk and vendor accountability at a fraction of full-time cost. Best when technology decisions are material but the workload doesn’t justify a full-time executive.
- Full-time CIO
Full-time leadership and capacity
Right once technology is a core driver of revenue and you need daily executive presence. Expect total compensation several times a fractional retainer, plus a long search.
- MSP
Delivery and support
Essential for help desk, infrastructure and monitoring — but an MSP executes; it does not set your strategy or challenge its own scope. It needs managing.
- Often the answer
Fractional CIO plus MSP
The combination most of our mid-market clients land on: an MSP delivering the service, and a fractional CIO owning the strategy and holding the MSP to account.
How it works
A fractional CIO engagement, start to finish.
- Week 0
Consultation and scoping
A 30-minute conversation about your business, your systems and what’s not working. If a fractional CIO isn’t the right answer, we’ll say so.
- Weeks 1–4
Assessment
We review systems, spend, contracts, security posture, team and delivery track record, then present findings and a prioritized plan to your leadership team.
- Month 2
Roadmap and operating rhythm
A costed roadmap, an agreed set of KPIs, and a standing governance cadence — steering meetings, vendor reviews and board or ownership reporting.
- Ongoing
Lead and deliver
Your fractional CIO runs the plan: sponsoring projects, managing vendors, coaching the team and reporting progress against the KPIs you agreed.
- Exit
Hand over cleanly
Every engagement is built to be handed over — to an internal leader we help you hire, or to a reduced advisory retainer once the heavy lifting is done.
Track record
CIO-level experience, not consultant theory.
Stratifi’s fractional CIO services are delivered by executives who have run technology at public companies, national distributors and high-growth platforms — and who hold active mandates today.
Covalon Technologies. Fractional CIO for a TSX-listed medical technology company — built and executed the full technology strategy.
Cardinal Health Canada. Eight years as VP of Technology & Customer Care for a national healthcare distributor, and a director on the Canadian board.
Guardian Dentistry Partners. Active fractional CTO mandate for a 160+ location dental support organization, covering data, analytics and AI.
Related services: fractional CTO services, AI consulting and PMO in a Box. For the dental sector, see our DSO technology practice.
FAQ
Questions we hear often
What is a fractional CIO?
A fractional CIO is an experienced Chief Information Officer who leads your technology function part-time, usually one to several days a month, on a fixed monthly retainer. You get executive-level judgement on strategy, budget, security, vendors and major projects without carrying a full-time executive salary.
How much do fractional CIO services cost?
Fractional CIO engagements are typically a fraction of a full-time CIO’s total compensation, because you buy the days you need rather than a full-time seat. Pricing depends on the scope and time commitment — a light-touch advisory retainer costs far less than a hands-on mandate through an ERP implementation or acquisition. We scope and price it before you commit.
What does a fractional CIO do day to day?
Sets the technology roadmap and budget, chairs your technology steering meetings, manages MSPs and software vendors, owns cybersecurity and compliance posture, sponsors major projects, hires and coaches internal IT staff, and reports to the CEO, owner or board in business language.
When should we hire a fractional CIO instead of a full-time one?
When you need executive judgement more than you need forty hours a week: after rapid growth or an acquisition, during a major system implementation, when IT spend is climbing without a clear return, when your MSP is unmanaged, or while you search for a permanent leader. Many clients start fractional and later hire full-time — we help define and recruit that role.
What is the difference between a fractional CIO and an MSP?
A managed service provider delivers and supports technology. A fractional CIO decides what technology you should have, holds the MSP accountable for its contract and service levels, and answers to your leadership team rather than selling you services. The two work together — we manage MSPs on our clients’ behalf.
Do you provide fractional CIO services outside Toronto?
Yes. We are based in the Greater Toronto Area and work on site across the GTA and southern Ontario, and remotely with clients across Canada and the United States. Several of our active mandates are with U.S.-headquartered organizations.
Next step
Find out what level of CIO leadership you actually need.
Book a 30-minute consultation. We’ll look at your systems, spend and team, and tell you plainly whether a fractional CIO is the right answer — or something smaller.