Full On Consulting provides fractional CIO services, part-time CIO retainers, and CIO advisory services to mid-market organizations that need board-level IT leadership without a full-time executive hire. Our fractional chief information officers are former enterprise CIOs — not consultants playing the role — who provide ongoing IT strategy, vendor management, program governance, and IT leadership consulting tailored to your company's size, budget, and growth stage.
A fractional CIO is only as valuable as their actual experience. Most fractional CIO firms staff with former mid-level managers.
Every Full On Consulting fractional CIO is a former enterprise CIO or senior IT executive — someone who has held the title, managed the budget, owned the transformation, and reported to the CEO and board. You get real CIO experience, not someone who studied it.
Fractional CIO vs. Interim CIO — What's the Difference?
They're often confused — but they serve fundamentally different needs. Choosing the right model matters.
Fractional CIO
- Part-time, ongoing retainer — typically 1–3 days per week
- No full-time CIO exists — you never had one, or the role doesn't justify full-time
- Ongoing strategic leadership — IT strategy, vendor governance, IT roadmap, executive advisory
- Long-term relationship — builds deep organizational knowledge over time
- $8,000–$15,000/month — vs. $350,000+ fully loaded cost of a full-time CIO
Right for: Mid-market companies that need CIO-level thinking but not a full-time hire
Interim CIO
- Full-time, temporary placement — the person IS your CIO while they're engaged
- Fills an empty seat — your CIO departed, is on leave, or you're between hires
- Day-to-day IT leadership — manages the team, runs operations, drives transformation
- Fixed engagement duration — typically 6–18 months
- $15,000–$35,000/month — appropriate for the full-time leadership commitment
Right for: Organizations with a CIO vacancy that need full-time coverage
Is a Fractional CIO Right for Your Organization?
Most organizations that benefit from a fractional CIO share a common profile: they need senior IT leadership, but the full-time model doesn't fit their size or stage.
You have 100–2,000 employees and IT decisions are made without a dedicated IT executive
You're growing fast and IT is becoming a constraint — but you're not ready to hire a full-time CIO
You have an IT manager or director but no one who owns IT strategy and business alignment
You're about to undertake a major IT initiative (ERP, cloud, cybersecurity) and need executive oversight
Your CEO or CFO is making IT decisions because there's no IT executive at the table
You're PE-backed and need IT leadership to support value creation without adding permanent headcount
Your vendors and MSPs aren't being held accountable — and no one internally has the authority to change that
You want the strategic firepower of a CIO at 20–30% of the cost of a full-time hire
What a Fractional CIO From Full On Consulting Actually Does
A fractional CIO isn't a consultant who writes reports and leaves. They operate as your IT executive — present at leadership meetings, accountable for outcomes, and available when decisions need to be made.
IT Strategy & Roadmap
Build a business-aligned IT strategy and multi-year roadmap that your CEO and board can understand and approve — covering technology priorities, investment requirements, and measurable outcomes.
Vendor & MSP Governance
Hold your technology vendors, managed service providers, and implementation partners accountable to their contracts, SLAs, and delivery commitments. Most mid-market companies are being underserved — they just don't know it.
IT Program Oversight
Provide executive oversight for major IT initiatives — ERP implementations, cloud migrations, cybersecurity programs, and digital transformation projects — ensuring governance, risk management, and delivery accountability.
Budget & Investment Planning
Build and manage the IT budget, prioritize investment decisions, identify cost savings, and present technology ROI to the CEO and CFO in business terms — not technical ones.
Executive & Board Advisory
Represent IT at the executive team level. Translate technology strategy into business language. Advise the CEO, CFO, and board on technology risk, investment, and competitive positioning.
Team Assessment & Development
Assess your IT organization objectively — identify capability gaps, make hiring recommendations, develop your IT managers, and build the organizational structure your business growth requires.
The Fractional CIO Cost Advantage
A fractional CIO delivers the strategic leadership of a seasoned IT executive at a fraction of the cost of a permanent hire — with none of the hiring risk, onboarding time, or severance exposure.
Full-Time CIO Hire
$350K+
per year (fully loaded: salary, bonus, benefits, equity)
Plus 6–12 month recruiting timeline. Plus severance risk. Plus 90-day ramp before they're effective.
Fractional CIO Retainer
$8–15K
per month — senior former CIO, 1–3 days/week
Engaged in days, not months. No hiring risk. Scale up or down as your needs change.
Annual Savings
50–75%
typical savings vs. a full-time CIO hire
With equivalent or greater strategic impact — because our fractional CIOs have already solved your problems before.
Fractional CIO Services Across Every Major Industry
Our fractional CIOs bring deep industry context — not generic IT advice — to every engagement.
Manufacturing & Distribution
ERP strategy, supply chain technology, operational systems alignment, and the transition from SAP ECC to S/4HANA — all from former CIOs who have done it in your environment.
Private Equity & PE-Backed Portfolio Companies
IT due diligence, 100-day IT plans post-acquisition, value creation roadmaps, carve-outs, and integration support — without adding permanent headcount to the portfolio company.
Mid-Market & Growth-Stage Companies
IT strategy for companies scaling from $50M to $1B+ — building the IT organization, governance, and technology foundation that growth demands, before the IT debt becomes unmanageable.
Financial Services & Insurance
IT strategy under regulatory and compliance pressure — cybersecurity governance, data management, application modernization, and the business case for technology investment that boards approve.
Healthcare & Life Sciences
EHR governance, HIPAA compliance, clinical systems integration, and the technology strategy to support patient outcomes and operational efficiency.
Professional Services & eCommerce
Digital platform strategy, CRM and ERP alignment, customer experience technology, and the IT operating model that scales without building a large internal IT organization.
Fractional CIO — Frequently Asked Questions
Questions CEOs, CFOs, and boards ask before engaging a fractional CIO — answered directly.
What is a fractional CIO, exactly?+
How much does a fractional CIO cost?+
What's the difference between a fractional CIO and an interim CIO?+
What size company needs a fractional CIO?+
What does a fractional CIO actually do week-to-week?+
Can a fractional CIO help with an ERP or cloud program?+
How quickly can you put a fractional CIO in place?+
What's the difference between a fractional CIO and an IT consultant?+
WHY FULL ON CONSULTING
Senior Consultants Only
Every engagement is led and delivered by senior consultants — former CIOs, CTOs, and enterprise IT executives. You get the people you were sold, not a bait-and-switch to junior staff after the contract is signed.
$40M+ in Documented Savings
Our track record includes $40M+ in verified client savings, a $130M M&A integration across 90+ global facilities, and an end-user computing transformation for 18,000 employees. We deliver measurable outcomes — not just recommendations.
20+ Years of Enterprise Experience
Our consultants average 20+ years of enterprise IT experience across Fortune 500 and mid-market companies. We have run the same programs we are being asked to lead — across SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and large-scale transformations.
Strategy Through Execution
We do not hand you a strategy deck and walk away. Our teams stay engaged from initial assessment through go-live — accountable for outcomes, not just deliverables. If we recommend it, we are prepared to execute it.
Boutique Agility
As a boutique firm, we move faster, adapt to your priorities, and work with your team rather than around it. No bureaucracy, no layers of overhead — just focused, senior-led execution from day one.
A Partner, Not a Vendor
We build long-term relationships grounded in trust and integrity. Many of our clients have engaged us across multiple initiatives and refer us to peers — because we do what we say we will do, every time.