Fractional Executive Leadership
Fractional CIO Services
Information leadership that aligns technology investments with business strategy and modernizes how your organization uses data.
As data becomes a core business asset, CIO leadership is shifting from infrastructure management to strategic advantage. Companies that treat IT as a cost center are falling behind.
Three Systems, No Single Source of Truth. Your CIO Fixes That.
Your data lives in six different systems and nobody trusts the reports. Your fractional CIO audits the information architecture, identifies the three integration points that matter most, and builds a roadmap that gives your leadership team a single source of truth within 90 days.
That is the fractional model. You get an information leader who has unified data environments at multiple organizations. They know which integrations deliver value and which ones are just expensive plumbing projects. And they build for your team to maintain, not for their team to own.
What a Fractional CIO Handles
A Fractional CIO provides senior information technology leadership on a part-time or project basis. They own IT strategy, data governance, and technology alignment with business objectives.
- IT strategy and governance - aligning technology spending with business priorities
- Enterprise system evaluation and selection - choosing the right platform, not the shiniest one
- Data strategy and analytics - turning data into decisions
- IT operations and infrastructure - reliability and security without over-engineering
- Cybersecurity posture assessment - knowing your risk and managing it proportionally
- IT team development - building internal capability to maintain what you build
The Data Advantage
A full-time CIO carries total compensation between $325K and $400K annually. For companies that are not technology-first, this is a significant investment in a role that may be project-driven: system selection, data unification, security posture, and then oversight.
Fractional CIO engagements match the work. Heavy during evaluation and implementation phases, lighter during steady-state operations. You get the strategic thinking without the permanent overhead.
Companies that treat information technology as a strategic function outperform those that treat it as a cost center. The difference is leadership, not budget.
Signs You Need a Fractional CIO
Information problems show up as slow decisions, conflicting reports, and security anxiety. If these sound familiar, the gap is strategic:
- Your leadership team does not trust the data they are getting
- You are evaluating major systems and need someone who has done it before
- Data lives in silos and nobody has a complete picture
- You are concerned about cybersecurity but do not know your actual risk
- IT is reactive, not strategic
- Your CIO left and the team needs direction while you search
Meet Our Fractional CIOs
Information technology leaders across manufacturing, healthcare, and professional services. The right CIO matched to your industry and challenge.
Tom Altman
Fractional Executive, CIO
Brett Corrick
Fractional Executive, CIO
Ready to Make Technology Work for You?
A 30-minute call to discuss your situation. No pitch, no pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a fractional CIO do?
A fractional CIO gives you senior leadership over the systems that run your business, part-time: building a single source of truth across your data, leading ERP and systems selection and implementation, hardening security and compliance, managing IT operations and vendors, and turning technology spend into an advantage, without the full-time cost.
When should a company hire a fractional CIO?
Common signals: your data lives in three systems that don't agree, an ERP selection or migration is looming, security and compliance are outrunning your team, IT spend keeps climbing without a plan, or you're integrating systems after an acquisition.
How much does a fractional CIO cost?
Engagements average between $2,100 and $7,600 per month for basic services and scale from there based on your needs, priorities, and available internal resources. That's a fraction of the $325,000 to $400,000 in total compensation a full-time CIO commands.
What's the difference between a fractional CIO and a fractional CTO?
A CIO looks inward at the systems that run the business: ERP, data, infrastructure, security, and IT operations. A CTO looks outward at the technology you build and ship: product, architecture, and engineering. Many companies need one, some need both, and Altus offers both.
What's the difference between a fractional CIO and a managed IT provider (MSP)?
An MSP keeps the lights on: help desk, patching, monitoring, and day-to-day support. A fractional CIO sets the strategy above that: which systems to standardize on, how to structure your data and security, what to buy, and how to hold your MSP and vendors accountable to the plan.
What's the difference between a fractional CIO and an interim CIO?
A fractional CIO is an ongoing, part-time partner who scales with you over time. An interim CIO steps in full-time and temporarily, usually to hold IT together through a transition or until you hire a permanent replacement. Altus offers both.
What industries do your fractional CIOs work in?
Our fractional CIOs work across many sectors, and we're not limited to a fixed list. We match the right operator to your business whatever your industry. We're most active in manufacturing, healthcare, professional services, cooperatives, construction, agriculture, private equity, venture capital.