A mid-sized company budgets $200K+ for a full-time CIO. Salary, benefits, onboarding, the works. Then they realize they don't actually need 40 hours a week of strategic IT leadership, they need 10-15 hours of the RIGHT guidance.
Here's what those 10-15 hours actually look like:
- Reviewing vendor proposals so you're not overpaying for underperforming solutions
- Aligning your IT roadmap with actual business priorities, not the latest tech trends
- Asking the hard questions your internal team is too close to ask
- Making sure your security posture matches your risk profile, not someone else's checklist
The difference? You get executive-level strategic thinking without paying for someone to sit in status meetings all week.
I've seen companies waste more money trying to "figure it out themselves" than they'd spend on fractional leadership for two years. The real cost isn't what you pay, it's what you lose by making expensive decisions without experienced guidance.
What's the most expensive "we'll figure it out ourselves" lesson you've learned?
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