Fractional CIO Services
SumnerOne gives growing organizations access to former enterprise CIOs who help evaluate technology decisions, govern vendors, align IT strategy to business goals, and help operationalize what comes next through a curated procurement and execution model.
No full-time CIO salary. No bloated consulting engagement. No MSP bundle you cannot audit. No roadmap that leaves your team alone to figure out implementation.
The Problem
They have an IT manager or IT director who works hard and keeps the day-to-day running. Printers work. Microsoft 365 works. Employees get support when something breaks.
But eventually bigger questions start showing up:
That is the gap between IT management and technology leadership.
Most organizations do not need another help desk. They need someone qualified to lead technology decisions.
The numbers
Industry benchmarks indicate that up to 65% of mid-sized companies operate without dedicated technology leadership, often forcing general operations or financial executives to manage IT strategy. Research from Datto reveals that 77% of SMBs report their IT environments have become significantly more complex over the past two years, with more than half citing cybersecurity as the main driver. According to an industry report by CloudBolt Software, 80% of MSP customers are so frustrated with their current provider that they are actively looking to replace them.
The issue is rarely effort. The issue is that the organization has outgrown reactive IT.
The definition
A fractional CIO gives your company executive-level technology leadership on a part-time basis.
Instead of hiring a full-time CIO at a $250,000+ compensation level, organizations bring in an experienced technology executive for strategic guidance, governance, planning, and vendor oversight. At SumnerOne, that leadership is paired with operational coordination and curated technology procurement under a single relationship.
No. Managed IT services focus on operating and supporting systems. A fractional CIO focuses on technology leadership, governance, planning, and strategic decision-making.
No. The CIO works alongside your existing IT leader and helps give them executive-level support, strategic air cover, and vendor guidance.
Most organizations we speak with fall between 50 and 500 employees. They are large enough that technology decisions carry real business risk, but not large enough to justify a full-time CIO.
What a fractional CIO does
How the model works
The first is the traditional MSP model. The provider sells and supports the tools they happen to carry. Over time, the environment grows more complex, more expensive, and harder to evaluate.
The second is the traditional consulting model. A firm delivers a strategic roadmap, presents a polished deck, and leaves the organization to operationalize the work alone through vendor evaluations, procurement cycles, and disconnected implementation projects.
SumnerOne was built differently.
Our fractional CIOs help organizations make better technology decisions. Then SumnerOne helps coordinate how those decisions actually get implemented through curated procurement, vendor coordination, and ongoing governance. The result is a model that connects strategy to execution without locking customers into a proprietary stack.
The three-step model
Supporting services
When organizations need operational support alongside leadership guidance, SumnerOne can also help support implementation and continuity through infrastructure support, managed voice and communications, backup and recovery services, cybersecurity platforms, endpoint and cloud support, and vendor coordination.
These services are not the strategy. They support the strategy.
"We do not hand you a roadmap and disappear. Your fractional CIO helps evaluate, prioritize, procure, and govern the decisions that follow."
Ready to see what the first 90 days looks like for your organization? Schedule a Technology Assessment →
Who this is for
Who this is built for
Mid-market organizations. Typically 50–500 employees, $10M–$100M revenue, growing operational complexity, an existing IT manager or IT director, no sitting CIO, multiple vendors and SaaS platforms, and increasing compliance or cybersecurity pressure.
Industries and roles
Your ERP environment, cybersecurity requirements, and operational continuity depend on technology decisions being made strategically — not just reactively. If nobody is governing those decisions at an executive level, the risk compounds quietly until something breaks.
Compliance requirements, distributed care environments, and secure document movement create governance complexity that outpaces what an IT manager can handle alone. Mid-market healthcare organizations often carry enterprise-level technology risk without enterprise-level technology leadership.
Security posture, vendor oversight, and audit readiness are not optional — they are the conditions under which your business operates. A fractional CIO helps your leadership team stay ahead of those requirements without building a full internal technology executive function.
You likely know exactly where the gaps are. What you often lack is executive-level support, strategic bandwidth, and someone who can help you evaluate enterprise-level decisions. Our model is intentionally collaborative — the CIO becomes a strategic layer above your day-to-day, not a replacement for it.
MSP vs. Fractional CIO
Managed IT services and fractional CIO leadership solve fundamentally different problems. Most organizations already have someone keeping technology running. What they are missing is someone qualified to evaluate where technology should go next.
In many environments, operational services still matter. Infrastructure matters. Backup and recovery matter. Cybersecurity tooling matters. But without strategic governance above them, those categories quickly become fragmented, reactive, and difficult to evaluate.
If your challenge is help desk support, infrastructure management, or daily operational support, you may need an MSP. If your challenge is vendor governance, cybersecurity oversight, technology planning, AI readiness, or executive-level decision-making, you likely need fractional CIO leadership. Many organizations ultimately need both.
Yes. In many cases, the CIO helps evaluate MSP performance, clarify accountability, reduce overlap, improve governance, and ensure the environment aligns with business priorities.
Yes. When appropriate, SumnerOne can help organizations operationalize technology decisions through infrastructure support, communications systems, cybersecurity platforms, backup and recovery services, and vendor coordination. The difference is that those services are governed by strategy first, not sold in isolation.
Not necessarily. The goal is not replacement for the sake of replacement. The goal is clarity, governance, accountability, and alignment around what the business actually needs.
Engagement types
| Engagement Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Technology Assessment & Roadmap | A 60–90 day assessment of your technology stack, security posture, vendor environment, and strategic priorities. |
| MSP Audit & Strategy Reset | A review of MSP costs, services, overlap, accountability, and alignment with the business. |
| AI Readiness & Governance | AI vendor evaluation, usage policies, governance planning, and leadership guidance. |
| Cybersecurity Posture Review | Security assessment, remediation prioritization, vendor coordination, and executive-level risk framing. |
| Cloud Strategy & Migration Oversight | Cloud evaluation, migration planning, infrastructure alignment, and ongoing governance. |
| Technology Spend & Stack Consolidation | SaaS inventory review, overlap identification, contract rationalization, and spend governance. |
| Ongoing Fractional CIO Retainer | Continuous strategic leadership for organizations navigating multiple technology workstreams simultaneously. |
Why SumnerOne
Let's talk technology
Most organizations do not need another vendor. They need someone who can help leadership make confident technology decisions. That is the role of a fractional CIO.
The right technology leadership changes everything. Let's start a conversation.
FAQ
Most fractional CIO engagements cost significantly less than hiring a full-time CIO. Pricing depends on the scope of work, engagement structure, and level of ongoing involvement. Most organizations begin with a technology assessment before moving into a recurring engagement.
Most ongoing engagements range between 10 and 20 hours per week depending on complexity.
Typically 60–90 days.
Yes. Cybersecurity governance and vendor evaluation are common engagement areas.
Yes. Many organizations engage us specifically to help evaluate AI tools, governance structures, policy questions, and operational risk.
Yes. While SumnerOne's core footprint is in the Midwest, our technology leadership engagements can support organizations nationally.
No. The goal is not replacement for the sake of replacement. The goal is governance, clarity, and alignment.