Technology strategy and roadmap
Where the money goes and why, mapped to business goals, not IT fashion.
The short answer
What is a fractional CIO?
A fractional CIO is an experienced Chief Information Officer who works with your business part time, while carrying full ownership of technology strategy, IT budget and vendor decisions. You get the same accountability as a full-time CIO for a fraction of the cost, which is why fractional leadership has become the default for UK businesses with 50–1,000 staff.
That's the whole model. The rest of this page covers what one actually does, what it costs and how to tell whether you need one.
When to hire one
When should you hire a fractional CIO?
The honest trigger is simpler than most consultancies will tell you: hire a fractional CIO when technology decisions are being made by whoever shouts loudest, and nobody at board level can challenge them.
In practice that looks like:
IT spend has crept past £20k a month and nobody can say what a third of it does
A stretched IT manager is making £250k platform decisions alone
Your MSP marks its own homework – no one senior reviews what they charge or deliver
Systems were chosen by departments, not by strategy, and none of them talk to each other
A regulator, insurer or enterprise client has started asking questions your board can't answer
You're scaling from 100 to 300 staff and the operating model that got you here is creaking
If three or more of those land, you don't need a bigger MSP. You need someone whose job is to own the answers.
What's included
What your fractional CIO delivers.
Direct answer first: a technology roadmap the board actually understands, an IT budget someone is accountable for and vendors who behave because someone senior is watching.
Month by month it looks like this:
IT budget ownership
One person accountable for spend, renewals, consolidation and the awkward “why are we paying for this” questions.
Vendor and MSP management
Contracts renegotiated, overlaps cut, suppliers held to their SLAs.
Business systems decisions
Build vs buy, replace vs fix, judged by someone who has done both and pays no reseller margin.
Automation and AI roadmap
What's worth automating now, what's hype and what will bite you in an audit.
A quarterly board paper, written and walked through
Technology in language the board can challenge.
Give your CRM decisions a practical starting point.
A CIO can own priorities and investment decisions. A separately scoped CRM project provides the specialist assessment or delivery needed to improve the system, data and reporting. Explore CRM transformation →
Running a recruitment agency? Start with a paid review of your licences, unused features, workflows and integrations. The scope and fixed fee are agreed after a free scoping call. See the recruitment CRM review →
What it costs
What a fractional CIO costs in the UK.
Most of the market bills fractional leadership by the day, so the invoice moves every month and the meter runs every time you pick up the phone. We price the role instead: one monthly figure, agreed with you before anything starts.
No recruiter fee is the quiet saving: an executive search for a permanent CIO typically costs 25–30% of first-year salary before they've written a single roadmap. Where your own figure lands depends on the size of the estate, the sector and how much of the month the role needs. We tell you that on the first call, not in month three.
Which role do you need
Fractional CIO vs interim CIO vs IT director.
Fractional CIO
Part time · Ongoing
Part time and ongoing – strategic ownership for a business that doesn't need five days a week.
Interim CIO
Full time · Temporary
Full time and temporary – cover for a gap or a crisis, at a premium day rate for as long as it runs.
IT director
Delivery & operations
Runs delivery and operations – the MSP, the helpdesk, the estate. Including fractional, from £995/month with us. The CIO decides direction; the IT director makes it run.
Not sure which you need? That's precisely the free strategy call. If the honest answer is "an IT director, not a CIO", we'll say so and quote the cheaper role.
Book a free strategy callThe first three months
Your first 90 days.
01
Week 1–2
In the seat. Access, systems review, first leadership meeting attended.
02
Day 30
IT estate and spend audit complete – quick wins actioned, typically enough saving identified to cover the first quarter's fees.
03
Day 60
Technology roadmap and 12-month budget on the table, vendors on notice where needed.
04
Day 90
First quarterly board paper written and walked through. The board can finally challenge technology decisions with a straight face.
Sector fluency
Built for your sector.
We specialise in UK professional services with 50–1,000 users:
Accountancy
Practice systems (IRIS, CCH, Sage, Xero), MTD, AML tooling and audit-ready evidence.
Legal
iManage, NetDocuments, Leap and Clio estates, SRA expectations, matter-flow automation.
Recruitment
Bullhorn, Vincere, JobAdder and Mercury stacks, margin-side automation, GDPR posture.
Private equity
Portfolio-level IT strategy, pre-deal technology due diligence, 100-day plans and exit-ready evidence packs.
A fractional CIO who already speaks your systems' language starts delivering in week two, not month three.
Why AssurePath
Why AssurePath.
Engineers, not account managers.
Your CIO has built and run the systems they'll now govern. 15+ years average.
Published starting price.
Most UK fractional providers won't put a number on the page. Ours starts at £1,250 a month, and we'll tell you on the first call where your scope actually lands.
In the seat in two weeks.
Executive search takes 12+ weeks and a fat fee. We don't.
We'll tell you not to buy things.
Including, sometimes, this service. If a £995/month IT director fixes your actual problem, that's what we'll recommend.
No lock-in.
Term is agreed with you, not imposed on you. Full documentation stays with you either way.
FAQ
Questions before the call.
The questions we get asked most about the fractional CIO role. We answer them again, properly, on the call.
Last reviewed: July 2026.
A fractional CIO is a senior Chief Information Officer who works with your business part time while owning technology strategy, IT budget and vendor decisions at board level. You get full-time accountability without the full-time cost, which for a permanent CIO runs to a six-figure salary plus NI, pension and bonus.
Most of the UK market bills fractional CIOs by the day, so the monthly cost moves with the workload. AssurePath prices the role instead: from £1,250 a month, with the actual figure agreed with you before anything is signed. Most engagements sit above the starting point because the role needs more of the month than the floor covers. Either way it is a fraction of the cost of a permanent CIO, and there is no recruiter fee.
It depends on the estate, the sector and what is actually in flight, and that is the honest answer. The work concentrates on leadership meetings, vendor reviews and roadmap decisions rather than day-to-day IT. We agree the cover on the first call and re-scope it every quarter as things change. If you need close to full-time attention, you likely need an interim or a permanent hire, and we'll tell you so.
A fractional CIO is part time and ongoing; an interim CIO is full time and temporary, covering a gap or a crisis at a premium day rate for as long as it runs. If your need is steady-state direction rather than emergency cover, fractional is the cheaper and more sustainable model.
Typically between 50 and 1,000 staff – when IT spend, risk and system decisions have outgrown the IT manager and the MSP, but a full-time CIO isn't justified. Common triggers: unexplained IT spend, a big platform decision looming, regulator or client security questionnaires or scaling past what current systems can carry.
AssurePath places your named CIO in the seat within two weeks of scoping – compared with 12+ weeks for an executive search, with no recruiter fee.
Yes – fractional CTO (from £1,950/month), CISO (from £1,350/month), DPO (from £950/month) and IT Director (from £995/month). See fractional leadership for the full line-up, or book a call and we'll tell you which role your situation actually needs.
No. Most clients are, because the value compounds over quarters rather than weeks. If what you need is bounded (a roadmap, a technology due diligence, one platform decision), we will scope and price that on its own and tell you honestly whether it needs to become ongoing.