Fractional CIO / CTO advisory
Assess how the business runs today: systems, tools, workflows, and pain points. Then set a technology strategy matched to its goals, budget, and maturity.
Services · Fractional CTO
A fractional CTO, sized for a small business.
A chief technology officer on your side of the table, a few hours a month. Praxis serves the Metro East and St. Louis area from Maryville, Illinois, remote anywhere.
Five questions arrive before the call.
The role[FCT.02]
What is a fractional CTO?
The role, definedfrac·tion·al C·T·Onoun
/ˈfrak·shə·nəl ˌsē·tē·ˈō/
- A chief technology officer engaged for a fraction of the week, at a fraction of the cost, with none of the accountability removed.
- For owner-operated businesses: the seat that decides what to build, what to buy, and what to skip, before any vendor gets a vote.
From Latin fractio, a breaking. The title divides; the accountability does not.
A fractional CTO is a chief technology officer you engage for a few hours a month instead of a full-time salary. For a small business, that means executive-level technology decisions, vendor oversight, and a plan tied to your goals, at a price an owner-operated company can carry.
Who it serves[FCT.03]
Sized from solo to about thirty seats
Praxis serves owner-run businesses across every industry: companies excellent at the work, carrying technology decisions nobody was hired to make.
The fit is widest at the turns: growing, changing systems, working around disconnected tools, preparing for more formal operations, or unsure whether the current stack is helping or hurting. It assumes a product or service that already works.
At CCA Global Partners, Lexi’s work supported more than 700 small business owners. This is that job, one owner at a time.
01
One owner, every hat
You are the CEO, the sales team, and the help desk. Lexi takes the third job off your plate and sizes the first build to what you can absorb.
02
Five to fifteen, tools multiplying
Subscriptions grew faster than headcount. Lexi maps what you pay for against what you use, then connects the keepers into one stack.
03
Fifteen to thirty, real exposure
Payroll, customer data, compliance, vendors with keys to the building. The risk register gets formal, and the mitigation budget goes where you rated the danger highest.
The work itself[FCT.04]
What Lexi does, month to month
The work is concrete, and it repeats on a cadence you can see.
01
Keeps the plan current
Lexi re-ranks the status quo map and the priorities as your business changes, so the technology agenda keeps matching the goals you set.
02
Oversees vendors and builds
Her contracted development team does the build work. Lexi translates your requirements, holds delivery to spec, and checks the invoices against the promises.
03
Tends the risk register
The list of what could go wrong, ranked by you, re-scored as things change. Lexi keeps the mitigation budget pointed at the risks you rated highest.
04
Reads the KPIs with you
Baseline, three months, six months. When a number drifts from the plan, you and Lexi correct course early, while it is cheap.
05
Answers the techie questions
Phone and email, 8:30 to 4:30, Monday through Friday. Plain English, no judgment, and the answer includes the why.
40 hours
to one.
Inside the lane[FCT.04b]
Five things the seat covers
The month-to-month cadence runs on five kinds of work. Each one shows up in the proposal by name, so you can see which ones your engagement needs.
Technology risk and opportunity assessment
Review the current tools and processes for inefficiency, duplicated spend, manual work, feature gaps, data visibility, and compliance or governance concerns.
CRM, HRIS, and system migration support
Project planning, requirements gathering, implementation oversight, and the business-user communication for a CRM, HRIS, or other system change.
Business-to-technology translation
The liaison between you and your vendors or technical partners, so everyone agrees on what gets built, why it matters, how it will be used, and how success is measured.
Technology ROI and stack optimization
Which tools to keep, replace, consolidate, or configure differently, so the technology budget stops paying for waste and starts paying you back.
Strategy that starts on the shop floor
A fractional CTO earns the title in the back room, where orders, labels, and inventory move. The walk-through comes first. The technology roadmap follows what the walk-through finds.
The silent comparison[FCT.05]
Your four options, side by side
Owners weighing this call compare the same four paths. The table lays them out, strains included.
| The question | Fractional CTO | Full-time CTO | Managed IT | Doing nothing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it costs | Engagements from $3,500. Tiered ranges on the pricing page, priced in the proposal before you commit. | An executive salary plus benefits, every year, whether the month needed ten decisions or two. | A monthly contract, usually per user or per device, for keeping systems running. | $0 today. The spend shows up later as lost hours and surprise bills. |
| What you get | Technology decisions, vendor oversight, an owner-rated risk register, and KPIs at baseline, three, and six months. | The same leadership, on site five days a week, plus recruiting, onboarding, and retention risk. | Patching, monitoring, and a help desk. Valuable work, scoped to keeping the lights on. | The status quo, and the admin hours it eats every month. |
| Who sets the strategy | Lexi does, with you, from your side of the table. | Your hire does, full time. | You do. Tool selection and planning sit outside the contract. | Nobody. The stack grows one impulse subscription at a time. |
| Where it strains | Day-to-day help desk stays with your IT provider, and you share her calendar with other owners. | The economics: most businesses under thirty people cannot keep a CTO busy or paid. | Strategy. A monitoring contract has no opinion on where your business should go. | Risk compounds. US small businesses hit by cyber attacks lost a median of $8,300 in 2023(Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2023) |
| Best fit | Owner-run businesses, solo to about thirty people, ready for the technology to catch up. | Companies where technology is the product. | Any business with hardware and users to support. Keep yours; strategy still has to come from somewhere. | A business whose technology already serves it well. |
Praxis and a managed IT provider are complementary: you keep your provider, and Lexi speaks both languages. For the ongoing oversight cadence itself, see the Virtual CIO page.
What it costs[FCT.06]
The ranges, before the call
Every engagement is tailored, and the operating rule is hers: we gotta walk before we can run. Scope shrinks before quality does. These are the shapes an engagement takes.
01
Operational Intelligence Systems
Foundation $3,500 to $5,000 · Signature $7,500 to $12,000 · Bespoke $15,000+How the business runs gets mapped first; technology comes second. CRM, automation, and workflow infrastructure on the platform that fits you.
[ See pricing → ]
02
Integrated Intelligence Systems
Starting at $20,000The complete system: Cognitive Blueprint, AI-enabled thinking partner, operational architecture, and governance guardrails.
[ Full breakdown → ]The discovery hour is free, and the five-question agenda arrives before the call.
Fractional CTO questions[FCT.07]
What owners ask about the role
What does a fractional CTO cost?
The discovery hour is free. Operational system builds run from $3,500 to $15,000 and beyond by tier, and every proposal is priced before you commit. The full ranges are on the pricing page, and KPIs are set at baseline so you can see what the spend returns.
Is my business too small for a fractional CTO?
No. The role exists because businesses under about thirty people need executive technology decisions and cannot carry an executive salary. Lexi works with solo owner-operators through thirty-person companies, and the first engagements are sized to match: a focused assessment or one workflow, then whatever the KPIs justify.
Do I keep my current IT company?
Usually, yes. A managed IT provider keeps systems patched and running; a fractional CTO decides what those systems should be and holds every vendor to the plan. Lexi speaks both languages, so your IT company gets clearer direction and you get an advisor on your side of the table.
What happens in the first month?
Month one starts with a free discovery hour, and the five-question agenda arrives before the call. Lexi maps how your business runs today, you rate the risks yourself on impact and likelihood, and the proposal comes back priced and phased, with KPIs set at baseline so you can course correct early.
Why a fractional CTO instead of a full-time hire?
A full-time CTO makes sense when technology is the product. When technology supports the business, the work is a few decisions a month made well: which tools, which vendors, which risks first. You buy those decisions from an experienced executive for a fraction of the salary.
Have a different question? [ Ask Lexi directly → ]