Virtual CIO Services
A virtual CIO on your side of the table.
Ongoing technology direction and vendor oversight from someone who reads what vendors promise against what they deliver. Lexi Holder sets the strategy, reads the fine print, and measures what your technology gives back.
Five questions arrive before the call.
What is a virtual CIO?
The role, defined/ˈvər·chə·wəl ˌsē·ī·ˈō/
- A chief information officer retained a few hours at a time instead of hired, holding the seat that sets a company’s technology direction.
- At Praxis: the advisor who reads what every vendor and subscription costs against what it delivers, then measures the results on a KPI cadence you can see.
From medieval Latin virtualis, effective in fact if not in form. The hours are part time. The seat is not.
A virtual CIO is a chief information officer you retain a few hours at a time instead of hiring. At Praxis, that is Lexi Holder: she sets your technology direction, reviews what every vendor and subscription costs against what it delivers, and measures the results on a KPI cadence you can see.
Lexi makes sure your IT provider is doing right by you.
Vendor paperwork arrives in someone else’s language. The quote is thick with acronyms, the renewal is set to auto-bill, and the invoice never maps to work you can see. Questioning it takes time you do not have, so you sign and move on.
As your virtual CIO, Lexi reviews the contracts, scopes the quotes, and checks the invoices against the work delivered, then walks you through each one in plain English before you commit a dollar. Your provider gets a well-informed client, and your spend gets read before it renews.
At CCA Global Partners, a cooperative supporting more than 700 small business owners across the United States and Canada, she led business intelligence delivery and spent years translating between owners, vendors, and technical teams.
Keep your IT company. Add direction.
Running the systems and steering the systems are different jobs, and both get better when each is done on purpose. Who does what:
Someone should read this room for you
Racks, licenses, renewals, and support tickets all live on the vendor's side of the wall. The virtual CIO seat exists so someone who answers only to you reads them too, and tells you what they mean for the business.
What ongoing looks like
Virtual CIO work is a rhythm, and it starts the way every Praxis engagement starts: with a free hour and five questions.
Five questions, then a free hour
The agenda arrives before the discovery call, so the hour goes to how your business runs and what your technology costs it.
A map of what you run
Every tool, vendor, contract, and subscription in one view, with the risks rated by you: impact times likelihood, one to five each.
A standing review rhythm
Renewals, quotes, and invoices get read before they get signed. Your questions get plain-English answers while they are still small.
KPIs at baseline, three, and six months
You keep what the KPIs justify. If something is not working the way we expected, we course correct early.
Spend that earns its keep
Subscriptions that return nothing get cut, and that budget goes to work you can see paying off.
Before you book the hour
Does a virtual CIO replace my IT company?
Usually they work together. Your IT company keeps systems running, answers tickets, and manages the network. Lexi sets the direction that work serves: she reads the contracts, scopes the projects, questions the renewals, and translates every recommendation into plain English so you can decide with a full picture.
My IT guy already handles our technology. Why add a virtual CIO?
Your IT provider is paid to keep things running, and most do that well. A virtual CIO is paid to ask whether the things running are the right ones: whether each tool earns its cost, each renewal still fits, and each project serves the goals you set for the business.
What do virtual CIO services cost?
The discovery hour is free, and the five-question agenda arrives before the call. Engagements start at $3,500, ongoing advisory is scoped to the cadence you need, and every proposal is priced before you commit. KPIs are set at baseline and measured at three and six months.
How is a virtual CIO different from a fractional CTO?
A fractional CTO leads: she makes the technology decisions with you and owns the plan. A virtual CIO oversees: she keeps a standing rhythm of vendor reviews, budget checks, and KPI readings on work that is already moving. Praxis offers both, and the discovery hour sorts out which fits.
Have a different question? [ Ask Lexi directly → ]