Questions, with real benchmarks.

A $10M company typically spends $800K–$1.2M annually on IT infrastructure and cloud. A Fractional CIO engagement — roughly 10–15% the cost of a full-time CIO — identifies waste, renegotiates vendor contracts, and implements FinOps governance. Clients consistently recover 20–40% of cloud spend within 90 days. For a $10M company, that's $160K–$480K in annual savings against a $60K–$120K engagement cost — a 3–4× ROI in year one.

FinOps applies financial accountability to every dollar of cloud spend. Start with a cost allocation audit using the FOCUS™ (FinOps Open Cost & Usage Specification) framework to tag and categorize all resources. Then: Reserved Instance optimization (30–60% vs. on-demand), right-sizing (15–25% recovery), and automated shutdown for non-production. FractCIO has a documented 31% AWS spend reduction across client engagements.

IT succession planning ensures operational continuity when key technology leaders depart — retirement, M&A transitions, organizational restructuring. Without a plan, companies face $250K–$750K in hidden costs from knowledge loss, vendor contract gaps, and stalled initiatives. A Fractional CIO documents the roadmap, cross-trains teams, preserves vendor continuity, and builds governance that survives leadership change.

A comprehensive vendor audit and SaaS rationalization reveals that 30–40% of software licenses are redundant, underutilized, or poorly negotiated. For a mid-market company, that's $150K–$500K in annual recoverable spend. The audit examines contract terms, renewal escalators, integration overlap, and vendor lock-in. FractCIO has directed $80M+ TCV across FinTech and Banking negotiations.

An MSP manages infrastructure. A Fractional CIO manages strategy. The difference is between someone who keeps the lights on and someone who decides which lights to build, which to turn off, and how each affects your P&L. A Fractional CIO sits in board meetings, owns the technology budget, drives FinOps, and acts as a Technical Fiduciary whose sole obligation is your bottom line.

Cloud financial governance applies CFO-level controls to cloud infrastructure spending. Any organization spending $500K+ annually on AWS, Azure, or GCP needs it. Without governance, cloud grows 35% year-over-year unchecked. Governance includes unit cost modeling, chargeback/showback reporting, and commitment management (RIs, savings plans). FractCIO delivers this through certified FinOps frameworks with audit-ready reporting.

Yes. A Fractional CIO with governance expertise aligns your cloud posture to SOC 2 Type II, PCI-DSS, and NIST frameworks while reducing operational burden on internal teams. Control mapping, evidence automation, audit prep — cutting prep time up to 60%. For FinTech and Banking, proper compliance also reduces cyber-insurance premiums up to 15% and protects against regulatory penalties.

FinTech, Banking, and regulated financial services benefit most — they face high cloud spend, strict compliance, and rapid scaling pressure simultaneously. These industries typically spend 2–3× more on cloud than general enterprise, making FinOps and cost governance critical. FractCIO specializes exclusively here, with domain expertise in PCI-DSS, SOC 2, OCC regulatory requirements, and financial services architecture.

Acts as your senior-most technology executive on a fractional basis. Attends leadership meetings, owns cloud cost governance, translates engineering decisions into financial outcomes, holds vendors accountable. At FractCIO the focus is always one thing: turning cloud investment into measurable profit.

A consultant delivers a report and leaves. A Fractional CIO owns outcomes. Thomas Ferri operates as a Technical Fiduciary — the obligation is to your bottom line, not billable hours. Executive accountability without a full-time hire.

Monthly retainer — a fraction of a full-time CIO. Most clients recover the engagement cost within 90 days through cloud spend reduction alone. Every engagement starts with a no-cost Profit Recovery Audit.

FractCIO is based in Charlotte, NC and serves clients across the United States. Engagements are conducted remotely with on-site availability as needed.

Most engagements begin within two weeks of the initial discovery call. First deliverable is always a Profit Recovery Audit.