A strategic layer that sits above your technology.
Fractional CIO leadership: a director-level voice at your table to challenge thinking, test ideas and turn the firm's ambition into a practical technology strategy - and into how the firm operates day-to-day.
A highly capable firm, stalled. Directors and Partners ambitious to leverage technology and information, but having difficulty navigating a rapidly changing, saturated landscape.
Most technology decisions fail for the same reason: the people with the idea, the infrastructure and the day-to-day reality are rarely in the same room - and when they are, they're not speaking the same language.
Momentum stalls, and the cost of indecision quietly grows.
Three things, every time.
Independence
Advice from someone not incentivised by any product or platform. No resale, no referral fees.
Advisory, not infrastructure
A high-level CIO-style function that guides strategy - not another party operating your systems.
Flexibility
Decisions structured so you're never painted into a corner - change course as the firm and market evolve.
Underpinning all three: confidence that your adviser genuinely understands how an accounting practice works - not IT in the abstract, but IT in the context of what your people do every day.
We sit above delivery, not in competition with it - enabling your internal IT and MSP, and bringing focus.
Set the direction, then hold the course.
This is a director / principal-level engagement. The directors and principals of your firm work directly with an FGS director or principal for advice and guidance - leader to leader, throughout.
Setting the direction
A short, defined piece of work that turns paralysis into a plan that aligns the firm and its leadership.
The CIO seat at the table
An advisory-board-style engagement giving you a fractional CIO function on a regular cadence.
Clear lines drawn.
Our value as your fractional CIO depends on sitting above the fray, so the boundary matters. Where delivery or implementation is needed, we scope and quote it separately - keeping the advisory relationship clean.
What we do
What sits elsewhere
Common questions
Does this replace our internal IT or MSP?+
No. We sit above delivery, not in competition with it. We complement your internal IT and your MSP - bringing the strategic layer and focus that operational teams aren't positioned to provide. We advise and direct; we don't operate your systems.
How is this different from your project work?+
Implementation, optimisation and project management are about delivery. Advisory Board is about direction - the strategic layer that decides what should be delivered, in what order, and why. If delivery follows, we scope and quote it separately so the advisory relationship stays independent.
Do we have to commit to an ongoing retainer up front?+
No. Most firms start with the Foundation phase to set direction. We review the ongoing scope once priorities are clear, so you only commit to the level of support the firm needs.
What is a fractional CIO, and does a firm our size need one?+
A fractional CIO is a director-level technology leader who sits at your partner table part-time, instead of a full-time hire you cannot justify. The trigger is rarely size - it is complexity. If the app stack has grown past what one partner can hold in their head, if technology decisions keep getting deferred to the next partners’ meeting, or if nobody in the firm owns the answer to “what are we doing about this in two years”, the role is already needed. Whether you need it full-time is a separate question.
How much does a fractional CIO cost compared to hiring one?+
A CIO with genuine accounting-practice experience is a six-figure salary plus on-costs, and the market for them is thin. A fractional arrangement buys the same seniority for the number of days a month the firm actually needs, with no recruitment risk and no redundancy exposure if priorities shift. Most firms start with the Foundation phase to set direction, then agree an ongoing cadence once the priorities are clear.
Explore other services
If you have a specific change project in mind, our project management or implementation services are more suitable.