Fractional CIO · IT Strategy · Cloud & Security

Enterprise IT leadership, without the executive salary.

Most growing businesses can't justify a $200K+ CIO, so they end up with reactive IT, security gaps, and cloud sprawl. Crawford IT brings a career CIO to your leadership team part-time, for a fraction of the cost.

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20+years CIO/CTO experience

< $200monthly overhead

15 hrs/wksenior focus on your IT

The SMB IT gap

You've outgrown break-fix IT.

At 20–250 employees, technology decisions start carrying real risk, and your MSP or in-house admin isn't equipped to make strategic calls. That's where most businesses stall.

Reactive, not strategic

IT decisions made by whoever answers the ticket. No roadmap, no budget plan, no alignment with business goals.

Security you're hoping is enough

Antivirus and a firewall aren't a security program. One phishing email or ransomware incident can halt the business for weeks.

Cloud sprawl & hidden cost

Microsoft 365, random SaaS tools, and shadow IT add up fast. Nobody owns the stack, and nobody knows what it actually costs.

Why a fractional CIO

A CIO who has done this at scale, not a consultant with a deck.

The difference between a $50K IT plan and a $500K mistake is leadership that has seen both outcomes. You get someone who has owned enterprise IT strategy, security programs, and cloud transformations for decades.

Strategy before spending. A roadmap that prioritizes the highest-risk, highest-ROI moves first, not a shopping list.
Vendor-agnostic guidance. Advice that isn't tied to a reseller's commission. You own the architecture.
Executive-level translation. IT risk and investment explained in business terms the leadership team and board can act on.
Right-sized for you. Engagements scaled to a 15-hour-per-week practice, no bloated retainers.

IT maturity snapshot

Identity & accessNeeds work

Backup & recoveryAt risk

Cloud cost controlDrift detected

Security policyGap

Compliance postureOn track

After 90 days with Crawford IT

Prioritized roadmap · risk register · budget-aligned plan

Engagements

Three ways to work together.

Start with an assessment, move to ongoing advisory, or bring in a specialist for a defined project. Each engagement is scoped to fit a part-time practice.

IT Strategy Assessment

$1,500 one-time

A fixed-scope diagnostic of your current IT, security, and cloud posture, delivered as a prioritized 90-day roadmap.

Security & risk gap analysis
Cloud & SaaS cost audit
Prioritized roadmap (90 days)
~10 hours delivery, 1–2 week turnaround

Fractional CIO Retainer

$2,000 / month

Ongoing IT leadership as part of your team: roadmap execution, vendor decisions, and leadership advisory.

Monthly roadmap & priority reviews
Vendor & contract guidance
Security program oversight
~8 hours/month, senior advisory

Cloud / Security Project

$5K–$15K per project

A defined engagement covering cloud migration planning, security remediation, or compliance prep, delivered on a fixed scope.

Migration & architecture plans
Security remediation roadmap
Compliance readiness (HIPAA, SOC 2)
Advisory-led, ~20 hours delivery

See full service details →

How it works

From first call to roadmap in four steps.

No lengthy sales cycle. A 30-minute conversation determines whether there's a fit, and most engagements start within two weeks.

Strategy call

A free 30-minute conversation to understand your business, current IT pain, and where leadership is feeling the gap.

Assessment

A fixed-scope diagnostic of your IT, security, and cloud posture, delivered as a prioritized roadmap you can act on immediately.

Retainer or project

Move to ongoing fractional CIO advisory, or scope a defined cloud/security project, whichever fits the moment.

Execute & review

Monthly roadmap reviews, vendor decisions, and risk tracking, keeping IT aligned to where the business is going.

See the full engagement process →

A companion practice

Already thinking about AI? That's a separate conversation.

Crawford IT focuses on IT strategy, security, and cloud leadership. For AI adoption, deploying AI tools into your workflows and team, that's handled by our companion practice, Crawford AI. Same operator, different discipline.

Crawford AI

AI adoption consulting for professionals and small businesses, done-for-you AI playbooks and implementation built by the same career CIO.

AI readiness & workflow audit
Tool selection & deployment
Team enablement & playbooks
5–10 hours back per week

FAQ

Common questions.

An MSP keeps your systems running: monitoring, helpdesk, patching. Crawford IT sits above that: it's the leadership layer that decides what to run, what to replace, what to secure, and how it all supports the business. Think of it as the CIO your MSP can't be.

For most SMBs, yes, this is advisory and strategy work, not hands-on ticket resolution. The model is intentionally scoped so capacity is the binding constraint, not billable hours. As your needs grow, engagements scale up deliberately rather than spreading thin.

A prioritized 90-day roadmap covering security gaps, cloud and SaaS cost issues, and the highest-ROI IT moves, plus a risk register and a budget-aligned action plan. It's designed to be actionable whether or not you continue into a retainer.

Yes. Crawford IT is vendor-agnostic and often works alongside an existing MSP or in-house admin, providing the strategic direction and accountability layer they typically lack. You keep your vendors; you gain the leadership to direct them well.

Small and mid-size businesses across professional services, healthcare, financial services, and other regulated environments, particularly organizations that need security and compliance rigor but can't justify a full-time technology executive.