Fractional IT Leadership — Embedded

What you'll walk away with

• Active IT leadership presence (internal and to the MSP)
• MSP oversight with proactive task direction and SLA accountability
• Vendor review cadence covering critical SaaS and infrastructure contracts
• Quarterly Technology & Risk reports (inherited from Advisory)
• Hands-on leadership of strategic IT projects

The problem this solves

Some companies need more than a senior voice in the room once a month — they need someone actively driving. When IT has no in-house leader, an MSP that can't think past the next ticket, and more work piling up than monthly check-ins can absorb, the gap isn't strategy. It's ownership.

Advisory is right when the company needs strategic cover above a functioning operation. Embedded is for when IT needs an owner — someone accountable for what gets done, not just what gets recommended.

What the engagement looks like

The Embedded retainer runs at roughly 20 to 40 hours per month — a materially different intensity than Advisory. The cadence reflects that.

Weekly: A short leadership touchpoint — call or async — to keep momentum on active initiatives and make sure decisions aren't waiting two weeks. I maintain the same cadence with the MSP: directing priorities, not reviewing what they've already done.

Monthly: A formal MSP oversight review — not a ticket summary, but a structured look at what was completed, what's open, and what the MSP should work on next. The scorecard tracks SLA performance, open risk items, and coverage gaps.

Quarterly: A vendor review across critical SaaS contracts — renewals, pricing, architectural fit — alongside the board-ready Technology and Risk report.

Project leadership: When there's an active initiative — ERP migration, identity platform stand-up, M365 cleanup, M&A IT integration, incident response — I lead it. I own the project plan, run the working sessions, and hold vendors and the MSP accountable.

Everything from Advisory carries forward: quarterly reports, monthly check-ins, rolling risk register, maintained roadmap.

Virtual-first. On-site available when needed; travel costs covered by the client.

Who it's most useful for

• Companies at commercial launch or immediately post-launch that need active IT leadership through a high-stakes transition period
• Post-incident situations — cybersecurity breach, major outage, audit finding — where IT operations need rapid restructuring with someone accountable for the outcome
• M&A activity requiring IT due diligence, integration planning, or day-one operational readiness
• Regulatory remediation after an FDA inspection finding or third-party audit, where a remediation plan needs an owner, not an advisor
• Companies that aren't ready to hire a full-time IT Director but have the full workload that one would carry — and need it covered now, not when the search concludes

What you'll walk away with

With Advisory, you have a senior strategist. With Embedded, you have an owner.

In practice: technology projects close. The MSP operates with direction rather than autonomy. Vendor contracts get reviewed before they auto-renew on unfavorable terms. The risk register gets actively reduced, not just maintained. When something breaks or a regulatory question surfaces, there's a named person to call who already knows the environment.

Embedded is closer to an interim CIO than a consulting arrangement. You're not retaining someone to advise on decisions — you're retaining someone to make them and drive them to completion.

Common questions

How is this different from hiring a full-time IT Director? Lower total cost, no recruiting lead time, and a planned exit built in from the start. A full-time search takes months; Embedded is operational in the first week. It's explicitly not permanent — structured around a defined scope, not an indefinite role.

Will you step back when we hire full-time? Yes — planned handoff is part of how the engagement is designed. I document the environment, transfer the roadmap and risk register, and support onboarding so nothing is lost. If the goal is standing up a full internal IT function, the IT Department Stand-Up engagement is built for exactly that.

Do you work alongside an existing IT person? Yes. Senior cover above a junior internal lead is a common shape — someone handling day-to-day operations who doesn't yet own strategy or vendor relationships. I provide that layer without displacing them.

Do hours flex month to month? Within the band, yes. Heavier months happen; quiet quarters too. If the work consistently falls below 20 hours, it moves to the Advisory retainer. If a discrete project pushes materially above 40, we scope it separately rather than strain the retainer.

Deliverables

• Everything from Advisory (quarterly reports, monthly check-ins, rolling risk register, maintained roadmap)
• MSP oversight scorecard (monthly)
• Vendor review log
• Project status reports for active initiatives