Fractional CIO
The fund expects valuation, not governance. We make your IT audit-ready before due diligence arrives.
So the IT does not become a discount on the multiple. And a shot at a higher one: governance takes out the risk a buyer would otherwise discount for or demand an escrow against.
We come in as Fractional CIO: inventory, target architecture, roadmap, and a reporting structure the fund can read. At the next due diligence or at exit, what counts is what is documented and consolidated, not what is still running somewhere.
Typical fit: a fund- or PE-backed portfolio company, an exit horizon of roughly three years, IT that grew without governance.
Whether the fund is sourcing the deal or the company is already in the portfolio, the question is the same: does the IT hold up in a due diligence?
If you have an IT lead, we work for them, not in their place.
The first phase
Goal: what a buyer examines in due diligence is documented and evidenced, before they ask.
- Inventory
- Target architecture
- Roadmap
- Reporting
- Handoff Your call
- Mandate, cancellable
- IT inventory. What is in place, what it costs, what runs twice.
- Target architecture. A target state that every subsequent project can align to. Your call.
- Roadmap. What comes first, what can wait, and what it costs.
- A reporting structure for the fund. Numbers it can read.
- Handover. The target picture, the roadmap and the reporting are yours, with or without us. This is the point where you decide.
- Mandate, cancellable. If you want it, we carry the role on. No framework contract, no automatic renewal.
- The plan carries the name of your IT lead, and the findings go to them first.
15,000 to
25,000 euros
- Price
- Fixed, assessment included
- After that
- Mandate, 5,000 to 12,000 euros/month
- Project start
- In 2 to 4 weeks
After the first phase, you decide whether we take on the mandate. The ongoing mandate is 5,000 to 12,000 euros per month, depending on scope, cancellable, six to twelve months. Whoever fills the role is named in your contract.
Sample data, no client material
Excerpt from a fund report
| Area | State | Movement | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| IT cost | run rate below plan | two license blocks cancelled | effect by the quarter |
| Consolidation | 12 tools down to 7 | two replacements underway | rest at renewal date |
| Identities | HR system as the source | integration underway | reconciliation each quarter |
| Governance | decision paths documented | in place | quarterly review |
| Security | three findings open | all with owner and deadline | close by the deadline |
State, movement, next step: this is how the fund reads the picture without asking. Your report shows your portfolio company.
Case 3
A fund-owned company
IT had grown instead of being built, no governance, no CIO. At the next due diligence, that alone would have counted against them.
What the IT costs on the multiple in due diligence depends on the deal: the multiple times the delta in adjusted earnings, plus the discount an unresolved finding triggers in the purchase agreement. We work it out with you instead of inventing a number.
Fractional CIO mandate, six to twelve months. What came out of it:
- Systems consolidated, duplicate tools and licenses retired, running costs reduced; we did not put a figure on the saving at the time, which is why no number stands here.
- Migrated from on-premises to the cloud.
- Two acquisitions integrated technically.
- Target architecture and roadmap that every project has aligned to since. There was no target state before.
- Governance put in place: decision paths, responsibilities, identities and access, the HR system as the source, reporting to the fund.
- Security brought up to standard.
The mandate was extended.
On the mandate
Not a standalone product with its own price.
Consolidation, acquisitions and governance are not separate offers. Once the first phase shows what runs twice or where an acquisition puts two estates side by side, the work becomes part of the running mandate, at no extra charge.
Across several portfolio companies
If you hold more than one portfolio company, we offer a portfolio framework: negotiated rates across several portfolio companies, your choice, no automatic renewal. A repeatable standard we apply at every further portfolio company. The standard stays. And so does what we already know about your portfolio.
How deep that goes depends on how different the portfolio companies are. We clarify that before the contract, not inside it.
What we build, we hand over.
You get the documentation, the access and the knowledge behind it. You retain ownership of your systems. If something needs permanent support, we tell you beforehand. Then you decide whether we take it on.
You do not get a logo wall.
You get a phone call: thirty minutes with one of our clients, in confidence.
We do not name our customers publicly. Names and references are on the table in the first conversation.
Intro call
We reply within one business day.
What to put in the first email
- Who you are and your company.
- What it is about: the trigger, the real problem. A sentence or two is enough.
- If a customer, an investor or a regulator has set a deadline: add the date.
- After an incident: where the forensics stand.