Advisor
From $2,500 /mo
~4 hrs/mo
Monthly leadership check-in plus advisory access.
- Monthly 1:1 with your fractional CIO/CTO
- Email and chat advisory access
- Light-touch roadmap and risk reviews
- Vendor and contract sanity checks
Fractional CIO & CTO Services
On this page
Part of: Fractional Leadership
Senior technology leadership for growing Australian businesses, on a monthly retainer instead of a full-time salary.
What we do
You’ve outgrown ad-hoc tech decisions. Your MSP keeps the lights on. Your team is smart but stretched thin on strategy. And a full-time CIO or CTO at $260k+ isn’t a hire that makes sense yet.
InnovateX provides fractional CIO and CTO services for Australian SMB and mid-market businesses (20–200 staff). On a monthly retainer, we become your embedded executive technology leader: setting strategy, owning governance, managing vendors, and making the calls you need someone in your corner to make.
Technology Strategy & Roadmap
Long-range tech direction tied to your business goals and growth plans.
Governance & Risk
Practical governance frameworks (Essential Eight cyber mitigation strategies">Essential 8, SMB1001, ITIL) sized for your business.
Architecture & Platform Design
Independent guidance on platform choices, integration patterns, and build-vs-buy.
Vendor & Budget Management
Ruthless vendor selection, contract review, and ongoing oversight to protect your spend.
Cyber Security Strategy
Risk-based security strategy aligned to ASD Essential Eight cyber mitigation strategies">Essential 8 and your compliance obligations.
AI & Digital Transformation
Pragmatic adoption of AI, automation, and modern platforms. No hype tax.
The same practice that delivered enterprise architecture leadership for a Queensland Government department and an Azure DevOps transformation for a national services firm. Available on a monthly retainer for Australian SMBs.
Virtual CIO or virtual CTO: which do you need?
Most SMBs we work with need a blend of both. The names matter less than the outcomes you need. The split usually looks like this:
Virtual CIO
Best fit when you need business-IT alignment, governance, and vendor leadership.
- Aligning technology investment with business strategy
- Governance, risk, and compliance (Essential Eight cyber mitigation strategies">Essential 8, SMB1001, ISO 27001)
- Vendor and supplier management (selection, contracts, oversight)
- Budget management and ROI on tech spend
- Board-ready reporting and exec-level communication
Virtual CTO
Best fit when you have a tech-heavy product or active transformation program.
- Architecture and platform decisions
- Engineering and product technology direction
- AI, automation, and digital transformation strategy
- Build-vs-buy and integration design
- Technical due diligence for funding rounds or M&A
Not sure which? Most clients start with a discovery call. We’ll help you figure out which lens fits, and most engagements end up blending elements of both as the relationship matures.
Choose the cadence that fits
Three named retainer tiers plus a custom option for complex programs. All retainers are rolling monthly with a 30-day notice period. We want to earn your business every month.
A full-time CIO or CTO costs $260,000–$320,000 a year in salary alone, before super, bonuses, and leave. The Advisor retainer is $30,000 a year. The same strategic thinking, without the headcount risk.
Partner
From $4,500 /mo
~8 hrs/mo
Monthly cadence with quarterly board prep and roadmap reviews.
- Everything in Advisor
- Quarterly board / leadership team prep
- Active roadmap ownership
- Vendor and budget oversight
- Cyber and compliance posture reviews
Embedded
From $8,500 /mo
~16+ hrs/mo
Weekly cadence with execution oversight on active programs.
- Everything in Partner
- Weekly leadership cadence
- Execution oversight on active programs
- Direct vendor and supplier engagement
- Board attendance on request
Custom Enterprise
Custom
scope-based
Multi-entity, M&A, or large transformation programs.
- Bespoke retainer and SLA
- Multi-entity / group structures
- M&A integration leadership
- Program-level transformation oversight
How an engagement runs
Our process is built for businesses that need clarity fast and steady leadership over time. The first month establishes the foundation; the rest of the engagement is steady cadence with quarterly reviews.
01
Discovery Call
A free 30-minute conversation to understand your business, your tech challenges, and whether fractional leadership is the right fit.
02
Onboarding & Current-State
In the first two weeks we get to know your environment, vendors, contracts, team, and key risks. You get a written current-state snapshot.
03
Roadmap & Cadence
We agree the strategic priorities, the engagement cadence, and the success measures. You get a 12-month roadmap aligned to your business plan.
04
Ongoing Leadership
We work alongside you on a monthly, fortnightly, or weekly cadence (depending on your tier) and review the engagement quarterly.
Why teams choose us
Senior tech leadership without the politics. Aussie SMB and mid-market focus. Frameworks applied pragmatically, not as box-ticking.
You get a senior consultant, not a sales rep
Every fractional engagement is run by a senior practitioner who has done the work in the field. No discovery handoff to a junior delivery team after the contract is signed.
Transparent on vendor relationships
Where we resell or partner with a vendor, we disclose it up-front. Strategic advice itself stays independent. Your roadmap follows your business, not a platform's margin.
Clear contracts, monthly billing
We sign engagement agreements that set rates, scope, and accountability. Billing stays monthly with a short notice period. No multi-year tie-ins, no exit penalties.
Built for SMB, not enterprise theatre
Frameworks applied pragmatically. We know your budget, team size, and tolerance for complexity, and we don't drag enterprise overhead into a 30-person business.
Who you’ll work with
Senior, hands-on technology leadership for every Fractional CIO/CTO engagement. No discovery handoff to a junior delivery team after the contract is signed.
Todd Johnson
Founder & Principal Consultant
Leads every Fractional CIO/CTO engagement at InnovateX. More than a decade across enterprise architecture, technology strategy, and AI architecture for Australian businesses and government clients, with day-to-day focus on technology roadmap, governance, vendor oversight, and board-level reporting. Founder of InnovateX Solutions and author of the XAF Connected Architecture framework.
Industries we work with
Working with AI in your business? Take the 5-minute Board AI Literacy Index for a scored view of where your board sits on AI governance and director capability.
AI leadership alongside your technology strategy? The Fractional Chief AI Officer service covers AI strategy, governance, risk, and board reporting as a separate specialism. Some clients run both.
Frequently asked questions
A fractional CIO focuses on business-IT alignment, governance, vendor and budget management, and exec-level reporting. A fractional CTO focuses on technology architecture, platform decisions, engineering direction, and digital transformation. Many SMBs need a blend of both. We’ll help you figure out the right mix during the discovery call.
ICT Strategy is a project-based engagement that delivers a strategy document, roadmap, or governance framework over 4–8 weeks. Fractional CIO/CTO is an ongoing monthly retainer. We become your embedded executive technology leader, not a one-off consultant.
Your MSP keeps the lights on (patching, helpdesk, network, cloud ops). We work above that layer on strategy, governance, vendor selection, and architecture. We work alongside your MSP, not in competition with them, and often help you get more value from your existing MSP relationship.
Engagement agreements set rates, scope, and accountability, with billing on a monthly cadence and a short notice period. No multi-year tie-ins, no exit penalties.
Most engagements begin within two weeks of the discovery call. Onboarding takes another 2–4 weeks before you see the full cadence in motion.
We’re based in Brisbane and work with clients Australia-wide. Most engagements run remote with onsite days arranged for board meetings, leadership offsites, or critical sessions. Onsite time can be added to any tier and is scoped per engagement.
Our sweet spot is 20–200 staff Australian businesses with annual revenue between $5M and $100M. We’ve worked with smaller and larger, but this is where fractional leadership delivers the highest return.
No. We’ll recommend a starting tier after the discovery call, and most clients adjust their tier within the first 90 days as the cadence settles. The Advisor tier is a low-risk way to try fractional leadership.
We work across professional services (legal, accounting), early learning, government, not-for-profit, and SMBs in regulated industries. Our governance and security framework experience translates across sectors.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call. We’ll discuss your business, your current tech challenges, and whether fractional leadership is the right fit.
Ready to add senior tech leadership to your team?
Talk to us about Fractional CIO and CTO services
A free 30-minute discovery call. We will discuss your business, your current tech challenges, and whether fractional leadership is the right shape for the next 12 months. Monthly billing, 30-day notice period, no multi-year tie-in. The only risk is 30 minutes of your time.