An MSP keeps your systems running, and many bundle a "vCIO" into the package. The catch: that advisor's employer profits when you buy more of the MSP's own services, so the advice and the sales motion share a bank account.
Service 01 · Fractional CIO
A fractional CIO who answers to you, not to a vendor.
A fractional CIO is a senior IT executive who joins your leadership team part-time to own technology strategy, security, governance, and vendor oversight. Devantas provides independent, vendor-neutral fractional CIO leadership from Omaha, Nebraska — we resell nothing and earn no commission, so the recommendation is yours, not a sales motion.
Need product and engineering leadership instead? See fractional CTO →
01 — The fit
When does a fractional CIO make sense?
When technology decisions keep landing on your desk — security, systems, vendors, compliance, budget — faster than anyone in the building can evaluate them, but the workload doesn't yet justify a full-time CIO's salary.
A fractional CIO takes that seat: senior IT leadership on a fraction of a schedule, accountable to your business and no one else. Devantas is based in Omaha and holds that seat for companies across Nebraska, and remotely for teams nationwide.
02 — The distinction
How is a fractional CIO different from an MSP's vCIO?
A Devantas fractional CIO holds no reseller relationships and earns no commission on anything we recommend. We sit on your side of the table, oversee your MSP and vendors, challenge their proposals, and build the roadmap around your interests. Independent, not bundled.
03 — The seat
What does a fractional CIO own?
- Technology strategy, roadmap, and budget ownership
- Security posture, governance, and compliance
- Vendor, MSP, and contract oversight — on your side of the table
- Risk management and business continuity
- Data management and governance
- Infrastructure and build-versus-buy decisions
- Executive and board reporting in plain language
04 — The experience
Who are you actually hiring?
Nearly three decades in technology, including CIO of an investor-led family office deploying private capital, and Senior Database Administrator and Project Engineer in Data Management and Access at Union Pacific, working with highly sensitive operational data.
That is real CIO experience under real regulatory constraints — financial, investor, and protected-health-information rules — not support work relabeled as strategy. It is a bar a bundled vCIO rarely has to meet. Read the founder's story →
05 — The arithmetic
What does a full-time CIO cost?
Average salary for a full-time chief information officer in the United States, before bonus or benefits.
Salary.com, October 2026Typical executive search for a critical leadership role, from kickoff to an accepted offer. C-suite searches often run longer.
JRG Partners, executive search benchmarksA fractional seat costs a fraction of the first number and starts inside the second — and unlike a full-time hire, it comes with no incentive to buy more technology than you need.
06 — How we work
How does an engagement run?
Four phases. You can stop after any of them. Every engagement starts with an assessment you own outright — if the plan says keep what you have and fix two things, that is what the plan will say.
Assess
We map systems, spend, contracts, risk, and workflow. You get an inventory of what you own, what it costs, where it is fragile, and the three things costing you the most in time or money.
Architect
A written plan with sequencing, cost ranges, and a named owner for every decision. Written for your operators and your board, not for a technology audience.
Build
A small senior team ships working software every two weeks. You see it running, in your environment, before you approve the next increment. No offshore hand-off, no ticket queue.
Operate
We stay on the hook — monitoring, patching, iteration, and the leadership seat if you want it. Documentation and source stay with you either way.
07 — Ways to start
How can you hold the seat?
Pick the number of hours a month the seat gets. Every package starts with the same assessment, and moves from advice to ownership to delivery as the hours grow.
Owner-led companies with no technology leader, where decisions about systems, spend, and vendors have started reaching the leadership table faster than anyone there can evaluate them.
Companies whose IT keeps things running but no one owns the roadmap, budget, vendors, or compliance, or that need a credible technology plan for a board or investors.
Companies ready to act on the plan and short of a team to build it: replacing a legacy system, launching a customer platform, or putting automation into daily work, with the seat and the builders under one accountable name.
08 — FAQ
Fractional CIO questions, answered.
What is a fractional CIO?
A senior IT executive who joins your leadership team part-time to own technology strategy, security, governance, and vendor oversight, without the cost of a full-time hire.
When does a business need a fractional CIO?
When technology, security, and vendor decisions reach your leadership table faster than anyone there can evaluate them, but the workload does not yet justify a full-time CIO salary.
How is a fractional CIO different from a vCIO from my MSP?
An MSP's vCIO works for a company that profits when you buy more of its services. A Devantas fractional CIO holds no reseller relationships and earns no commission, so we oversee your MSP and vendors from your side of the table and recommend only what serves you.
Can you work alongside our existing MSP or IT team?
Yes. A fractional CIO oversees and directs your MSP and internal IT rather than replacing them — setting strategy, holding vendors accountable, and owning the roadmap.
Do you provide fractional CIO services in Omaha?
Yes. Devantas is based in the Omaha metro, so companies in Omaha and across Nebraska get a fractional CIO on site for assessments, kickoffs, and quarterly planning, with the day-to-day work handled remotely. Remote engagements with companies nationwide are routine.
What regulated-data experience do you have?
Executive CIO experience at an investor-led family office governing sensitive financial and investor information, database administration and data-access engineering at Union Pacific, and work under protected-health-information rules.
How much does a fractional CIO cost?
A fraction of a full-time CIO's roughly $349,000 average salary. Devantas retainers are priced by the hours the seat gets each month — Advisor (20), Operator (30), or Builder (40) — and every one starts with an assessment you own outright.
Work with us
Bring us the technology decision you've been putting off.
We'll tell you what we'd do — and because we sell nothing underneath it, you'll know the advice is clean.
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