Strategic Partnership
Strategic Advisory Retainer.
Executive technology judgment for the firms between mid-market and a full-time CIO.
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Weekly cadence
executive touch plus monthly deep-dive
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Board-ready output
quarterly strategic planning report
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$7,500–$10,000 / month
by engagement depth and scope
Why this matters.
There is a decision your IT manager cannot make and your board cannot wait on — and the fractional CIO market offers two options: a junior consultant at $3,000/month or a large firm at $15,000+/month with associates doing the work the partner sold. Neither is the right answer. Strategic Advisory is built for the organizations whose technology decisions carry executive weight — M&A diligence, ERP selection, security posture at the board level, AI readiness — and who need a single senior practitioner with real accountability for the outcome.
What we do.
A weekly 45–60 minute executive touch — active decisions, board questions, anything in flight that needs a senior read. A monthly executive deep-dive for the topics that need more than a standing cadence can hold. A quarterly strategic planning session producing board-ready output: prior quarter summary, next quarter priorities, risk register, IT spend review. Direct involvement in major technology decisions — not review-and-comment, but co-owned. On-call advisory at a 48-hour response target between sessions.
Engagements run on a three-month minimum. After that, cancel any time on thirty days' notice — the same terms as every other Stratum retainer.
What you walk away with.
A senior practitioner who already knows your environment when the next board question lands. Quarterly written records that can go to a board, an investor, or a buyer in a diligence process. A technology decision history — what was decided, why, and what it was built on. If you bring on a full-time CIO later, that record travels with them.
What's in scope.
Weekly executive touch (45–60 min). Monthly executive deep-dive (90–120 min) with written summary. Quarterly strategic planning session — board-ready written report inside five business days. Co-ownership of major technology decisions — RFP review, vendor selection, M&A IT diligence, security program direction, AI readiness. Quarterly IT spend optimization review. Board and CFO communication support (fair-use, up to 2 hours/quarter). On-call advisory at 48-hour response target.
What's out of scope.
Day-to-day IT operations or helpdesk — that's your IT team's lane. After-hours on-call coverage. Implementation of recommendations — those are separate project engagements scoped on their own SOW. Vendor procurement execution. Direct staff supervision. Board attendance beyond the two-hour quarterly fair-use cap without a Change Order.
This is the right engagement when…
- You have an internal IT team — a manager and a few admins — but the questions landing from the board or the CFO are beyond what they can answer.
- You're heading into a major technology decision — ERP modernization, M&A diligence, a security maturity program — and you need someone senior in the room, not just reviewing the output.
- Your board or investors are asking questions about technology risk, AI readiness, or IT spend that require a credible executive answer.
- A fractional CIO firm quoted you $15,000/month and handed you an associate. You need the practitioner, not the firm.
- You're at the inflection point where the next hire or the next acquisition will determine whether IT is an asset or a liability for the next five years.
What you receive across the engagement.
- Weekly Touch Summary Brief written recap of decisions and open items from the weekly session — delivered by email within one business day. Not a status report; a decision log.
- Monthly Executive Deep-Dive Summary Written summary (1–3 pages) of the monthly session: what was analyzed, what was decided, what's open. Delivered within two business days.
- Quarterly Strategic Planning Report Board-ready written output: prior quarter technology performance, next quarter priorities, risk register update, IT spend optimization findings, and recommended decisions. Delivered within five business days of the planning session.
- Major Decision Involvement Direct co-ownership of RFPs, vendor selections, M&A diligence, security program direction. Not review-and-comment — present in the decision.
- On-Call Advisory 48-hour response target between cadences. For the questions that surface between sessions and can't wait until the next scheduled touch.
Here's the kind of work this engagement covers across a quarter — forward-looking illustration, not a redacted client excerpt.
How we're different.
- Vendor-neutral by design. No reseller margins, no referral arrangements, no incentive to steer toward any vendor. The recommendation is the recommendation.
- Principal-led delivery. Corey is the practitioner. No associate doing the work the partner sold. No handoff after the first call. The person you spec the engagement with is the person in the room at the quarterly planning session.
- Built on real enterprise depth. Twelve-plus years leading IT infrastructure across mid-market and enterprise environments. $20.5M+ in budget responsibility. Multi-cloud transformation. The practitioner has been in the room where these decisions happen.
Heading into a major technology decision? Let's talk about what executive advisory looks like for your organization.
Indiana · U.S. remote