Advisory · part-time CIO
Someone has to decide what technology stays, what goes, and what AI should do next. At present that falls to an owner or a COO with no time for it. We fill that role part time. You get a CIO who owns the plan, the vendors, and the budget, and who reports to you against numbers you can see.
Illustrative quarter. Every tier reports against the same dashboard.
In one sentence
A part-time CIO who decides what technology you buy, what to stop paying for, and where AI fits next.
One engagement, in this order. You can start at the stage that fits you.
Advisory · monthly agreement
Most small and mid-sized companies already have IT, and usually an outside firm on contract to run it. What they do not have is one person whose job is to decide. Which systems stay, which go, what the budget is, and where AI fits next all land on an owner or a COO with no time for them.
A vCIO fills that role for a set monthly fee. Fractional CIO services like this give you the decisions without the salary. The work runs from the dashboard and from what you actually spend on technology. Every recommendation is tied to a number you can see, not an opinion you have to trust. If you have no help desk or no one who will show up on site, the vCIO appoints that partner and stays on the relationship; they bill you.
Three tiers cover the range: advice each quarter, a monthly program, or a weekly place in your leadership team. Scope is set per company, and pricing is quoted after a first conversation rather than published on a rate card. Hiring us for advice carries no obligation to buy any of the other work.
Who does what
Three tiers
A standing CIO relationship for companies that need decisions made a few times a year, with a number behind each one.
Fits: Owner-led firms with a stable set of systems and an IT firm that carries out the work well.
A part-time CIO who runs the technology program month to month and directs your IT firm, your vendors, and the AI plan.
Fits: Companies with change underway that want an executive to own it.
An executive seat in the leadership team for companies going through a merger, a system replacement, or rapid growth.
Fits: Firms in transition that need a decision-maker in the room, not a report.
Pricing is quoted after a first conversation. There is no public rate card because scope varies widely between a stable firm and one mid-acquisition.
Who it is for
Scope
Where this has run
Who buys this
The order
This is the entry point for most engagements. The first conversation covers the setup and this work is scoped from what it finds.
Questions
A vCIO is a part-time chief information officer. It is someone senior who owns your technology plan, your vendor decisions, your budget, and your AI work, for a set monthly fee instead of a full-time salary. Third Shift calls its version vCIO Solutions, and it comes in three tiers.
vCIO Solutions has three tiers. Advisory meets each quarter, Program meets each month, and Embedded gives you a weekly place in your leadership meetings. Each tier adds scope, from a standing quarterly review of the plan to a decision-maker in the room. Scope and price are set per company.
No. The vCIO directs your IT firm: priorities, performance, escalations, and renewals. Your IT firm keeps the day-to-day work of running the network. If you do not have an IT firm, the vCIO finds one and stays on that process. What changes is that someone is now in charge of what they work on.
Yes. If your company has no help desk or no MSP, we select a firm that can do that day-to-day work, set the priorities they work against, and manage the process. They contract with you and bill you. We may earn a referral under our agreement with the provider. We do not claim the recommendation is vendor-independent, and we do not publish a partner list.
vCIO pricing is quoted after a first conversation, sized to the decisions your company actually needs made. There is no published rate card. A stable firm with one IT vendor and a company in the middle of an acquisition need very different amounts of help, and one price would be wrong for both.
No. A company has a Third Shift board member or Third Shift services, never both. A board member must be independent of the vendors the board oversees. If a board seat is held and you later want our services or vCIO, the director resigns the appointment first. If you are a client and want a board member, the engagement ends first.
Start here
The first conversation sets the tier and the scope, with no obligation to buy delivery work.