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For owners of $5M–$50M businesses
Does Anyone Actually Own Your Technology Strategy?
Get an independent fractional CIO who sells no tools, takes no commissions, and answers to one person. You.
A short application, then a 30-minute call directly with John Barker. No cost, no obligation.
Watch: What a Fractional CIO Does, and What Your IT Provider Doesn't
What a fractional CIO is, how it differs from your IT provider, and how an engagement works. Sound on.
I Take Five of These Engagements at a Time
I deliver every engagement personally, start to finish. There is no junior team and no handoff, which is the entire point, and also the limit. I hold five active engagements at a time. If one of the openings is yours, you work directly with someone who has led technology and security for federal contractors, Fortune 500s, and multi-billion-dollar family enterprises, holds an MBA, CISSP, and PMP, and teaches NSA-approved cybersecurity courses at the University of Arizona.
How an Engagement Works
Phase 1: The Technology Assessment and Roadmap
A fixed-fee engagement, delivered personally, that produces one thing: an independent roadmap for your technology and cybersecurity, built around how your business actually runs, not a vendor's product catalog. I find what you're paying for that you don't need, where your real risk sits, and what's worth spending on next, then hand you a prioritized plan in plain English. Most assessments run about 45 days. The fixed thing is the deliverable, not the calendar.
Phase 2: Ongoing Oversight
Once the roadmap is in place, I can stay on as your fractional CIO: owning the plan, holding your IT provider accountable to it, and making sure the right things happen in the right order. I don't do the engineering. I make sure it gets done right. Phase 2 is optional, and you decide after you've seen the roadmap.
This Practice Exists for Two Reasons
One
Because the people currently advising you on technology, your IT provider, your software vendors, the "vCIO" bundled into your IT contract, are compensated based on what you buy. That isn't advice, it's sales, however competent or well-meaning they are. You deserve a strategy from someone with no financial stake in the answer.
Two
Because spending more on technology is not the same as getting more from it, and more software is not the same as more security. The win is almost never another tool. It's a clear picture of what you're paying for and where the real risk lives, the discipline to spend only where it matters, and a plan you can read without translation. That is what you'll have on the last day of the assessment.
If Your Business Has Outgrown Its Technology, That's the Right Reason to Be Here.
Most owners I talk to are in the same position. The business has grown, the customers are bigger, the requirements are stricter, and the technology underneath is still the setup they started with, patched and added to along the way. They trust their IT people, and they still couldn't tell you, in plain English, whether it fits the business they've become. That uncertainty isn't a sign you've done something wrong. It's a sign you've never had an independent voice in the room. That's the seat I fill.
Watch: How I Saved One Client $250,000 a Year, Without Weakening Their Security
This company was paying $250K a year for equipment and licenses nobody was using. An audit of the usage logs found it. Here's how that happened, and how we fixed it without weakening their security
What People I've Worked With Say
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
John has been our vCIO resource for over 8 years now. As the lead accountant for a prominent family in N.VA worth multiple 9 figures it is important to have someone like John that not only understands the technology and security needed to protect our assets but also the business side.
- Amy Roberts, Former Lead Accountant for a Prominent N.VA Family
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
I have had the privilege of knowing and working with John Barker for 17 years. His business solutions are both thoughtful and practical. He is a life learner, so I know when I work with John, I am getting the latest thinking across the industry of thought leaders. His tools and templates have provided me with realistic and practical prompts to get started on various projects.
- Cara Parker, President, CParker Consulting
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
The technology information and connections John has allowed us to make a quick go/no-go decision on key directions of the business.
- Rialand Jones, Owner, Lammar Marie
Ready to Find Out If a Fractional CIO Is Right for You?
What You Get
Inside the Technology Assessment
Step 1
Business Operations and Real Risk
Most technology assessments start with your technology. I start with your business. Who you serve, how you make money, where your growth is coming from, which workflows touch sensitive data, and where a failure or incident would actually hurt. This is the part the standard IT checklist skips, and it's the difference between a generic report and a roadmap built around what matters to your company specifically.
Step 2
Technology, Assets, and Actual Utilization
Then we look at what you're already paying for. Asset inventory, software and tools, license counts, and the usage logs that show what's actually being used and what isn't. This is usually where the first real money turns up: tools and licenses no one logs into, capabilities you're paying for twice, and gaps your vendors never mentioned because they didn't sell them. It's exactly where the $250K in the case study on this page came from. The result is a clear picture of what's working, what's wasted, and what's actually missing.
Step 3
Your Technology Roadmap
You finish with one document: a prioritized roadmap, in plain English, that names where your real risks are, where your technology and security spend doesn't match the business, and what to address in what order. It's the analysis you need to set priorities, not a procurement quote. When you're ready to act on the first priority, you can take the roadmap to your own team, your IT provider, or have me stay on as your fractional CIO to drive the work against it. We can decide what fits when we get there.
Want to See If You're a Fit for One of the Five Slots?
What You Walk Away With
- A clear picture of where your real business risk lives and which technology actually serves the business, separate from what any vendor wants to sell you.
- An honest read on your current technology and security spend: what's working, what's wasted, and what's missing.
- A prioritized 12 to 24-month roadmap, in plain English, that your leadership team can act on.
- Direct access to an independent fractional CIO with no financial stake in your decisions, from start to finish.
One Last Thing.
You've read this far. That's not nothing. If you own a $5M to $50M business and any of this sounded familiar, the next step is a 30-minute conversation, not a contract. You bring the questions. I'll tell you whether a fractional CIO is the right fit for your situation, or whether something else is. Either way, you walk away with a clearer view than you came in with.
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