Fractional CIO for manufacturers and distributors

Your IT, finally owned.

Executive IT leadership for manufacturers and distributors who’ve outgrown their MSP but don’t need a full-time CIO. ERP, migrations, vendor control, and a plan your leadership team can actually read.

Start with an IT Control Assessment Book a 30-minute call

Why companies call us

It’s rarely “we need a CIO.” It’s usually one of these, and underneath it, the same problem: nobody on your side owns IT.

  • Taking control back from the MSP. Your MSP runs the company’s IT by default. We put an owner on your side, rewrite what the MSP is responsible for, and replace them if it comes to that.
  • ERP upgrades and migrations. Macola, Prophet 21, and everything connected to them. We plan the move, manage the vendors, and protect your data through cutover.
  • Acquisitions and tenant migrations. Buying, selling, or rebranding means moving email, files, and identities without stopping the business. We run it with a date and a plan.
  • When the IT person leaves. We stabilize what’s there, document it, and help you decide whether to rehire, outsource, or do a bit of both.
  • Security that holds up to questions. Insurance renewals, customer questionnaires, and audits. We close the gaps and give you answers you can stand behind.
  • Reports leadership can trust. The answers are already in your ERP. We get them into reports your team actually opens.

An MSP sells tickets. A fractional CIO owns the outcome.

When the MSP runs IT

  • Decisions get made one ticket at a time.
  • The roadmap is whatever they sell next.
  • Nobody’s sure what the contract actually covers.
  • Leadership hears about IT when something breaks.

With a Fractional Syndicate CIO

  • One accountable owner, working for you.
  • A roadmap tied to how the business makes money.
  • Every vendor held to a written scope.
  • A monthly report leadership can read in ten minutes.

We don’t get rid of MSPs. Most of our clients keep one for help desk and end-user support. What changes is who’s in charge.

Three ways to work together

Most clients start with the assessment, move into a transition project, then keep us on retainer. Each one stands on its own.

The work isn’t done until it’s running.

Every engagement follows the same four stages. We don’t advise and disappear.

  1. Diagnose. Interview the people, map the systems, and find where the friction really lives. Output: assessment report.
  2. Architect. A roadmap tied to your business goals, including what not to build, and why. Output: prioritized roadmap.
  3. Execute. Lead the work, hold vendors accountable, and make decisions in real time. Output: working systems and documentation.
  4. Operationalize. Train the team, embed the process, and give leadership the visibility to keep it running. Output: playbooks and reporting.

An industrial services company takes its IT back.

Their MSP had run everything for years. Leadership wanted control back, on a fixed date, with no gap in support.

  1. Designed a layered IT model. We own infrastructure and security, a new internal IT manager owns business systems, and a smaller MSP handles end-user support.
  2. Managed the exit under the existing contract. Formal notice, a hard exit date, and seven dated transition gates.
  3. Ran the replacement search. A written service boundary document, structured interviews, and a shortlist priced by ticket or dedicated staff, not per user.
  4. Put leadership back in the loop. A monthly report that shows where IT stands, what it costs, and what’s next.

Plans from us. Platforms from Syndicate Systems, if you want them.

Some clients want the work done too. Our sister company runs managed Azure, reporting, and identity governance as monthly services.

Managed Azure

Your cloud infrastructure, built, secured, and watched.

Reporting as a service

ERP data turned into leadership reports, with no Power BI licenses needed.

Identity and access governance

Who has access to what, reviewed and kept clean.

Fractional Syndicate clients are never required to use Syndicate Systems. When we recommend it, we’ll say so plainly and help you compare the alternatives.

Visit Syndicate Systems

Probably not a fit if…

  • You need a help desk. We’ll help you pick a good one.
  • You already have a CIO and a full IT team.
  • You’re an early-stage startup still building the product.

Who you’ll work with

Cody

I’ve spent my career inside the systems mid-sized manufacturers and distributors run on: Macola, Prophet 21, Microsoft 365, Azure, and the MSPs around them. I’ve rebuilt the reporting, run the migrations, and managed the MSP exits.

You work with me directly. Not a rotating bench, and not a sales team.

Start with a conversation.

Thirty minutes. Tell us what’s going on. You’ll leave with at least one thing worth doing, whether or not we work together.