Executive IT Leadership, Without the Executive Salary
Executive IT Leadership, Without the Executive Salary
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Fractional IT Director and CIO services for growing companies. Get the roadmap, the security oversight, and the vendor accountability of a full-time IT leader at a fraction of the cost.
45 minutes. A scored one-page report in two business days. No cost, no obligation.
Built for Kansas City companies with 75–300 employees that have outgrown ad-hoc IT but don’t yet need a full-time CIO. Remote engagements welcome.
Your IT Strategy Shouldn't Be an Afterthought
Your IT Strategy Shouldn't Be an Afterthought
Most growing companies hit the same wall. IT decisions get made one at a time, by whoever is closest to the problem. There's no roadmap, nobody is checking whether security is actually where you think it is, and vendor contracts renew without anyone reading them.
It isn't negligence. It's what happens when a company outgrows informal IT before anyone is accountable for the whole picture.
I provide that accountability on a fractional basis - the strategy, oversight, and executive reporting of an IT Director, for companies that need the leadership but can’t justify a $200,000 hire.
Strategic IT Leadership
Strategic IT Leadership
A clear roadmap, smarter budgeting, and technology decisions that match where your business is actually going - including where AI fits and how to adopt it safely.
Recently: replaced an eight-figure hardware refresh with a planned move to AWS. 40 servers, 18 months, zero downtime.
Security & Compliance
Security & Compliance
Know where you stand before an audit or an incident forces the conversation. I assess your security posture, close the critical gaps, and get you ready for the customer security reviews that increasingly decide whether you win the deal — SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, or ISO 27001.
I took a 200-person software company from no compliance program to a passed first SOC 2 audit in 12 months.
Vendor & Cost Oversight
Vendor & Cost Oversight
Stop overpaying and under-receiving. I hold your IT provider accountable, cut wasted cloud and software spend, and make sure your environment runs reliably without it landing on your desk.
On one seven-figure software contract, I negotiated more than $100,000 in implementation, support, and training at no cost.
Zach Middleton
Principal · 18 years in IT, from 30-person companies to 1,000+ users
Who you'd be working with
Who you'd be working with
I’ve spent 18 years in IT, most of it in Kansas City, and most of it inside companies your size. I’ve been the only technician at a school district, the IT manager at a 350-person home services company, and the IT director at a 200-person software company. I’ve also been the Field CTO at a managed services provider responsible for about 50 clients. Today I’m an IT director for a global organization with 1,000+ users, where I own the budget, the vendor contracts, security, and compliance.
I’ve sat on every side of the table. I know what it’s like to be the one person responsible for everything, and I know what an MSP is and isn’t contracted to do, because I’ve worked inside two of them.
Also: Microsoft 365 ↔ Google Workspace migrations, legacy Active Directory to cloud identity, company-wide MFA rollouts, PCI audit preparation, and AI rollouts with security guardrails in place before launch.
Thursday Night to Sunday Morning
Thursday Night to Sunday Morning
A 350-person company woke up to ransomware across its servers and desktops. Because I’d configured an offline copy of the backups that the attack couldn’t reach, every server and every file came back, and by Sunday morning it was as if the attack never happened. No ransom paid, no data lost, and an independent forensics investigation confirmed nothing was taken.
What it means for you: the recovery was decided long before the attack, by one setting many backup systems leave off. The IT Risk Snapshot asks whether yours does.
Start with a Free IT Risk Snapshot
Start with a Free IT Risk Snapshot
Not ready to commit to anything? Start here.
In 45 minutes, I score three areas of your IT environment - security, infrastructure, and strategy - and send you a one-page scorecard two business days later.
What you get:
Your IT Maturity Score: a number, with a plain-language reading of what it means
Your top three gaps: described as a business risk, not technical findings
One quick win: something you can fix this week, with enough detail to act on it without me
No obligation: the scorecard is yours whether we work together or not
When you want the full picture
When you want the full picture
The snapshot covers three of the six areas I assess. The full IT Framework Assessment covers all six - adding compliance, day-to-day operations, and vendor spend, which is usually where the money is hiding.
You get a complete maturity score, a twelve-month roadmap, sequenced into the next 30 days, 90 days, and year, a risk register, and two or three problems solved before we're even finished.
$3,500. Two to four weeks. Credited in full if you start a fractional engagement.
A full-time IT Director costs $135,000–$195,000 a year in salary, before benefits.
A full-time IT Director costs $135,000–$195,000 a year in salary, before benefits.
Fractional engagements start at $5,000/month ($60,000 a year).
Fractional engagements start at $5,000/month ($60,000 a year).
I Don't Take Vendor Money
I Don't Take Vendor Money
I accept no commission, referral fee, or compensation of any kind from the vendors, resellers, or providers I recommend. My only compensation comes from my clients. That matters more than it sounds like. Most IT providers resell the products they advise you to buy, which means the advice and the invoice are pointing in the same direction. Mine aren't.
Find Out Where You Stand
Find Out Where You Stand
Most companies don't know how exposed they are until something forces them to find out. Forty-five minutes and a scorecard will tell you - before an audit, a customer questionnaire, or an incident does it for you.
Prefer to just talk it through? Book an intro call or email hello@zamitadvisory.com
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