Four options buyers usually weigh against a fractional AI lead, with the rooms where each one is the right call. Pick the comparison that matches your room.
If a different option fits your room better, I will name it on the call.
Comparison 01
Strategy consultants write the plan and leave before anything ships. I write the plan and build against it. If you already have a strategy and need a workshop, a consultant is faster and cheaper.
Read the comparison →Comparison 02
Agencies ship the agent for the team that bought it. I get every team the workflow crosses to agree, write the governance rules, then ship. If you already have a senior AI leader in-house, an agency works.
Read the comparison →Comparison 03
CTOs and CIOs own engineering or infrastructure broadly. A fractional AI lead owns AI as its own program. If AI is one item on your CTO's plate, it usually loses to whatever is on fire that week.
Read the comparison →Comparison 04
A full-time hire takes a search of 45 to 120 days and a six-month ramp. I own the program now and help you hire the person who takes it over. If AI is your product, hire full time.
Read the comparison →Buyers tell me the same two stories. The strategy firm drew a plan nobody could ship against. The automation shop shipped an agent onto a broken process, sped up one step, and left every handoff around it in place. I do both halves.
It buys the plan: a workflow map, a 90-day sequence with an owner, a baseline, and a build type on every line, a kill list, and a readout on day 10.
Two weeks. Paid before kickoff. Credited in full if you build within 30 days.
The first lines of the plan, shipped into the stack your team already runs. No migrations. Measured against the plan's baseline.
From $7,500 a workflow, two-workflow minimum. Price fixed in writing at the readout.
AI System Continuity keeps what shipped running. The Fractional Head of AI Transformation retainer owns the program and the next builds.
Fractional: 1 to 3 days a week, 6-month minimum. 14-day mutual exit from day one.
An AI strategy consultant scopes the strategy and delivers a deck. I start with a two-week diagnostic that produces a plan with an owner, a baseline, and a build type on every line, then ship the builds against it and hand them to your team. The plan and the build come from the same person.
An AI automation agency builds and ships agents or workflows for a fixed scope. I map the workflow first, ship the build against a measured baseline, and own the work between teams: getting every owner the workflow crosses to agree, setting the governance rules, running the vendor calls, and training your team. An agency delivers the deliverable. I own the program that keeps shipping after it.
A fractional CTO owns engineering org-wide: architecture, hiring, vendor selection, security, and roadmap across the whole stack. A Fractional Head of AI Transformation owns the AI program inside that: the workflow map, the production AI builds, AI vendor calls, evals, and adoption. Different scopes. They often coexist.
A fractional CIO owns enterprise IT, business systems, infrastructure, security, and vendor management. A Fractional Head of AI Transformation owns how AI changes the work itself: which workflows get rebuilt, in what order, against which baseline, and who owns each one. The CIO keeps the systems running. The AI lead rebuilds the work that runs on them.
A full-time Head of AI is a permanent exec seat, five days a week, found through a search that often runs 45 to 120 days. A Fractional Head of AI Transformation owns the same program 1 to 3 days a week, starting after a two-week diagnostic, with a 6-month minimum and a 14-day mutual exit. Many companies start fractional and hire full time once the program fills the week.
If a consultant, an agency, or a fractional CTO is the better call, I will say so and tell you what to look for.
Book 30 minutes with EdwinNot ready to talk? Score your AI program first. Twelve questions, about four minutes, scored breakdown by email.