Fractional Integrator vs. Fractional COO: Which is Right for Your Business?| EmmerScale

As a visionary/CEO you may be seeking expert solutions and support to reach your business goals and vision to scale. Many businesses today take the path of hiring this as a fractional role because it provides access to a wide variety of expertise without the time, commitment and expense of hiring another full time executive position. Fractional support is typically provided by highly experienced executives who work with businesses on a part time basis. This can include a wide range of support, depending on your business needs. So, how do you determine which fractional services to seek for your business? Your first step should be analyzing your business to determine the skills, expertise and capacity opportunities that would be beneficial to support business needs and goals. In this blog post we will compare the roles of two popular fractional positions that may be highly effective in offering you business solutions- the role of a Fractional COO, Chief Operating Officer and that of a Fractional Integrator.

Let’s Compare

Fractional COO’s and Fractional Integrators serve different roles within organizations. A Fractional COO is a senior-level executive who provides strategic guidance and management expertise to businesses without the need for a full-time hire. In contrast, a fractional integrator, while they may have executive-level experience, is typically an outsourced consultant/team of consultants who work with an organization’s existing staff and systems to adapt them to meet specific goals or objectives. Let’s break these down further.

Fractional COO- Chief Operating Officer

• Business leader with broad industry knowledge, offering strategic advice in areas such as operations, finance, marketing, sales, and more.
• Guiding corporate restructuring initiatives or major product launches.
• Filling the gap between the CEO and the rest of the executive team when needed.
• Holding a “number 2” status within the organization and the positional authority to make independent executive-level leadership decisions, including having accountability around an income statement and balance sheet.
• A Fractional COO is best served and suited for an onsite position.In contrast, while they may possess the experience and background of the COO, a Fractional Integrator specializes in bridging organizational silos and gaps, by connecting different parts of the business and its operations and is generally specific scope focused. 

The Role of a Fractional Integrator

• Streamlining processes, leveraging technology solutions, and integrating different functions in order to improve efficiency and productivity.
• Galvanizing – Ensuring your entire leadership team is aligned with your vision, and executes it effectively, and ensuring you have the right people in the right seats.
• Helping businesses reduce costs by optimizing processes that are often overlooked or difficult for internal teams to address due to their limited resources.
• Bring clarity, accountability, and appropriate infrastructure to your business.
• Holding executive-level people authority (including over the COO), but is generally limited to specific project scopes and clearly communicated from the CEO to the rest of the leadership team.
• The Fractional Integrator (because they are not as meshed within the existing leadership dynamic) can also serve as a trusted and objective advisor and coach to the CEO.
• Fractional Integrators can effectively serve virtually.

The Value and the Significant ROI

Overall, both fractional COOs and Fractional Integrators can add value to any organization in various ways depending on the situation at hand. Both roles share some commonalities such as applying their knowledge of best practices from multiple industries while providing fresh perspectives on challenging problems that cannot be addressed internally. However, both roles offer distinctly different approaches tailored towards specific scenarios where one approach may be more suitable than another depending on the goals or objectives in question. Both can deliver significant ROI for businesses depending on need.

Consider EmmerScale’s Fractional Integrator Services