Senior Data Leadership.
Without the Full-Time Hire.
Fractional CDO & Data Consultant for Industrial Operations
You need someone who owns the data strategy, builds the platform, and reports to the board — not a consultant who writes a slide deck and moves on. The Fractional Data Consultant model embeds senior CDO-level capability into your organisation on a retained basis, at a cost structure that works for mid-market manufacturing, FMCG, and supply chain businesses.
Engagement at a glance
Who this is for
Who a Fractional CDO is for
Senior data leadership, part-time — the Fractional Data Consultant model puts one accountable owner on your data strategy and delivery. Below is the decision each leader is trying to make.
CEO / General Manager
The problem
The board wants a data plan, and it comes up every quarter — but the initiatives stall the moment the steering meeting ends because nobody senior owns them afterwards.
What we build
A Fractional Chief Data Officer (CDO) who sets the data strategy, holds the roadmap, and stays accountable for what gets delivered — the Fractional Data Consultant model, part-time and senior.
A named owner accountable for the data roadmap
CFO
The problem
A full-time CDO is hard to justify at this stage, yet the reporting you sign off on is still stitched together by hand and rarely reconciles first time.
What we build
Senior data leadership on a retained, part-time basis — governance and a costed roadmap sized to what the business can absorb, without a permanent executive hire.
CDO-level oversight without the full-time cost
Operations Director
The problem
Three vendors, three roadmaps, and nobody holding the line — the Microsoft Fabric build, the Power BI reporting, and the SAP S/4HANA integration each pull in a different direction.
What we build
One accountable owner across the delivery partners, sequencing the work against the operational calendar so the plant floor gets working output — not competing projects.
One roadmap the vendors deliver to
IT Head
The problem
The platform initiative keeps stalling at the architecture diagram — the internal team has a day job and no senior data lead to sign the build off before it starts.
What we build
A Fractional CDO who governs the architecture, reviews every build before development begins, and hands the team a documented platform on Azure and Microsoft Fabric they can maintain.
Architecture governed and owned before build
A Data Roadmap That Gets Executed.
Not a slide deck. An owned, live plan with a named person accountable for it.
The problem we see
Most data strategies in mid-market manufacturing end up on a shelf. They were written by a consultancy, presented to the board, signed off — and then nothing moved because nobody's job it is to make them happen. The IT team has a day job. The COO has a hundred other priorities. The data platform stays exactly where it was.
We build the data and AI roadmap and then own it. Quarterly reviews, monthly adjustments, weekly traction. Every initiative is prioritised against your operational calendar and delivery capacity — not against an arbitrary consulting timeline. If something isn't working, we adjust. If a better approach emerges, we take it.
What this covers
- Data and AI maturity assessment at engagement start
- Prioritised 12-month roadmap with clear business cases per initiative
- Quarterly roadmap reviews against business results
- Technology selection and vendor oversight
- Architecture sign-off for every build before development begins
- Board-ready data strategy narrative and reporting
Who benefits from this
The Strategy Gets Built. Not Filed.
Hands-on platform delivery — Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, SAP integration — executed by the same person who designed it.
The problem we see
Fractional advisory that stops at the strategy layer creates a new problem: you now have a roadmap and nobody to build it. The internal IT team doesn't have the Fabric expertise. The system integrator quoted three months and a significant budget. The data platform initiative stalls at the architecture diagram.
We don't separate strategy from execution. Amit runs the engagement end to end — from the initial data audit through to live dashboards in production. Microsoft Fabric, Power BI semantic models, SAP integration, and Azure pipelines are built by the same person who owns the roadmap. No handover risk. No lost context between design and build.
What this covers
- Microsoft Fabric and OneLake implementation
- SAP ByDesign, S/4HANA, Dynamics 365 integration and ETL
- Power BI semantic model and dashboard build
- Data quality framework and governance layer
- Predictive maintenance and demand forecasting models where in scope
- AI agent and Copilot Studio deployment over operational data
Who benefits from this
The Organisation Gets Smarter. Not Just the Technology.
Data governance, team capability, and stakeholder confidence — built into the engagement from day one.
The problem we see
Technology without governance fails within 18 months. The Power BI dashboards diverge. The data model gets patched in ways that break the semantic layer. The IT team can't maintain what was built because the documentation was written for the consultant who built it, not for them. You're back to the same problem, with a larger technical debt.
Every engagement includes a governance layer: ownership matrices, data dictionary, model documentation, and a handover playbook that lets the internal team maintain and extend the platform without external support. We also run working sessions with the IT team, operations leads, and data owners so the capability stays in the organisation — not in our heads.
What this covers
- Data governance framework and ownership matrix
- Data dictionary and model documentation in plain language
- Change management and user adoption programme
- Internal team capability sessions (not training courses — working sessions on live problems)
- Handover playbook: the platform survives the consultant leaving
- Monthly stakeholder reporting to board and executive team
Who benefits from this
How the Engagement Works
Four phases from first call to self-sufficient platform. No black box. Every phase has a written deliverable you own.
Discovery
A structured data audit of your current state — ERP, reporting, data sources, team capability, and the specific operational decisions that are being made on bad or late data. We produce a written gap analysis, not a sales presentation.
Deliverable
Written current-state gap analysis with prioritised opportunities
Roadmap
A prioritised 12-month delivery plan, costed and sequenced against your operational calendar. Every initiative has a defined business case and a named metric we'll use to measure it. You sign off on the plan before a line of code is written.
Deliverable
Approved 12-month data and AI roadmap with business cases
Delivery
Platform build, dashboard development, and integration work executed to the agreed roadmap. 2–3 days per week of senior hands-on time — adapted to your sprint cadence, not ours. Monthly progress reviews against the roadmap milestones.
Deliverable
Live platform, dashboards, and documentation in production
Review
A structured roadmap review every quarter: what was delivered, what the data is showing, what changed in the business, and what the next quarter's priorities are. The roadmap is a live document, not a fixed contract.
Deliverable
Updated roadmap, board summary, next-quarter plan
Trusted by operations teams at
Client results
Proof, not promises
Verified outcomes from engagements where MDI held the data roadmap end to end. Each links to the full case study.
What the Fractional Engagement Typically Delivers
Microsoft Fabric Implementation
OneLake, Lakehouse, Power BI Direct Lake, and Fabric Data Agent — the platform most Fractional Data Consultant engagements deliver on.
View solution →SAP Analytics & Integration
SAP ByDesign, S/4HANA, and SAP B1 connected to Power BI and Microsoft Fabric — the most common first project in manufacturing engagements.
View solution →Data Integration Services
ERP, WMS, IoT, and cloud source integration into a governed data layer — the foundation before analytics can run cleanly.
View solution →The Chief Data Officer Role Without the Full-Time Commitment
Some organisations need a Fractional Data Consultant to manage a specific project. Others need someone to sit in the CDAO seat — attending board meetings, owning the data governance framework, representing data strategy at the leadership table — on a retained, part-time basis.
The CDO as a Service model is common in organisations that are too large for ad-hoc consulting but too focused to justify a full-time Chief Data Officer at AED 350,000–500,000+ per year. We fill that gap.
Board-Level Data Reporting
Quarterly data and AI strategy updates prepared and presented to the board or executive committee. Clear language — no technical jargon, clear business impact and roadmap progress.
Data Governance Ownership
Data ownership policies, data dictionary, quality standards, and governance committee — established and operated. Regulatory compliance documentation for UAE data localisation and PDPL where applicable.
Vendor and Partner Oversight
Microsoft licensing negotiations, implementation partner oversight, SLA management, and technology evaluation — handled at the vendor level by someone who has seen the contracts before.
Data Strategy Accountability
A named person accountable for the data and AI roadmap. Not a consultant who submits a report and leaves — someone who owns the outcome and is measured on business results.
Typical CDO as a Service engagement: 2–3 days per month on-site or hybrid. Monthly retainer model. Minimum 6-month commitment. India, the GCC, and Southeast Asia coverage. Industries served: manufacturing, FMCG, packaging, logistics and supply chain.
Why MyData Insights
Why MyData Insights for a Fractional CDO
Strategy and delivery in one owner
The person who sets the roadmap also builds it. No handover gap between the Fractional Chief Data Officer (CDO) and a separate delivery team.
A senior practitioner, not a placeholder
You get a hands-on data leader who has run Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, and SAP S/4HANA builds on the plant floor — not a junior fronted by a brand.
Part-time by design
The Fractional Data Consultant model is sized to what the business needs each quarter, so you carry CDO-level capability without a permanent executive salary.
Governance-first
Ownership matrices, a data dictionary, and architecture sign-off before any build — so the platform stays trusted long after go-live.
Vendor and roadmap oversight
One accountable owner across your Microsoft licensing, implementation partners, and internal team, holding every workstream to the same plan.
Built to hand back
The engagement leaves your team a documented platform they can run on Azure and Microsoft Fabric, rather than a dependency on the consultant.
Common Questions
Answers to what buyers typically ask before an engagement.
What is a Fractional Data Consultant and how is it different from a regular consultant?
A Fractional Data Consultant operates as an embedded senior data leader — part of your organisation, working to your calendar, accountable for your outcomes — rather than a project-based consultant who delivers a piece of work and disengages. The key difference is continuity and ownership. A traditional consultant completes a defined scope and leaves. A Fractional Data Consultant owns the strategy and delivery over time, adapts to what the business learns, and is still there when the implementation runs into real-world complications.
How many days per week does a Fractional Data Consultant typically work?
Most engagements run at 2–3 days per week. For initial builds and discovery phases, it can be closer to 3–4 days. Once the platform is live and the team has been upskilled, it often reduces to 1–2 days for ongoing governance and iteration. The commitment is agreed at the start and adjusted quarterly based on what the business actually needs — not against a fixed retainer that doesn't change.
What industries do you work in?
Manufacturing, FMCG, packaging, supply chain, and logistics — primarily across the GCC (UAE and Saudi Arabia), India, Singapore, Malaysia, UK, and North America. The domain specificity matters: understanding the difference between an SAP PP/PM module and a WMS, knowing what an OEE target actually means on a plant floor, and being able to talk to an Operations Director about shift performance rather than dashboard design. Generic data consulting doesn't survive contact with an industrial operations team.
How much does a Fractional Data Consultant cost compared to a full-time hire?
A senior full-time CDO in Dubai or London costs AED 700k–1.2M per year in total employment cost before you add the team they need to be effective. A Fractional Data Consultant engagement runs at a fraction of that — typically 20–35% of the full-time cost — while providing senior CDO-level capability and actual delivery, not just strategy. The right comparison is not "cheaper consultant" — it's "senior data leadership that also builds things, at a cost structure that makes sense for a mid-market company."
What does the engagement look like in practice? What does week one look like?
Week one is a data audit: I spend time with your IT team, operations leads, finance team, and whoever currently produces reports. I look at the actual data — what systems it comes from, how it's extracted, where the reconciliation happens, and what decisions it's currently failing to support. By the end of week two, you have a written current-state assessment that names the specific gaps, not a generic maturity framework. The roadmap follows in month one. The first working dashboards are typically live within 10–12 weeks.
Can you work with our existing IT team and current technology stack?
Yes. Most engagements start with whatever is already running — SAP ByD, S/4HANA, Dynamics 365, Oracle, an existing Power BI environment, Azure services. We work with what exists before recommending anything new. Where new technology is recommended, we build the business case for it and manage the procurement and implementation. We don't recommend replacing working systems without a clear cost-benefit case.
Engagement
Free 30-minute Fractional CDO Consultation
Thirty minutes with Amit on where your data leadership gap actually sits — what a Fractional Chief Data Officer (CDO) would take on first, and whether the Fractional Data Consultant model fits your situation. No slides, no obligation.
What you get
- A read of where your data leadership gap is
- The two or three decisions a Fractional CDO would take first
- A governance and roadmap outline for your operation
- How the engagement shape and cadence would work
- An honest view on whether a Fractional CDO is the right structure
Book a Discovery Call
Forty-five minutes. We look at your current data state, identify the specific gap between what your data could tell you and what it currently does, and tell you whether a Fractional Data Consultant engagement is the right structure for your situation. No obligation, no slide decks.
Serving India · GCC · Singapore & Malaysia · UK · North America