How is the full-time hire cost calculated?

From UAE market data: a full-time CTO runs roughly AED 50,000-125,000 per month loaded (salary, visa, end-of-service, overhead), and a full-time Chief AI Officer runs roughly AED 1.3 million per year loaded.

How is the Dagaz fractional cost calculated?

Three tiers by hours/month: Steer (~6-10 hrs, AED 12-18k/mo, light advisory), Drive (~12-20 hrs, AED 18-28k/mo, owns the roadmap and leads vendors), and Embed (~24-40 hrs, AED 28-45k/mo, runs the AI function with heavy oversight). The first month is credited from the AI Reality Check.

What does having no AI owner actually cost?

It's framed as hidden, not zero: per MIT (2025), roughly 95% of enterprise generative-AI efforts deliver no measurable financial return — wasted tool spend, dead pilots, and data risk that goes unmanaged because no one owns it.

DAGAZ · COST COMPARISON

What AI leadership actually costs — three ways

A fractional CFO costs a fraction of a full-time one. AI leadership works the same way. Pick how much you think you need — see what each option really costs per year. (Cost of leadership, not a revenue promise.)

Full-time hire

A full-time AI/tech leader in the UAE, loaded (salary + visa + EOS + overhead).

Dagaz fractional

No ownerHidden

The default. 95% of company AI efforts return nothing (MIT, 2025) — wasted tools, dead pilots, and data risk you can't see.

FRACTIONAL VS FULL-TIME

less per year than a full-time hire — for senior AI ownership you probably don't need full-time yet. You get judgment and a monthly rhythm, not a 40-hour headcount.

See where you stand — free scorecard →

Asked, answered

How is the full-time hire cost calculated? From UAE market data: a full-time CTO runs roughly AED 50,000-125,000 per month loaded (salary, visa, end-of-service, overhead), and a full-time Chief AI Officer runs roughly AED 1.3 million per year loaded.
How is the Dagaz fractional cost calculated? Three tiers by hours/month: Steer (~6-10 hrs, AED 12-18k/mo, light advisory), Drive (~12-20 hrs, AED 18-28k/mo, owns the roadmap and leads vendors), and Embed (~24-40 hrs, AED 28-45k/mo, runs the AI function with heavy oversight). The first month is credited from the AI Reality Check.
Is this a promise of savings or revenue? No. This tool compares the cost of leadership options only — it is not a promise of savings, revenue, or results. Build/implementation work is quoted separately from the retainer.
What does having no AI owner actually cost? It's framed as hidden, not zero: per MIT (2025), roughly 95% of enterprise generative-AI efforts deliver no measurable financial return — wasted tool spend, dead pilots, and data risk that goes unmanaged because no one owns it.

What you actually get at each tier

Steer. One leadership session a month plus async access. A shared roadmap, build-versus-buy counsel, a governance checklist and a standing watch on what your AI tools are costing you.
Drive. Two sessions a month plus async. Dagaz owns the roadmap rather than advising on it, drafts and rolls out governance, leads vendor and build selection, directs the implementers, and sends a monthly one-pager written for the owner rather than for the IT team.
Embed. Weekly contact and priority async. Dagaz runs the AI function — prioritisation, architecture direction, production oversight — acting as the AI lead to your staff and vendors.
Build work is quoted separately. The retainer buys ownership and judgement. Implementation is priced on its own, so you are never paying a retainer that quietly becomes a development invoice.

When a fractional AI lead is the wrong answer

Nobody internally can act. A fractional lead makes decisions; someone still has to implement them. With no capacity behind the decisions, you are buying a roadmap nobody will run.
The real problem is one specific build. If you know what you need and just need it built, buy the build. You do not need monthly leadership to ship a single thing.
You already have a technical leader with mandate and capacity. Then you have an owner. Adding a second one usually splits accountability rather than adding it.
We would rather say this before you sign than after. The capacity cap is one to two retainers, so there is no incentive here to sell one that will not work.

How this starts

An AI Reality Check, AED 3,500, fixed scope. About a week: two short calls, then a short written report — not slides.
What is in it. A shadow-AI and tool-spend audit, your top three AI opportunities scored on impact, ease, data-readiness and risk, one priority risk flag, and a single page on what we would do first.
Money-back if it is not worth the fee, and fully credited against a Sprint or your first retainer month within 90 days — so for a serious buyer it nets to nothing.
Capacity is genuinely limited to a small number a month. That is a real constraint, not a scarcity tactic.

Full-time band from UAE market data (full-time CTO ≈ AED 50–125k/mo; CAIO median ≈ AED 1.3M/yr loaded). Dagaz retainer bands are list prices. This compares the cost of leadership options — it is not a promise of savings, revenue, or results. Build work is quoted separately. dagaz.io