You’re paying for tools you don’t fully use.
Subscriptions renew, features sit dark, and nobody’s job is to ask why. The spend climbs while the value stays flat.
Small Business Technology Strategy
Enterprise-grade
technology
for
small businesses
with big dreams.
Five questions arrive before the call. Or call 618-407-4417.
12+Years in enterprise technology and business intelligence
1stFemale leader in IT at CCA Global Partners
700+Independent owners her enterprise BI work supported
The practice[PRX.02]
What does Praxis Institute Holdings do?
The practice, in one paragraph- Practice
- Technology strategy
- Based in
- Maryville, Illinois
- Serving
- The Metro East and St. Louis area, remote anywhere
- Founded
- December 2025
Praxis Institute Holdings is a technology strategy practice in Maryville, Illinois. Founder Lexi Holder works as a fractional CTO for small businesses: she maps how your business runs, ranks the risks with you, then designs and implements a tailored technology stack that saves time and reduces wasted spend.
The premise[PRX.03]
Capability is not the constraint.
Bandwidth is.
It leaks in four places, and every one of them bills you:
The manual work eats your nights.
Retyped invoices. Hand-built reports. A count done on paper. One client’s recurring task took 40 hours a month; after a 12-hour engagement, it takes one.
You don’t know what you don’t know.
Technology decisions land on your desk with nobody to pressure-test them, so the loudest vendor wins by default.
The risk bill hasn’t arrived yet.
Unmanaged exposure is a question of when it will cost you money, not if. Most owners find out at the invoice.
What is your leak costing you?
Four minutes and sixteen questions put a number on it: the hours going to work nobody should be doing by hand, and what those hours cost you in a year.
The framework[PRX.04]
The Cognitive Amplification Framework
Three pillars that structure human judgment and never replace it.
01
SCQA Framework
Identifies constants and variables in complex situations to help define the right question and suggest value-aligned solutions.
02
Cognitive Blueprints
Maps how a person or organization thinks, prioritizes, decides, and acts.
03
Governance & Risk
Supports human decision making but never replaces it.
What Praxis offers[PRX.05]
From private thinking partners to full operational infrastructure
Every engagement is tailored. These are the shapes it takes, and the services index carries the full detail of each.
01
Operational Intelligence Systems
From $3,500We map how the business runs first, then fit the technology to it. CRM, automation, and daily workflows on a platform that fits you.
[ Learn more → ]
02
Executive Cognitive Amplification
From $4,000A private AI-enabled thinking partner built from your own priorities, values, decision patterns, and communication style.
[ Learn more → ]
03
Integrated Intelligence Systems
Starting at $20,000The complete system: Cognitive Blueprint, private thinking partner, and the full operations stack, governed end to end.
[ Learn more → ]
04
BNI Member Starter
Special member pricing $500A focused introductory package to help BNI members set up an AI workspace built around their goals and values.
[ Book a call → ]How it works[PRX.06]
A method you can see
Hiring a consultant should not mean guessing what you are paying for. The method is on the table before the engagement starts.
01
Five questions, sent ahead
You see the agenda before the call, so you can think instead of perform.
02
A free discovery hour
One hour on how your business runs today and where you want it to go.
03
A proposal that shows you your own business
Your status quo, your goals, and the risks you rated yourself, ranked and priced.
04
A phased build, right-sized to you
We gotta walk before we can run. Scope shrinks before quality ever does.
05
KPIs at baseline, three, and six months
If something is not working the way we expected, we course correct early.
Translation[PRX.07]
Plain English, on purpose
Every technical term gets translated in the same breath it appears. A sample:
Identity access management
Who can touch what, and why.
Technical maturity curve
What you are ready for, instead of what is trendy.
Risk register
A list of what could go wrong, ranked by you.
Meet Lexi[PRX.08]
- M.S. in Information Systems, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
- Passed the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) exam
- First female leader in IT at CCA Global Partners
- Agile delivery leadership since 2016: SAFe, then Scrum, alongside waterfall programs
The translator between enterprise technology and your business
Lexi Holder grew up working in the family businesses, Wilke Window & Door and Norm’s Bargain Barn, where one of the most successful owners she has ever known ran his company from post-it notes stuck to a computer monitor. She has spent her career closing that gap.
She was an original member of KPMG’s data analytics enabled internal audit team, then led business intelligence delivery at CCA Global Partners, a cooperative where her work supported more than 700 small business owners across the United States and Canada.
She founded Praxis in December 2025 to do that work personally: enterprise-grade strategy, one owner at a time, in language that makes sense the first time you hear it.
Who it’s for[PRX.09]
Built for owners, at every stage
Praxis serves single-owner businesses through companies of about thirty people, across every industry, with dedicated pages for trades and home services, retail, franchise and co-op, and professional services. What they share is a type, not a trade: excellent at the work, ready for the technology to catch up.
The one requirement is being open to change.
01
Solo and systematizing
Running on paper, memory, and grit. We build your first real stack from zero, at the pace you can absorb.
02
Growing past the spreadsheet
The tools multiplied and the hours went with them. We cut what earns nothing and get those hours back.
03
Established, with a team and real risk
Payroll, customer data, compliance, vendors. US small businesses hit by cyber attacks lost a median of $8,300 in 2023 (Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2023). We rank the risks with you and put the budget where it protects you most.
AI, without the magic[PRX.10]
AI augments.
Humans decide.
- Structure precedes scale.
- Governance is not optional.
- Values override optimization.
- Cognitive clarity is a strategic advantage.
- Technology is a tool, not the solution.
- Just because it’s new and shiny doesn’t mean
it’s right for you.
Questions owners ask[PRX.11]
Before you book the hour
What does a fractional CTO do for a small business?
A fractional CTO gives you executive technology leadership a few hours at a time: choosing the right tools, overseeing vendors and implementations, ranking risk, and building a technology plan that fits your goals. You get the judgment of a technology executive at a fraction of the cost of hiring one.
What does it cost to work with Praxis?
The discovery hour is free, and the five-question agenda arrives before the call. Engagements start at $3,500, larger advisory and implementation work runs higher, and every proposal is tailored to your business. You will see the numbers, and the KPIs behind them, before you commit.
Is my business too small for Praxis?
No. Praxis serves single-owner businesses through companies of about thirty people, including owners starting from a paper notebook. The one real requirement is openness to change: if you want technology to work for your business, size is the least important thing about you.
Does Praxis replace my current IT company?
Usually not. Managed IT providers keep your systems running. Praxis sits on your side of the table, sets the strategy, and makes sure every vendor and tool earns its keep. You can keep your IT company and gain an advisor who speaks both languages.
Will you push AI on my business?
No. Praxis matches AI to the right use case and says so plainly when the answer is skip it. Every recommendation has to survive the same test: does it save your time, reduce your risk, or support your growth enough to justify what it costs?
Have a different question? [ Ask Lexi directly → ]