What a fractional CTO does
Most growing businesses reach a point where IT decisions are too important to leave with whoever happens to be nearest. The finance director signs off licence renewals they can't evaluate. The MSP recommends projects nobody can challenge. The board asks about cyber risk and gets a different answer each time.
A fractional CTO or IT director fills that gap. You get a named, senior consultant who works with you for an agreed number of days each month and takes ownership of technology the way a permanent director would.
What's included
- Strategy and roadmap. A 12 to 36 month plan tied to what the business is trying to achieve, reviewed quarterly.
- Budgets and licensing. A clear view of what you spend, what you could stop paying for and what's coming up for renewal.
- Supplier and MSP oversight. Someone on your side of the table who reads the contract, checks the SLA reports and asks the awkward questions.
- Board reporting. A short, plain-English update on risk, spend and progress that a non-technical board can act on.
- Security direction. Microsoft 365 and Business Premium configured properly, Cyber Essentials kept current and insurance questionnaires answered honestly.
- Team leadership. Line management or mentoring for in-house IT staff, and a clear brief for your MSP.
Who it's for
It suits organisations with roughly 30 to 300 staff where technology matters to how the business runs, but a full-time CTO would be hard to justify or hard to keep busy. Typical situations:
- IT decisions currently land with the founder or finance director by default.
- You rely on an MSP and want someone independent to set direction and check the work.
- A big decision is coming, such as a migration, an acquisition or a new line of business.
- The board or an insurer is asking questions about security that nobody can answer with confidence.
How it works
We start with a short review of your current setup, costs and risks. That turns into a one-page proposal with the scope, the monthly fee and what you should expect to see in the first 90 days.
A typical retainer is two to four days a month, with a standing slot in your leadership meeting and a direct line for decisions in between. The fee is fixed, so there are no surprise invoices, and you can scale the days up or down as projects come and go.
You work with the same consultant throughout. We're independent of any product or reseller, so the advice isn't shaped by what we'd earn from it.
Fractional, interim or full time?
Fractional works when you need senior judgement regularly but not every day. If your IT leader has just left and the team needs someone in the chair most days, interim IT director cover is usually the better fit. If you mostly need security leadership, look at a fractional CISO. And if the honest answer is that you need a full-time hire, we'll say so and help you recruit.