Fractional CTO and IT strategy
Most businesses reach a point where IT decisions are too important to leave to whoever has time that week, but not frequent enough to justify a full-time IT director. As your fractional CTO, I fill that gap part time: I set the direction, make the calls on spending and suppliers, and report to your directors or board.
I also sit between your technical staff or IT provider and your directors. Directors have a business to run, and shouldn’t have to decode technical detail to make a good decision. So I report in plain English: what’s happening, what the costs are and what you need to decide. Day to day, I take care of the smaller, low-risk technical decisions on the business’s behalf, so work keeps moving. Anything with real cost or risk comes back to you.
In practice that means a clear plan for your IT, sensible policies and procedures, and someone who knows the right questions to put to your IT providers. After more than 25 years in business IT, I can tell quickly what matters and what can wait.
Fractional CTO support works for anyone from a one-person business upwards, with no upper limit. You can have me on a monthly retainer or by the day, and there’s no minimum term.
Most fractional CTO work starts with a review of what you already have, so the roadmap is built on facts rather than guesses.
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What it involves
IT strategy and roadmap
A written plan that sets out what needs to change in your IT, in what order and why. The plan is reviewed as the business grows or changes direction, so it stays useful rather than sitting in a drawer.
Technology budgets
A realistic IT budget, with renewals, replacements and licences planned in advance, so the spending is predictable and goes where it makes a difference.
Managing your IT suppliers
I deal with your IT provider and other technology suppliers on your behalf, check that quotes are fair and that work is done to the standard agreed.
Between your board and technical staff
Plain-English reports for your directors, translation between them and your technical staff, and the smaller technical decisions taken care of, so neither side is left waiting.
Questions about fractional CTO support
How much of your time would a fractional CTO arrangement involve?
As much as the business needs. It can be a monthly retainer or charged by the day, with no minimum term, and the scope is agreed at the start and adjusted as things change.
How is a fractional CTO different from our IT support company?
Your IT support company keeps things running day to day. A fractional CTO works on your side of the table. That means deciding what the business needs from its IT, setting budgets, checking the support company’s quotes and reporting to the directors. The two roles work well together.
Do you work with businesses outside North Wales?
Yes. Most fractional CTO work, such as planning, supplier meetings and board reports, can be done remotely, so I work with businesses across the UK. Clients in North Wales and Cheshire can also have me on site when it helps.
Related services
IT policies and procedures
Written procedures that reduce risk and make IT predictable, from starters and leavers to incident response.
Active Directory and Microsoft 365 reviews
An independent look at Active Directory and Microsoft 365, ending in a written report, a plan and, if you want it, the clean-up.
Ongoing IT support
Managed monthly IT support through Birchall Reality, which looks after more than 45 businesses.
Interested in fractional CTO support?
