Does your business need a Fractional CTO?
All businesses recognise the importance of the C-Suite roles like CEO (Chief Executive Officer), CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and COO (Chief Operating Officer). We know those duties are fulfilled in small businesses too, though it’s usually a much smaller number of people wearing many hats!
Traditionally only large, national or multinational organisations could afford a CTO (Chief Technical Officer), and the role would be full-time with a six-figure salary.
These days most companies recognise the need for a CTO, ensuring that the company’s technology drives performance and innovation. It’s commonplace for the CTO to report directly into the board, reflecting the importance of tech for business growth and strategic direction.
A Fractional CTO, also known as a Virtual CTO (Chief Technical Officer) or vCTO, is an outsourced tech and IT leadership role. Someone with all the expertise and experience to drive tech for your business forward, at a fraction of the cost of hiring an employee. A vCTO is also a partner who will champion digital transformation in your business.
The rise of the vCTO (or Fractional CTO) means businesses of any size can now take advantage of IT leadership to unlock growth. Because the role is flexible and part-time, you only pay for the help you need.
Reasons to have a vCTO
A Fractional CTO becomes part of your business, getting to know your business goals and operations inside-out.
Your vCTO also has deep specialism and will be only too happy to review and optimise the following for your business:
- Disaster recovery planning
- Digital data security
- Employee cyber security awareness
- IT system & supplier management (e.g. M365)
- System integration and business software solutions
- AI & automation strategy
They fulfil the role of a senior IT leader in your business, meaning you, as the business owner or operations lead, don’t have to be an expert in IT… as well as juggling everything else.
5 ways a Fractional CTO will grow your business
It’s the CTO’s role to ensure your business gets the best from your IT, whether you’re a start up, an established business that’s growing, or a business that needs to pivot.
They work with you, the business owner or the operations lead, to determine what’s working and what’s not, and advise on how to combine tools into solutions that perform. Rather than juggling all the areas of running a business, their core remit and their expertise is making IT work harder for you.
1. Increasing productivity
When reviewing your productivity levels, the first thing a fractional CTO will look for are repetitive manual tasks that can be automated, to free up staff time for higher level work. Some examples include:
- automated data entry
- using AI to capture meeting summaries
- template emails populated by CRM data
- AI assisted scheduling
They’ll take into account how your business processes currently operate and propose solutions that work with existing processes rather than against them. They will also advise how to phase projects to minimise disruption.
They’ll also look at ways to reduce downtime from clunky, slow systems that either aren’t keeping up with the business or are creating more stress than they should be. In today’s business landscape, another part of the fractional CTO’s focus is on finding the right tools to support hybrid working with cloud-based tools (like Microsoft 365) and robust IT support for the right implementation.
They’ll analyse where the current productivity drains are and propose solutions that bring all the above together, into easy to use systems that improve efficiency and increase productivity.
2. Optimising customer experience
Smarter use of IT and better system design will make things better for your customers too, giving them what they need faster and freeing up your staff to provide better service.
Clever use of automation leads to faster response times, when it is implemented in alignment with your business processes and goals. Use of cloud based platforms like Microsoft 365 to organise customer files, a robust CRM system to capture customer contact details and the right technology to link it all together allows your staff to easily find the latest information and respond to customer requests.
A senior level CTO can determine when an off-the-shelf product will work and when you need more customised business software , and exactly how customised it needs to be. There are some fantastic developments in low-code IT, like Microsoft Power Apps, which is highly customisable while also cost-effective. Your fractional CTO will advise if these are right for you.
In addition, embracing digital and AI tools allow you to gather better data about your customers and prospective customers. When designed thoughtfully, this means you can offer a more personalised service. Your fractional CTO can also implement more online self-service options for your customers, if this fits with your business model.
3. Better decision making
As mentioned in the above section, digitisation and the emerging AI tools make it easier, faster and cheaper to gather data. This isn’t only for customer information; it also works across your business.
Of course, the old adage “rubbish in, rubbish out” still applies. It’s easy to gather a lot of data from across your business, but not be able to do anything useful with it and then pay a lot to store it all.
A fractional CTO has the experience to understand what questions to ask first, so they can select tools to gather relevant data and share it in ways that can be easily understood. How many times have you waded through a long report without really understanding why you should care? Thoughtful data capture and dissemination stops that from happening, meaning you and your people can make better decisions, informed by real data.
4. Flexibility in your systems for growth
As a business owner, your job is to look into the future for your business. You know where you want the business to be in one, three or five years’ time, and you want to know your systems will be flexible enough to grow with your business.
Rigid systems might work now, but they can start to break down under the pressure of change. In addition, they tie you in to fixed fees regardless of how your circumstances might change.
It’s not always possible to predict exactly when you’ll win a big contract and will need to scale up quickly. Likewise, the COVID-19 pandemic created huge disruption for businesses with very little warning. You need systems that will adapt quickly, in the ways you’re likely to need them to.
Our fractional CTO service offers the technical expertise you need to find systems that work and are flexible enough for your business. Because we work in partnership with our clients on all our IT support work, we have a wealth of experience in what different businesses need, along with the latest knowledge about what’s emerging in the world of IT.
5. Long term cost savings
Harnessing the power of digital transformation doesn’t mean being distracted by shiny new technology and spending more to get the latest tech.
A fractional CTO will look at systems that will save you money in the longer term.
- With more automation, you free up staff for higher level work.
- With fewer manual processes, there are fewer errors and things go faster.
- Choosing the right systems for your business, avoids costly mistakes.
- Systems that just work, rather than relying on regular calls to IT support.
- Solutions that make work less stressful, keeping employees happier.
At Heliocentrix, we believe businesses of any size should have access to CTO support because it ultimately creates cost savings. Better IT, that works harder for you and supports you to take the business where you want to do and beyond.
How a Fractional CTO will work with you
You can also expect an experienced vCTO to work flexibly with you, deeply understanding your business and your objectives. They will then design solutions that fit your needs and your budget.
This is the process we follow with our clients to ensure you get the results you’re looking for:
- Discovery & assessment — understand goals, risks and current state.
- Roadmap & prioritisation — agree the right mix of quick wins and strategic moves.
- Delivery & coaching — lead programmes, vendors and inhouse teams.
- Measure & iterate — track outcomes and adjust as your business evolves.
To help you visualise what the role does, here are the specifics you can expect a Fractional CTO to work on. This is entirely based on the vCTO work we do with our clients.
Strategy & governance
- Technology vision and board reporting.
- Budgeting, risk management and compliance alignment.
Security & compliance
- Cyber Essentials readiness and programme delivery.
- Device management and compliance.
- Security monitoring.
Digital transformation
- Optimisation of Microsoft 365.
- Operating model design and process optimisation.
- Cloud platforms and data consolidation.
Automation, AI & data
- Low Code, quick implementation, automation solutions.
- Practical AI integration for everyday productivity.
- Agent development, refining and management.
CRM & systems
- Bespoke, off-the-shelf and low code implementations.
- Adoption plans, training and change management.
- On-going development, training and support.
People & delivery
- Training programmes and capability building.
- Oversight for internal tech teams and suppliers.
Driving growth through digital transformation
Larger businesses are all grappling with digital transformation, but it’s not only for national or multinational corporations. Digital transformation means smart use of IT, automation and AI to make your everyday work simpler, faster and more effective.
Often this involves lots of small productivity improvements, the sum of which equal a major time and cost saving. We think it’s even more important for smaller businesses than for larger ones.
Having a Fractional CTO means you have an experienced, senior IT professional to lead it in a way that’s right for your business.
How can I find out more?
Contact Heliocentrix to talk to us about our Fractional CTO service.