Fractional IT Director one or two days a week
Board-level IT leadership on retainer for UK SMEs that need senior oversight but can’t justify a permanent hire. Strategy, governance, supplier management, and the awkward technical decisions your MSP or internal team shouldn’t be making for you.
See if this fits →Most UK SMEs between £10m and £150m turnover have the same problem. The business is Too big for whoever’s running IT on the side to keep doing it,and too small to justify a full-time IT Director on £100k-plus plus package. The result is an MSP running more of the strategy than anyone’s comfortable admitting, and a board that’s flying blind on technology risk. A fractional arrangement fixes that.
What fractional actually means
You get a senior IT Director on retainer for an agreed number of days per month. One or two days a week is typical. Some clients have me for half a day a week plus ad-hoc support during projects. It’s a rolling arrangement, not a contract you have to fight to get out of.
During my days, I’m an actual member of your team. I’ll sit in your board pack, attend SLT meetings where IT is on the agenda, and be the person your department heads go to when they’re thinking about new systems or processes. On my other days I’m reachable by email for anything urgent, and I’ll pick up planned work between site visits.
Who this is for
- SMEs with no IT Director. You’ve got a manager and maybe an MSP, but nobody with real authority sitting between them and the board.
- Owner-managed businesses. The founder has been making IT decisions for years and wants to step out of that role without dropping it on someone who isn’t ready.
- PE-backed businesses. Investors want professional IT governance reporting in the board pack and a clear roadmap. A fractional does this for a fraction of the cost of a permanent CIO.
- Businesses coming out of an interim. If you’ve had an interim stabilise things, fractional is often the natural next step — you keep the oversight without paying for full-time cover you no longer need.
What I actually do on my days
The mix varies by client, but the core is always the same:
- Strategy and roadmap. Where should your IT spend be going in the next one, three, and five years? What’s non-negotiable, what’s optional, what can wait.
- Supplier and vendor governance. I hold your MSP, your software vendors, and your telecoms providers to account. I read the contracts. I attend the reviews. I flag when you’re being sold something you don’t need.
- Risk and compliance. Cyber posture, backup verification, DR arrangements, insurance questionnaires, GDPR. I make sure the board has a clear view of where the risks are and what’s being done about them.
- Board reporting. Monthly IT pack in language non-technical directors can act on. No jargon, no “traffic lights” that never change, no 40-slide decks.
- Decision support. When your FD, MD, or head of ops has an IT question — should we move to the cloud, should we replace this system, should we accept this quote — I’m the one they call.
- Project oversight. I’m not the project manager, but I’ll review the plan, challenge the suppliers, and make sure what gets delivered is what was scoped.
What a typical month looks like. Two days on-site or on video. One full board report. Two or three supplier calls. One or two ad-hoc decision points over email. Occasional deep work on something specific — a cyber review, a contract renewal, a piece of roadmap work.
Why this works for SMEs
The honest answer: because the problem in most SMEs isn’t needing more hours of IT work, it’s needing better decisions about the work that’s already happening. A permanent IT Director at £120k fully-loaded costs you £10k a month whether there’s a strategic decision to make that month or not. A fractional retainer gives you the same quality of thinking applied only when it’s needed.
It also solves the recruitment problem. Finding a genuine IT Director with 20-plus years of hands-on experience who wants a full-time role at SME rates is hard. Finding one willing to do it for a couple of days a week is easier.
Commercials
Monthly retainer based on agreed days. Price fixed for the engagement period. Scope reviewed quarterly so we can scale up or down as your needs change. No minimum term beyond the agreed notice — if it’s not working you can exit, and so can I.
How a fractional engagement usually starts
We have a conversation. If it looks like a fit, I’ll come in for a half-day diagnostic at a fixed fee — a morning at your offices, the main stakeholders in the room, a look at your estate and your current state. At the end I’ll tell you what I see, what I’d do first, and whether you actually need me or not.
If we then decide to go ahead, we agree the scope and the days, and I start the following month. Most engagements settle into a rhythm within 60 to 90 days.