The CTO Office
In most companies we have worked with, technology was not the hard part. Managing it was. You own the decisions, as you should, but you are often making them on the word of the people paid to do the work. We can sit on your side of that conversation and take on strategy, suppliers, security and delivery, without you carrying a full technology team on payroll.
No commitment, and no pitch. Tell us what is going on and we will say honestly whether we can help.
Here for yourself rather than for a company? Coaching and mentoring are over here.
Where to start
Pick the one closest to your situation. You will get one suggestion, not a list, along with what it costs and what you walk away with.
Nothing selected yet. Choose a situation above, or read the full list of services further down.
What you get
How it works
You commit to nothing at the first, very little at the second, and only choose a direction once you have something written in front of you.
Stage one
We start with a short call, around thirty minutes, where you describe the business and what is not working. If we are not the right firm for you, we say so there and then. If it is worth continuing, we send you a private link for the full session: ninety minutes with you and whoever runs your technology, and you leave that one with a short written note on the first five things worth your attention.
Stage two
An independent read on where you stand, scored red, amber or green across six areas, with your risks ranked and a recommendation for what to do next. The report is yours whatever you decide.
Stage three
One clear problem fixed and finished, or ongoing management at whichever level fits. Six months to start, with the right to stop after ninety days, then thirty days' notice, month to month. We will give you our honest view of which one suits you, and you decide.
We are not here to replace your current lead. Oversight works through them, in the room with them, not around them.
Week one we change nothing and we announce nothing to the team. We look, we listen, and we read the contracts.
For a messy team that can still be led, we start with the Snapshot, then Oversight. Embedded is only if you want us in the seat.
Days 1 to 10
We listen. No changes, and no announcements.
Days 11 to 20
Scorecard, ranked risks, the first quick wins, and a draft twelve-month plan.
Days 21 to 30
Plan agreed, the first conversation with your supplier on your side of the table, and a one-page note for your board.
Services and fees
Fees are starting figures, set by how complex your business is: how many products and teams you have, how many markets you operate in, and which regulators you answer to. Complexity is confirmed on the first call, before any proposal. Select any service to request it.
No commitment
How the credit works. Engage us within 60 days and the Snapshot fee is applied to that engagement, up to 100% of the first month of a retainer or up to 30% of a fixed-scope project fee. After 60 days the report is yours and nothing further is owed.
Fixed scope, fixed fee
Retainers carry project credit
Or spend your project credit
All fees in Saudi Riyals, excluding VAT. Commit to twelve months on a retainer and it carries project credit you can spend on any project here, in full or against part of a larger one. Credit belongs to that year and does not roll over.
Is this for you
We would rather tell you now than three months into an engagement.
Who you get
Any one person, however capable, brings a single perspective and their own blind spots, and finding the right one takes months. This way you have a small group to draw on instead.
Your engagement lead. Owns the plan, makes the decisions, manages your team and suppliers, and answers to you and your board.
How exposed you are to a breach or data loss, what protection you need, and what your regulator will expect.
What it costs to run your systems, and whether they stay available when your customers need them.
Who owns your data, whether the numbers your business runs on can be trusted, and where AI genuinely helps.
Whether what you have today can carry the next three years of growth, or will have to be rebuilt.
Keeps work to schedule, checks quality before it reaches your customers, and holds suppliers to what they signed.
To be clear about what this is: you get a Chief Technology Officer every week. The other five are a bench we call on for defined pieces of work, not five people sitting on your account. Above them sits a named partner who reviews the plan and the major decisions, and who covers your account when your lead is unavailable. You are engaging the capability, not the payroll.
Background
More than twenty years leading technology across travel, food, telecom and research, at chief and group level. Which mostly means enough of these decisions, and enough of the mistakes that follow them, to have a fair idea of where they tend to go wrong.
We have taken a technology function through the scrutiny of a Tadawul listing, for a multi-market group that builds its own software: closing gaps, preparing evidence, and answering to auditors, bankers and the regulator. It is a demanding process, and having been through it once makes the next time considerably less painful.
Every engagement is designed to end. We hire your permanent leader, document the function and step back. If that hire does not work out, we stay and run the search again at no additional fee.
The next step
One short conversation is all we ask for. It costs nothing, and if we go on to the full session you leave that with something written down either way.
1
Send two dates that suit you. We will tell you which service, if any, after we have heard the situation.
2
We spend about thirty minutes on a first call. No fee, no obligation, and no pitch.
3
If it is worth continuing, we send a private link for the full ninety-minute session, and you leave that one with a short written note on the first five things worth your attention, whether or not we work together.
You are requesting
Thank you. I have your details and the service you asked about, and I will reply personally, usually within one working day.
Would rather talk than write? Pick a time for a short call, around thirty minutes, and we will speak directly.
Book a short call →