In today’s ever-evolving technological landscape, having access to a seasoned Chief Technology Officer (CTO) can make a significant difference for your business. Our CTO Advisory Services offer you the strategic leadership needed to navigate complex tech challenges and drive your business forward.
What are the benefits?
You get the same levels of expertise and capability without the overhead and salary a full-time CTO would command.
A trusted advisor who has your long-term interests at heart
Different models of engagement to suit your specific needs over time
What We Offer
Fractional CTO Services
Our Fractional CTO service provides you with dedicated, on-demand leadership to oversee your technology strategy and implementations. This service includes:
- Developing long and short-term technology strategies
- Leading software development projects
- Evaluating and recommending technological solutions
- Ensuring compliance with current legislation and industry standards
Virtual CTO Advisory
Our Virtual CTO Advisory service gives you access to top-tier strategic and tactical expertise for ongoing support. You’ll receive:
- Unlimited email support from Andy Henson
- Weekly strategy calls to address your unique challenges
- Minimum engagement period of three months
Why Choose Us?
Experienced Leadership
With over 20 years in technology and leadership roles, Andy Henson brings a wealth of experience and a no-nonsense, practical approach to solving your business challenges.
Tailored Solutions
We understand that every business is unique. That’s why we offer flexible engagement models to suit your specific needs, ensuring you only pay for the level of service you require.
Commitment to Excellence
Your trust is paramount, and we take that responsibility seriously. Our goal is to work collaboratively with you, providing honest feedback and ensuring that our work aligns with your long-term objectives.
Schedule Your Free Consultation
Ready to take your business to the next level? Schedule a no-obligation discovery call today and learn how our CTO Advisory Services can benefit your organization.
Who am I?
With over 20 years of experience in technology and leadership roles, I provide friendly, professional services accompanied by practical, actionable advice. I avoid unnecessary jargon and focus on offering straightforward, pragmatic guidance.
“Andy’s known for his adaptability and knack for finding straightforward, creative solutions to business challenges. With a wealth of experience, he blends current IT insights with a solid understanding of systems to deliver practical results.”
A brief history
My career began as a hardware and software engineer before swiftly transitioning to a start-up focused on IT solutions for the educational sector. There, I played a pivotal role in catapulting the company’s turnover to £1.2 million by its second year, which earned me the promotion to Technical Director. In this role, I successfully led a team of engineers implementing state-of-the-art networks, including a notable project designing and deploying the IT infrastructure for a new English-speaking school commissioned by Sheikh Saud in the United Arab Emirates.
Moving forward, I took on an IT Manager position at a public limited company, where I balanced hands-on responsibilities with acquiring critical project and IT management skills. My journey continued with this company as it was acquired by a leading insurance firm, broadening my experience before I ventured to establish Foxsoft.
In recent years, I have taken on interim and fractional CTO roles with several companies across various sectors, including a prop-tech SaaS company and an enterprise marketing procurement SaaS firm. Throughout these engagements, I have provided strategic guidance to help the organizations navigate the complexities of hiring their own CTOs and senior developers. My focus has been on enhancing team culture, optimizing workflows, and ensuring that teams are operating at peak efficiency to significantly boost their delivery rates. Additionally, I prioritized strengthening their security postures and improving the maintainability of their systems to promote long-term sustainability and success.
For over 20 years now, I’ve been at the helm of my own business, instilling a culture of excellence, providing strategic advice, and crafting bespoke software solutions that meet diverse client needs.
Your trusted advisor
I do not take lightly the responsibility of working on your behalf. Your trust must be earned. It’s also essential that we get along well and collaborate easily. This way, I can give you honest, helpful feedback that genuinely benefits your business. Sometimes, that may mean having tough conversations, but my goal is always to act for your organisation’s greater good.
Discover more about the service levels I offer below, or, if you’re ready to discuss your needs, please use the button below to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.
Schedule a discovery callServices
Consulting CTO
A fully hands-on engagement to oversee your team and technology direction. This can include attending meetings with your clients and suppliers to act on your behalf. We will typically agree on a period to work toward achieving specific objectives whilst handling day-to-day operational issues.
From £4,750 per month
Schedule callVirtual CTO Advisory
Get ongoing access to the strategic and tactical expertise you need, when you need it. You’ll have unlimited access to our principal, Andy Henson, via email and a weekly call to advise on your specific situation for both strategic and tactical matters. A minimum period of 3-month engagement.
From £1,265 per month
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The CTO Compass
Not sure you’re ready for the services of a CTO yet? Sign up for my weekly newsletter and I’ll show you how to use technology to become a more effective leader and give your organisation an unfair technology advantage.
Technology in business is not just about using software to run the organisation more efficiently. It permeates all aspects of our modern lives and it pays to learn how to leverage it effectively.
Through my weekly emails, I’ll help you to use technology to:
- Communicate more clearly throughout your organisation
- Think with better clarity
- Make better decisions with more data and less bias
- Put your people first
- Leverage automation to enjoy a better work/life balance
FAQs
Why should I hire you?
I can add the most value if you are:
- An established SME with turnover up to around £20m but you have no senior technical leadership
- A startup or mid-stage funded company in need of greater technical leadership to achieve growth objectives or have specific technical challenges with your team or technology you are struggling to solve.
- You need to bridge the gap and have a handover between an outgoing leader and a new incumbent.
- I have a strong commercial understanding and how the application of the right technology can accelerate your goals
- You need help and guidance for hiring a technical team, devising technical assessments, conduct technical interviews for your own CTO through to developer positions at all levels. *
We specialise in the Ruby on Rails web framework, as such I have deep experience in taking many clients applications through the full lifecycle from the build, to long term maintenance. We have rescued many applications with performance or technical issues, team or technology-wise. I can identify key issues within your Rails systems and set out a plan of action for your technical or operations team to implement.
Assistance and guidance for technical initiatives, for example, setting out information security policies, help to implement ISO27001 or selecting and implementing key technologies in your business to improve specific business functions or organisation-wide communication.
If you want to improve your own decision-making and organisational & leadership skills, which can be applied to your own areas of expertise, not just technology.
Why shouldn’t I hire you?
Earlier stage startups in fund-raising rounds. While I can provide advice and guidance from a technical standpoint, I do not have enough necessary experience where I feel I would add sufficient value.
What is the minimum engagement period?
I typically seek to define a specific period where we aim to achieve agreed objectives. A three-month engagement is fairly typical for part-time and fractional services. It is reviewed and can be extended according to circumstance. It is important to have a clear end and goal in mind to keep attention focused on the key issues at hand.
The Advisory Service runs similarly, however, sometimes an ongoing, rolling engagement can be helpful where there is more of a need for ongoing coaching or mentoring and ad-hoc strategic or tactical advice.
Do you offer a guarantee?
Absolutely. It is essential that we are a good fit, and can work well together. If in the first week of the engagement, you are not satisfied in any way I offer a full refund of any fees paid, and we’ll end the engagement. *
What is your availability?
I am only able to take on one fractional or interim position and a maximum of 2-3 advisories at any one time.
How do I hire you?
In the first instance, please book an initial call so we can discuss your specific issues and make sure we’re a good fit.
Still have questions?
Let’s schedule a quick 15 minute call to discuss whether our services are right for you and answer your questions.