Senior technology leadership at your leadership table — without the six-figure, full-time cost.
Most growing businesses don’t make bad technology decisions because they’re careless. They make them because nobody in the room owns technology.
So the decisions get made anyway — reactively, under pressure, or by whichever vendor shouted loudest at the right moment. A renewal gets signed because cancelling felt risky. A platform gets bought because a competitor uses it. A “quick fix” quietly becomes the thing the whole business now depends on. None of it is strategic. All of it is expensive.
A full-time Chief Technology Officer would fix that — but at £120,000-plus a year plus equity, that’s a hire most SMEs turning over £1m to £20m simply can’t justify yet. So the seat stays empty, and the gap keeps costing you: in wasted subscriptions, in security you’re not sure about, in systems that hold growth back instead of driving it.
A Fractional CTO closes that gap. You get a senior technology leader embedded in your business, typically one to two days a month — the same person every time, building real context and accountability — for a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire. Not a consultant who writes a report and leaves. Not a project manager. Your CTO.
What is a Fractional CTO?
A Fractional CTO is a senior technology leader who joins your business part-time and stays. Think of it as renting the experience of a Chief Technology Officer for the days you actually need one — and none of the days you don’t.
The difference that matters is continuity. Consultants parachute in, diagnose, and disappear. A Fractional CTO sits at your leadership table month after month, learns how your business really works, and is held to the outcomes. It’s the same person throughout, so the relationship and the context compound over time — exactly as they would with a full-time hire.
Their job is simple to state and hard to do well: make sure technology drives your growth instead of holding it back.
Is this for you?
You’ll get the most from a Fractional CTO if you recognise your business here:
- Turnover between £1m and £20m, and growing
- 10 to 100 employees, in any sector
- Technology decisions currently made reactively — or by the loudest vendor in the room
- A full-time CTO isn’t justifiable yet, but the gap is starting to cost you
- Based in Essex, Suffolk or the wider East Anglia region — or happy to work with a team that is
If two or more of those sound familiar, the first conversation is free and worth having.
What you get
Month 1 — Technology Audit & Strategy
We start by finding out where you actually stand.
- A full audit of your technology and systems
- An honest assessment of risk, technical debt and vendor dependencies
- A prioritised 12–24 month technology roadmap
- Quick wins identified and flagged immediately — you shouldn’t have to wait a year for value
You come out of month one knowing what you have, what it’s costing you, what’s exposed, and what to do first.
Ongoing – Monthly Engagement
From then on, you have a technology voice in the business every month:
- A seat at the leadership table as your technology voice
- Oversight of all technology purchasing decisions — no more signing renewals on faith
- Vendor and supplier management
- Cybersecurity and compliance governance
- Digital transformation leadership
- Technology due diligence for growth, investment or M&A
Meet your CTO
Richard Maly — Co-founder & CTO, Maly IT Solutions
Richard has spent nearly three decades building software for organisations where getting technology wrong isn’t an option. Before co-founding Maly in 2011, he led development teams at Willis, Zurich Financial Services and Land Securities, and delivered systems for an international pharmaceutical manufacturer.
For the past 15 years he has been CTO of Maly IT Solutions, specialising in validated software for regulated industries — pharmaceutical regulatory affairs, artwork management and manufacturing. The kind of environments where every system has to survive an audit.
He lives and works in Suffolk, writes regularly on how SMEs can escape spreadsheets and legacy systems, and his book, Buy, Build or Bodge, is due for release in September.
When you engage Maly’s Fractional CTO service, this is who sits at your table — with a full in-house build team behind him.
Why Maly?
Plenty of people will offer you fractional technology advice. Almost none of them can build what they recommend.
- ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certified — security and quality aren’t afterthoughts, they’re audited
- 16+ years delivering bespoke systems for SMEs
- One of the few Fractional CTOs backed by a full in-house build team — so when the strategy calls for something to be built, integrated or migrated, we don’t hand you a shopping list, we do it
- Local, trusted and accountable — still on the end of the phone when you need us
- Proven across pharmaceutical, financial services, professional services and more — regulated sectors where getting technology wrong isn’t an option
Most advisers can tell you what good looks like. We’re the team that can also make it exist.
Pricing
Straightforward day rates, with a low monthly minimum so you only pay for the leadership you use. Flexible subscription — scale up or down with 30 days’ notice. No lock-in.
| Your business | Day rate (from) | Monthly minimum |
|---|---|---|
| Microbusiness — under 10 employees | £1,100 / day | £550 / month |
| SME — 10+ employees | £1,250 / day | £625 / month |
| London — any size | £1,450 / day | £725 / month |
Most engagements run at one to two days a month. Month 1 (Technology Audit & Strategy) is scoped and quoted upfront so you know exactly where you stand before committing to anything ongoing.
You don’t need a full-time CTO. You need someone senior who owns technology, sits at your table, and is still there next month — at a price that makes sense for a business your size.
Never miss an opportunity because of bad tech
Jargon Buster.
A CTO, or Chief Technology Officer, is a senior executive responsible for managing the technological requirements of a company or other institution.
Fractional means working on a part-time, contractual, or project basis. You are purchasing a fraction of an expert’s time rather than hiring full-time.
ISO 9001 is the internationally recognised standard for creating a Quality Management System. It provides a framework to help businesses consistently deliver high-quality products and services.
ISO 27001 is the internationally recognised standard for an Information Security Management System (ISMS). It helps organisations to systematically manage and protect sensitive data, physical records, and intellectual property.