Advisory
Flexible monthly commitmentA senior technology voice for the CEO and board. Strategy, investment decisions and independent challenge, with the existing team operating day to day.
Commitment
Technology Transformation Practice
Fractional Chief Technology Officer
A CTO at your executive table for the days you need one. Accountable for the outcome on all of them.
Senior technology leadership for organisations that need CTO-level direction, governance and accountability without immediately adding a permanent executive position.
Bring the technology question your board keeps asking.
25+Years in technology
200+Projects delivered
40+Countries delivered across
A practical test
Is a Fractional CTO right for you?
A Fractional CTO is typically relevant when technology has become strategically important but executive ownership, independent challenge or leadership capacity has not kept pace.
Technology is strategically important, but nobody at the executive table clearly owns it.
Your organisation has capable operational technology leadership but needs CTO-level direction and executive cover.
A significant transformation, investment, merger or technology transition is approaching.
The CEO or board lacks confidence in technology reporting, delivery status or supplier advice.
Leadership is needed during recruitment, transition or a critical programme period.
Independent challenge is required across vendors, contracts, cyber risk or AI adoption.
If more than one of these sounds familiar, it may be time for a senior technology leader at the table.
Both sides of the fence
What you are facing, and what we bring to it
Organisations rarely go looking for a Fractional CTO. They go looking for an answer to a business situation. If any of these sound familiar, it may be time for a senior technology leader at the table.
Your side: the need
Our side: what a Bushey fCTO does
Nobody at the executive table owns technology
Technology reports into finance or operations. Decisions are made by whoever shouts loudest, or by the supplier.
A named executive who owns it
Your fCTO sits with your leadership team, owns technology decisions within agreed authority and provides a single point of accountability to the CEO and board.
Spend is rising, but there is no strategy behind it
Systems have accumulated over years. Nobody can show the board how technology investment links to the business plan.
A technology strategy tied to business benefits
A costed roadmap, an investment case the board can defend, and a clear view of what to stop, fix and build.
A major programme is starting, or already slipping
An ERP replacement, cloud or Data Centre move, or merger is underway. You are told it is on track and are not sure you believe it.
Programme leadership governed by AssureChange®
Stage gates, written decision rights and evidence-based progress. Risk reaches the executive team before it reaches the board.
Your vendors are marking their own homework
Suppliers recommend the solution, deliver it and report on it. You have no independent way to challenge any of it.
Independent, vendor-neutral challenge
Someone on your side of the contract who has run procurements, negotiated agreements and held suppliers to what they signed.
The board is asking about AI and cyber risk
Staff are already using AI tools. Regulators and insurers are asking questions that nobody is equipped to answer.
Governance that stands up to scrutiny
AI adoption governed through BAIGS®, with the Bushey Cybersecurity Practice behind your fCTO when specialist depth is needed.
Your technology leader has left, or the team has outgrown its leadership
A capable IT manager is carrying an executive role, or there is a gap while you recruit.
Leadership for the team you already have
Interim cover, structure and mentoring for your people, plus support hiring the permanent leader when the time is right.
Investors or an acquirer want to see inside your technology
A transaction, funding round or audit needs a credible technology voice in the room.
A credible voice in the room
IT due diligence, risk assessment and a clear account of your technology position from someone who has sat on both sides.
The outcome
What should be different
The value is not simply more technology activity. It is clearer direction, stronger control and better executive decisions.
Clear direction
A technology roadmap linked directly to business priorities.
Controlled investment
Technology spending supported by visible priorities and defensible business cases.
Known risk
Technology, cyber, programme and AI risks visible before they become surprises.
Accountable suppliers
Clear expectations, measurable commitments and independent challenge.
A stronger internal team
Clear roles, decision rights, mentoring and leadership.
Board confidence
Regular reporting that converts technical complexity into business decisions.
The role
What your Fractional CTO is accountable for
This is an executive role with a part-time diary. It is not an advisory retainer. Your fCTO carries the responsibilities agreed with the CEO and board and stays accountable for the result.
01
Strategy and roadmap
Technology direction aligned to the business plan, with priorities, sequencing and cost.
02
Investment and architecture decisions
Business cases, platform choices and build-or-buy calls made with evidence and written down.
03
Team leadership
Structure, capability and leadership of your technology team, including coaching future leaders.
04
Programme and delivery oversight
Major change governed through AssureChange®, from readiness through to benefits after go-live.
05
Vendor and commercial management
Selection, contracts, service levels and supplier performance managed in your interest.
06
Risk, security and AI governance
Clear board reporting on cyber, resilience, data and AI risk in language the board uses.
Who sits at your table
The calibre of leader behind the title
A Fractional CTO is only as good as the career behind the title. The engagement is senior-led, with wider Bushey capability available when specialist depth is needed.
Certified, Chartered IT Professional
Barry has more than 25 years in technology across corporate, service provider and public sector environments. He has held the roles of CTO, Technology Director and Principal Consultant, led senior technology teams and delivered high-profile transformation programmes across more than 40 countries.
I've sat on the other side of the table as a CIO. I know exactly what it feels like to be told a project is 'on track' two weeks before it isn't. Bushey is built so that conversation happens differently.Barry Lewington, Co-Founder and MD
Behind the role
One executive. Backed by a wider capability.
The fCTO is the accountable executive interface. Bushey methods and specialist practices provide additional depth where the situation requires it.
Your Fractional CTO
The accountable executive interface
Transformation governance
AssureChange® supports stage gates, decision rights and evidence-based programme governance.
AI governance
BAIGS® supports structured governance of AI adoption and risk.
Cybersecurity
The Bushey Cybersecurity Practice provides specialist depth when cyber, resilience or security decisions require it.
Technology transformation
The wider Technology Transformation Practice supports major programmes, transitions and operating-model change.
How it works
Three ways to engage
The commitment flexes with what your organisation needs and can change as the situation develops.
Embedded
Regular weekly commitmentYour fCTO acts as a member of the executive team, leads the technology function, owns the roadmap and vendors, and reports to the board.
Commitment
Interim
Fixed-term executive coverLeadership for a departed executive, transition or critical programme period, with a planned handover to the permanent appointment.
Commitment
Mobilisation
Your first 90 days
The exact scope is agreed for each engagement. A typical mobilisation establishes facts first, then direction, then control.
Understand
Meet the executive team, technology team and key suppliers. Review systems, spend, contracts, risks and in-flight projects.
Typical outputs
- Executive technology assessment
- Current risk view
- Immediate priorities
Set direction
Agree priorities with the CEO and board. Put decision rights, governance and reporting in place. Address urgent risks first.
Typical outputs
- Technology priorities
- Decision rights and governance rhythm
- Risk treatment priorities
Take control
Establish an agreed roadmap and budget view, clear ownership, supplier governance and a regular board reporting cycle.
Typical outputs
- Agreed roadmap
- Executive technology dashboard
- Board reporting cycle
This is not
An adviser who writes a report, presents it and leaves you to work out what to do next.
This is
A technology executive whose name is against the outcome, backed by the Bushey team, AssureChange® and specialist practices.
Fractional CTO
Frequently asked questions
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Talk to the person who would sit at your table
Bring us the technology question your board keeps asking. A no-obligation conversation will give you an honest view of whether a Fractional CTO is the right answer.
