Vendor contracts renewing unchallenged. A digital programme that has stalled. A cyber posture the board cannot get a straight answer on. IT managers making calls nobody qualified them to make. These are not just IT problems. They are leadership problems. Starkhorn solves them through interim and fractional CIO and CISO leadership, embedded in your organisation, reporting in the language your board actually reads. That includes delivering the AI, security and transformation work that moves the organisation forward, picked for impact and shipped, not left as recommendations in a slide deck.
In most mid-market and not-for-profit organisations, technology sits outside the leadership conversation entirely. Vendor contracts auto-renew unchallenged. Programmes slip because nobody mapped the dependencies before work began.
The board gets vague answers on cyber posture, or no answers at all. And every quarter, the gap between what technology could contribute and what it actually costs widens. We bring a commercial technology perspective built for organisations that need director-level leadership without a permanent hire.
Every assessment, every recommendation, and every board report is framed in cost control, risk reduction, and delivery, not infrastructure jargon.
Served as interim CIO and CISO at VetPartners, a GBP 1.2bn turnover business with 14,000 staff, operating across multiple countries.
Built standardised playbooks replacing ad-hoc approaches across hundreds of sites.
Delivered vendor consolidation, platform standardisation, and measurable cost improvement in the first 100 days.
Served as CIO and CISO through a period of major organisational change and rapid growth.
Modernised infrastructure, hardened security posture, and positioned technology as a competitive advantage across a high-transaction-volume, operationally complex business.
Led technology across healthcare, charity, and services organisations, including Alzheimer’s Society and Age UK.
Responsible for vendor rationalisation, duplicate cost elimination, system consolidation, and rapid capability deployment.
The first step in every engagement.
Within the opening weeks, we map your technology estate, benchmark vendor spend, assess cybersecurity posture, evaluate IT leadership capability, and deliver a board-ready report with a prioritised roadmap, all framed in commercial impact.
This assessment becomes the foundation for everything that follows: vendor renegotiation, programme planning, security hardening, and long-term technology strategy.
Not a technical audit.
A commercial assessment that identifies specific cost savings, vendor renegotiation opportunities, and efficiency improvements, all presented in plain commercial language.
Most organisations overspend on technology by 15 to 25%. We find it, quantify it, and show you how to recover it.
In the first 100 days, leadership needs answers fast.
Which systems standardise immediately. Which vendors consolidate.
Where the dependencies sit. Where the quick wins are.
We translate technical complexity into an operational prioritisation that de-risks delivery and starts capturing savings from week one.
Boards, auditors, regulators and insurers will interrogate your technology estate: infrastructure stability, cybersecurity posture, vendor dependencies, data quality, and operational complexity.
We identify everything that could be a risk to the organisation and build the remediation plan before it becomes a problem. The goal: technology that strengthens the organisation instead of exposing it.
Every finding framed in cost impact, operational efficiency, delivery progress, and board confidence. RAG-scored across key domains with a prioritised roadmap at 30 days, 90 days, and 12 months.
Presented to your board in person, not emailed as a PDF. No technical jargon. No infrastructure complexity. Just commercial clarity.
Over a typical few years, even modest technology overspend of £50K per year compounds to £200K to £250K of value leakage, money that could have funded the work that actually matters.
The organisations that get the most from technology are the ones that bring leadership in early, not once the problem is already serious.
Every quarter without independent technology oversight is a quarter where vendor costs drift, savings go uncaptured, and risk builds quietly.
Not a technical audit. A commercial assessment that identifies specific cost savings, vendor renegotiation opportunities, and efficiency improvements, all presented in plain commercial language. Most organisations overspend on technology by 15 to 25%. We find it, quantify it, and show you how to recover it.
Fragmented, under-led technology is where good plans go to die. We identify what standardises immediately, what consolidates, where the dependencies sit, and how to start delivering from week one, not month twelve.
RAG-scored reporting across key domains with a prioritised roadmap at 30, 90, and 365 days. Presented to your board in person, in the language of commercial impact, cost control, operational efficiency, delivery progress, and board confidence. Not emailed as a PDF. Not written in jargon.
Security posture evidenced. Vendor dependencies mapped. Data quality assured. Operational readiness demonstrated. Everything an auditor, regulator or insurer will interrogate, assessed, addressed, and documented before they arrive. Technology becomes an asset, not a liability.
The Free Diagnostic Toolkit
Deploy Starkhorn’s free diagnostic tools across your organisation. Each team self-assesses in under 5 minutes. Results flow into a clear technology maturity view, giving your board visibility within a week, at zero cost.
Share the diagnostic links with your leadership team
Each assessment completes in 3 to 5 minutes
Review your technology maturity scores
Where the scores point to a gap, we offer a scoping call. No cost. No obligation. Starkhorn only engages where we can genuinely move the needle.
“The assessment takes 3 minutes. The conversation takes 20. Across 20+ years in technology and security, 15+ of them in leadership roles, we have consistently given boards clarity they didn’t have before.” Daniel Jacobs, Founder, Starkhorn
The Technology Health Check is a free diagnostic designed for mid-market and not-for-profit organisations. It scores your technology across key dimensions: leadership and governance, systems, risk exposure, and delivery. It tells you where the technology risks sit before they become problems.
10 questions. 4 dimensions. Immediate results. No obligation.
We’ll review your publicly available technology indicators, website infrastructure, SaaS footprint, security posture signals, and give you a 15 minute briefing on what we see. No preparation needed from you. No obligation.
Free for boards and leadership teams who need a fast, honest read.
Whether you need to stabilise a stalled programme, harden your cyber posture, or get independent visibility into your technology, start with a conversation.
Common questions
Why use a fractional or interim CIO rather than a permanent hire?
Because most organisations cannot justify a full-time CIO, yet technology is either accelerating the organisation or quietly holding it back. You get senior leadership tied to outcomes without adding permanent cost.
When should technology leadership come in?
As early as it can. A diagnostic up front tells you what you are really dealing with. In the first 100 days it controls cost and stabilises delivery. Over time it keeps technology aligned to the organisation's goals and makes sure the technology estate stands up to scrutiny.
How do you tie the work to commercial impact?
Every recommendation is framed as commercial impact: cost taken out, risk removed, delivery progressed. Most engagements find vendor and licensing savings in the first weeks that exceed the cost of the work, and the larger gains show up as controlled spend and a technology estate that won't let you down.
Do you work with charities and not-for-profits?
Yes. Starkhorn is currently engaged as Fractional Associate Director of IT at Alzheimer's Society. Charities face the same data, cyber and continuity obligations as any business, and a fractional model is often the only way to access this calibre of leadership at a cost the finance committee can approve.
How is this different from a consultancy or an MSP?
A consultancy delivers a report and leaves; an MSP has an interest in selling you more of its own services. This is independent, embedded leadership, accountable for the outcome, with nothing to sell you but the result.
The Technology Health Check shows where your technology leadership has gaps, scored across eight dimensions with a one-line recommendation for each.
Weekly technology leadership insights.
Read past editions →
A fractional CIO and CISO is one experienced technology and security leader who runs both mandates part time rather than as two full time hires. You get board level strategy, governance, delivery and cyber risk ownership for a fraction of the cost, scaled to the days your UK mid market or non profit organisation needs each month.
In UK SMEs these titles describe the same thing: senior IT leadership bought part time. A fractional CIO, a fractional IT director and a part time IT director are interchangeable names for the IT leadership slice of a fractional executive. Note one distinction: a fractional CIO covers technology and security, whereas a fractional CFO covers finance. Starkhorn provides the CIO and CISO mandates only, not CFO, finance or all C suite fractional roles.
| Aspect | Fractional CIO | Virtual CIO |
|---|---|---|
| Typical engagement | Senior leader part time, often hands on | Remote, advisory first |
| Board involvement | Direct, embedded in decisions | Lighter, guidance led |
| Best when you need | Ongoing leadership and delivery | Strategic advice and oversight |
| Overlap | The terms overlap heavily; Starkhorn delivers genuine senior leadership under either label | |
| Mandate | Fractional CIO | Fractional CISO |
|---|---|---|
| Owns | Technology strategy, roadmap, operating model, team | Security strategy, cyber risk, compliance, resilience |
| Board focus | IT value and delivery | Risk posture and assurance |
| With Starkhorn | Both mandates available under one leader, so you need not hire two separate executives | |
A fractional CIO is an experienced Chief Information Officer who leads your technology on a part time, ongoing basis rather than as a full time hire. You get senior strategy, governance and delivery for a fraction of the cost and commitment, scaled to the days your organisation actually needs each month.
A fractional CIO sets technology strategy, aligns IT to business goals, owns the roadmap and budget, manages vendors and risk, and leads the in house team. They make senior decisions, run transformation and operating model change, and report to the board, all within an agreed number of days each month rather than full time.
Fractional CIO cost in the UK depends on days per month, scope and seniority, so it is best quoted per engagement rather than as a fixed figure. The model is deliberately lighter than a full time salary plus on costs, because you buy only the leadership capacity you need. See the pricing page for how Starkhorn structures engagements.
A fractional CISO is a part time Chief Information Security Officer who owns your security strategy, governance, risk and compliance posture. They set policy, lead incident readiness, manage audits and certifications, and brief the board on cyber risk, all on an ongoing fractional basis. For deeper virtual CISO detail, see the dedicated virtual CISO page.
The difference is mostly emphasis. A fractional CIO is a senior leader engaged part time, often with hands on board and team involvement. A virtual CIO usually works remotely and advisory first. In practice the terms overlap heavily, and Starkhorn delivers genuine senior leadership whether you call the role fractional or virtual.
A fractional CIO owns technology overall: strategy, delivery, operating model and team. A fractional CISO owns security specifically: cyber risk, governance, compliance and resilience. They are distinct mandates that often overlap. Starkhorn offers both under one leader, so you can hold both mandates without hiring two separate executives.
Hire a fractional CIO or CISO when you need senior technology and security leadership but cannot justify a full time executive. You gain board level judgement, faster decisions and lower risk at a fraction of the cost. Starkhorn brings 20+ years in technology and security, 15+ of them in leadership roles, with checkable PE backed and mid market proof.