Projects stalling while they wait for IT sign-off. Shadow IT spreading as teams work around the function. The service desk handling the same incidents week after week. Nobody quite sure who owns what. These are not technology problems. They are structural ones. Starkhorn assesses how your IT function operates today, identifies where it creates friction rather than value, and designs a target operating model that fits your organisation. We work across structure, capability, the balance of run versus change, sourcing, and governance, so the function is built for the size and goals you actually have, not a generic blueprint.
In most organisations, the way IT is structured, governed, resourced, and connected to the business is rarely examined directly. Decisions get made without clear owners. Capability gaps go unaddressed because nobody mapped what the function actually needs.
The executive gets vague answers on what IT can deliver, or no answers at all. And every quarter, the gap between what the function could contribute and what it actually costs widens. We bring an operating model perspective built specifically for mid-market and non-profit organisations.
Every finding, every recommendation, and every report is framed in terms of structure, capability, the run versus change balance, sourcing, and governance, not infrastructure jargon.
Led the structural review and reorganisation of a fragmented IT function operating across multiple businesses brought together over time.
Built standardised ways of working to replace ad-hoc approaches across hundreds of sites.
Delivered a clearer organisational design, supplier consolidation, and a defined balance between keeping the lights on and driving change.
Served as CIO and CISO through a period of significant structural change, redefining how the function was organised and governed.
Modernised infrastructure, hardened security posture, and positioned technology as a capability the business could rely on across a high-volume, operationally complex environment.
Led operating model design and IT function restructuring across healthcare, automotive, and services organisations.
Responsible for supplier rationalisation, duplicate cost removal, system consolidation, and the rapid build of capability where it was missing.
The first step in most engagements.
Over two to four weeks, we review how your IT function operates today across six dimensions, strategy and alignment, governance and decision rights, organisational design, service management and delivery, capability and talent, and the supplier and partner ecosystem, using structured interviews, documentation review, and service data where available.
This assessment becomes the foundation for everything that follows: a clear picture of strengths, gaps, and root causes, and a brief for what a target operating model needs to address.
Not a technical audit.
A structured assessment that identifies the real root causes of friction, distinguishing between structural problems, governance gaps, and capability shortfalls, all set out in plain language.
The output is a prioritised picture you can act on, not a comprehensive list of every possible improvement.
In many functions, run and change are tangled together, so neither is done well.
Which work is keeping the lights on. Which work is driving change.
Where capacity is being consumed. Where the function is overstretched.
We separate the two, define how each should be resourced and measured, and design a service model that lets the function deliver day-to-day service while still making progress on change.
The TOM design takes the as-is findings and builds a credible, costed picture of where the IT function should get to. It covers organisational structure with role definitions at team level, a governance model, a service model, a sourcing and supplier strategy, and a capability roadmap.
It also sets out an implementation sequence, the order in which changes should be made, with dependencies and risks identified. The goal: a working document a leadership team can pick up and use, not a presentation that sits on a shelf.
Every finding framed in terms of structure, capability, sourcing, and governance, with evidence and root-cause analysis rather than bare observations. A prioritised picture across the six dimensions, with an implementation sequence at 30 days, 90 days, and 12 months.
Written to be read by both the IT leadership team and the executive or board. No technical jargon where the audience is business leaders. No management-consultant abstraction where the audience is practitioners.
When the structure is wrong, even modest drift compounds. Duplicated tools, unclear ownership, and capacity lost to firefighting quietly add cost year after year, cost that comes straight out of what the function could otherwise deliver.
The organisations that get the most from IT are the ones that fix the operating model early, not after years of friction.
Every quarter without a deliberate structure is a quarter where supplier costs drift, capability gaps widen, and the function falls further behind what the business needs from it.
Not a technical audit. A structured assessment of your supplier and partner ecosystem that identifies how third parties are selected, governed, and held accountable, and whether the function has the commercial competence to manage them well. We find where spend is drifting, set out what to consolidate, and show you how to bring it under control.
Capability gaps are where good intentions stall. We assess the skills the function has, the skills it needs, and how to build or acquire the difference, then set out a capability roadmap covering what to develop, what to hire, and what to retire, so the function can actually deliver what is being asked of it.
A prioritised picture across the six dimensions, with an implementation sequence at 30, 90, and 365 days. Presented to your board in person, in the language of structure, capability, sourcing, and governance, with clear evidence and root causes. Not emailed as a PDF. Not written in jargon.
Decision rights defined. Ownership made clear. Funding allocation set out. Escalation paths agreed and the rhythm of oversight established. Everything that determines how technology decisions get made and resolved, designed, documented, and ready to use. Governance becomes a help to the function, not a source of friction.
The Technology Health Check
Use Starkhorn’s free Technology Health Check to benchmark your function before any conversation. Your team self-assesses across the operating model dimensions in around 15 minutes. The result is a structured, prioritised view of where the operating model sits today, at zero cost.
Complete the free Technology Health Check
It takes around 15 minutes
Review your prioritised operating model output
Where the Health Check raises questions worth working through, a scoping call is the next step. No cost. No obligation. Starkhorn only engages where we can genuinely move the needle on how your IT function operates.
“The Health Check takes 15 minutes. The conversation takes 20. Over more than fifteen years, we have consistently given leadership teams clarity on how their IT function really operates.” Daniel J. Jacobs, Founder, Starkhorn
The Technology Health Check is a free self-assessment built for mid-market and non-profit organisations. It scores your IT function across the operating model dimensions: strategy and alignment, governance and decision rights, organisational design, service management and delivery, capability and talent, and the supplier and partner ecosystem. It shows you where the structural gaps sit before any conversation with Starkhorn.
Operating model dimensions. Around 15 minutes. Immediate results. No obligation.
We will talk through how your IT function is organised today, where the friction sits, and what the structure is doing to delivery, then give you a 15 minute view on what we see. No preparation needed from you. No obligation.
Free for leaders weighing a restructure, reorganisation, or change of leadership.
Whether you want to understand how your IT function operates today, design a target operating model for the next two to three years, or get an independent read before a structural decision: start with a conversation.
The Governance Vacuum
At a certain point in a company's growth, informal IT decision-making stops working. Technology decisions are made ad hoc. Business teams work around IT. Shadow IT proliferates. The board cannot get a straight answer on technology spend or priorities. This is the Governance Vacuum: the organisation has outgrown its operating model but not yet built the governance to replace it. It is predictable, diagnosable, and fixable.
Proof
At VetPartners, the IT function supporting 850+ sites across nine countries was operating without coherent governance or a documented operating model. The Starkhorn framework redesigned accountability structures, run-vs-change capacity allocation, and architecture principles across the group within 90 days, enabling the business to absorb new acquisitions without each one requiring a bespoke re-integration project. At Jardine Motors Group, the same framework was applied across two major M&A transactions totalling over GBP 700m, producing an IT operating model that passed FCA operational resilience review with zero findings across both deals.
The Starkhorn IT Operating Model
Most IT operating model reviews focus on org charts. The Starkhorn framework works across four dimensions that actually determine whether an IT function creates value or creates drag.
| Dimension | What it covers | Common failure mode |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Governance and accountability | Who owns which decisions, how technology priorities are set, and how the board gets visibility | Governance vacuum: decisions default to whoever shouts loudest |
| 2. Run vs change structure | How the function balances keeping the lights on with delivering improvement and growth | Run consumes all capacity; change never gets funded or resourced |
| 3. Capability and sourcing | What the internal team does versus what is outsourced, and whether the mix is correct for the organisation | Wrong skills in-house, wrong things outsourced, supplier management absent |
| 4. Technology architecture principles | The guardrails that govern build-vs-buy, integration, and technical debt decisions | No principles: every project makes independent decisions that conflict later |
Diagnostic concepts
Three predictable failure patterns that signal an IT operating model redesign is overdue.
| Pattern | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Governance Vacuum | Technology decisions are made ad hoc. The business works around IT. Shadow IT proliferates. No clear owner for cross-functional technology choices. |
| Leadership Capacity Limits | The IT leader is technically strong but overwhelmed. Prioritisation breaks down. The board cannot get strategic answers. Technology is reactive, not proactive. |
| Technology Confidence Gap | The board and executive team have lost confidence in what IT is delivering and why. Technology is seen as a cost, not a capability. Investment decisions stall. |
Common questions
What is an IT operating model and why does it matter?
An IT operating model is the documented way an IT function is structured, governed, resourced, and connected to the rest of the business. It matters because how IT is organised determines whether it creates value or creates drag. Most organisations never examine it directly until something goes wrong.
How long does an IT operating model review take?
A Starkhorn operating model review typically runs four to six weeks: two weeks of discovery and diagnosis, two weeks of framework design, and one to two weeks of validation and board presentation. The output is a target operating model specific to your organisation, not a generic blueprint.
What is the Governance Vacuum and how do I know if we have one?
The Governance Vacuum describes the point, typically at 300 to 800 employees, where an organisation has outgrown informal IT decision-making but not yet built formal governance structures. Signs include: technology decisions made without a clear owner, business teams working around IT, and the board unable to get straight answers on technology spend or priorities.
Does this work for PE-backed portfolio companies?
Yes. PE-backed businesses often acquire IT functions that were built for a smaller scale or have grown through acquisition without integration. The Starkhorn framework is designed for exactly this context: a business that needs an IT function fit for its current size and the value creation plan, not for what it was three years ago.
What happens after the operating model is designed?
Design without implementation is just a document. Starkhorn can lead the implementation phase as fractional or interim CIO, ensuring the new operating model is actually adopted, tested against real workloads, and adjusted as the business evolves. The measure of success is whether it works in practice, not whether it looks good on paper.
Discovery
The Technology Health Check gives you an initial read across eight dimensions in ten minutes. Start there before commissioning a full review.
Take the Technology Health CheckThe 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.
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An IT operating model is the blueprint for how a technology function delivers value. It defines how people, process, technology, governance, data and sourcing fit together so IT reliably supports business goals. It connects strategy to day to day delivery, clarifies decision rights, and sets how services are funded, run and continually improved.
An IT transformation consultant advises on how to redesign technology delivery. Starkhorn goes further than advice. Daniel is a hands on fractional and interim CIO and CISO who has actually run IT operating models at scale, so the design is shaped by what works in practice and stood up alongside your team, not handed over as a report and left.
| Aspect | IT operating model | Target operating model |
|---|---|---|
| What it describes | How technology runs today | The future state you are designing towards |
| Time horizon | Current reality | Destination and roadmap |
| Main use | Diagnose what is holding the business back | Set direction across people, process and governance |
| Scope | Often IT specific | Can span the whole organisation |
| Starkhorn role | Assess and stabilise | Design, implement and hand over |
An IT operating model is the blueprint for how a technology function delivers value. It defines how people, process, technology, governance, data and sourcing fit together so IT supports business goals reliably. It connects strategy to day to day delivery, clarifies decision rights, and sets how services are funded, run and improved.
An IT operating model describes how technology runs today. A target operating model (TOM) describes the future state you are designing towards. The TOM sets the destination across people, process and governance, while the operating model is the current reality. We design the TOM, then close the gap so your team runs it.
A practical target operating model has six layers: people (roles and skills), process (how work flows), technology (platforms and tooling), governance (decision rights and controls), data (information and reporting) and sourcing (what you build, buy or partner for). Designing all six together avoids gaps that quietly hold the business back.
An IT operating model framework is a structured way to design and assess how technology delivers, usually across people, process, technology, governance, data and sourcing. It gives leaders a common language to spot weak layers and prioritise change. We use it as a working tool to redesign and stand up models, not as a document that sits on a shelf.
A widely used model identifies four operating model archetypes based on standardisation and integration of business processes: diversification, coordination, replication and unification. They help leaders decide how much to centralise. For mid market IT we treat them as a starting lens, then tailor the design to your structure, growth plans and appetite for shared services.
Start from business outcomes, not the org chart. We assess the current state across all six layers, define a target operating model, then sequence the change so risk stays managed. Our Embed to Independence method means we run it alongside your team, then hand over a model they can operate confidently without us.
A common example is a mid market group consolidating fragmented local IT into a shared service: clear roles, standardised processes, a governed technology stack, defined data ownership and a deliberate sourcing mix. Daniel has redesigned and run models at this scale, including across a PE backed group with 850 plus sites in 9 countries.