Strategic Technology Advisory & Fractional CIO · UK
Fractional CIO and technology advisory, without the permanent hire.
Conygar Consulting is a UK-based practice working with leadership teams and boards to define technology strategy, lead transformation, and provide fractional and interim CIO leadership. We advise from experience — across businesses from 17 people to 4,000, local to global — these are decisions we have made at scale, not theories we have read about.
Why clients call us
Do any of these sound familiar?
These are the problems we are built to solve. If one of them is yours, we should talk.
There's no senior technology voice in the room — or a gap between leaders.
Decisions get made without someone who understands the implications. Between permanent hires or during transformation, a Fractional CIO/CTO puts that voice at the table for 2–4 days a month and keeps the roadmap moving.
The board wants AI, but the strategy — and the adoption — aren't there yet.
Tools get bought and then sit unused. Our AI Readiness & Adoption work builds governance and direction before you spend, then turns pilots into everyday practice with the training and use cases that make adoption stick.
You need an honest, independent read on your technology — and no one inside can give it.
A Technology Review gives the board a clear, objective picture of risk, cost, and fitness for purpose in 1–3 weeks — and the same rigour supports a transaction when one's on the table.
The data is there, but the reporting doesn't answer the questions leadership is asking.
Our Data, Analytics & Reporting work fixes the architecture and the reporting layer, so the numbers the board sees are the ones that matter.
Vendor commitments made years ago are now lock-in.
Vendor & Cost Optimisation reviews contracts, rationalises licences, and supports renegotiation.
Tooling is fragmented and licence sprawl is driving cost.
A Technology Review maps what you have, what it costs, and what to do about it.
Services
Assess. Act. Lead.
Most engagements start with an assessment, move into focused delivery, and — where it helps — settle into ongoing leadership. Available as standalone work or a sequenced programme, on a project, retainer, or fractional basis.
Assess understand the estate, the risk, and the priorities
Technology Review & Due Diligence
Stakeholder interviews, systems audit, and gap analysis, producing an independent read on risk, cost, capability, and fitness for purpose — with a clear roadmap. The entry point for most engagements, and the same rigour supports a transaction when needed. More below.
2–3 weeksAct focused delivery against the priorities that matter
Cloud Transformation Strategy
Workload assessment, hybrid and multi-cloud architecture design, data centre exit planning, and vendor selection.
3–6 weeksData, Analytics & Reporting
Data architecture review, BI platform selection, and governance framework — plus the reporting and dashboards that turn data into decisions leadership can act on.
3–4 weeksAI Readiness & Adoption
Organisational maturity assessment, governance framework design, and a Centre of Excellence structure — through to practical adoption: use-case selection, training, and embedding tools into everyday work. Avoids premature spend.
3–4 weeksVendor & Cost Optimisation
Contract review, licence rationalisation, spend benchmarking, and renegotiation support.
2–4 weeksLead senior leadership, embedded for as long as it's needed
Fractional CIO/CTO
Ongoing senior technology leadership — board governance, roadmap ownership, team mentoring, and vendor management.
2–4 days/monthNot sure where to start? Most clients begin with a Technology Review. It tells us — and you — exactly what needs attention.
Technology Review & Due Diligence
An independent, honest read on the state of your technology.
An objective assessment of a business's technology — what's working, what it's costing, where the risk sits, and what to do about it. Useful whenever you need a clear picture you can trust: new leadership taking stock, a board that wants assurance, a major decision ahead — or a transaction, on either side.
We hold no vendor relationships and sell no platforms. The assessment has one purpose: an honest read for you, wherever the findings land.
Technical debt & remediation cost
The platforms, licences, and architecture in place — and the real cost and timeline to bring them up to standard.
Cost & commercial exposure
Contracts, licences, and lock-in driving cost — and where spend isn't matched by the value it returns.
Team capability & key-person risk
Whether the team can deliver the plan, where the dependencies sit, and where the single points of failure are.
Roadmap & fitness for purpose
Whether the technology supports where the business is going — or quietly holds it back.
Security, compliance & data
Exposure across security posture, data handling, and the regulatory obligations that carry real risk.
Priorities & risks
What needs attention first, what it will take, and what could undermine the plan if it's left alone.
An independent read for the board
Leadership teams that want an honest, external assessment of where their technology actually stands.
Before a major decision
Ahead of a significant investment, a replatforming, or a change of direction — so the decision is made with eyes open.
Supporting a transaction
Buying or selling: the same rigour applied to a deal, giving a buyer confidence or helping a seller fix issues before a buyer finds them.
The output is a structured assessment delivered as a concise, plain-English report — clear findings, prioritised actions, and a costed view of what to do next. Where it supports a transaction, the summary is shaped for that decision. Vendor-independent throughout: no platform allegiances, no incentive but the right read for you.
Why Conygar
Advice from someone who has lived with the consequences.
Experience at scale
We have managed multi-million technology budgets, inherited broken platforms, and lived with the results of vendor commitments. That experience is applied directly to the choices you face now.
Peer-level engagement
We work directly with CEOs, CFOs, and boards — not as vendor-side consultants, but as a senior voice that sits on your side of the table.
Genuinely independent
No vendor relationships, no platform commissions, no conflicts of interest. Our only incentive is the right answer for your business.
From data analytics and reporting to AI adoption, we built the governance frameworks that let organisations move fast without breaking things. Now we build them for our clients.
In their words
Ben was a critical partner not only in ensuring we made the right decisions as we transformed our information technology infrastructure for a constantly evolving AI-driven world, but in thinking through how it would best drive our financial and overall business health. Given the central role AI (and data) now plays in driving every aspect of our business, having a partner that understood how to make business decisions based on a deep understanding of technology's cost, impact and payoff was a critical element in our success.
Managing DirectorGlobal PR firm
About
Founded and led by Ben Oliver.
Ben Oliver is a senior technology executive with broad international experience. As Global CIO at DAS Group, part of Omnicom, he held a group-level portfolio role — supporting businesses ranging from 17 people to 4,000, from single-site local operations to global networks, all within one larger organisation.
That breadth is the point. The same role that set group technology strategy also helped small agencies get the basics right. He managed multi-million budgets and led cloud migration, M365 consolidation, cybersecurity, vendor optimisation, data analytics and reporting, and AI strategy and adoption — and worked through routine M&A, with acquisitions and divestitures happening several times a year.
He founded Conygar Consulting to bring that experience directly to leadership teams who need it — particularly in PE-backed businesses, marketing services, and professional services firms. The practice is strongest in agency, media, and professional services environments, but is not limited to them.
- Global CIO, DAS Group (Omnicom)Group portfolio role across businesses of 17 to 4,000 people
- Routine M&AAcquisitions and divestitures several times a year
- Focus areasData analytics & reporting, AI adoption, cloud, cyber
- AI certificationStanford University
- Blockchain certificationUniversity of Oxford
- SectorsPE-backed, marketing services, professional services
- BasedUnited Kingdom, working internationally
- VerifyBen Oliver on LinkedIn
How we work
Three ways to engage.
Most engagements start with a short call to scope the problem, then a clear proposal with fixed scope and timeline before any work begins. When timing matters, we can mobilise within days.
Project
A defined piece of work with a clear scope, timeline, and deliverable — from a two-week assessment to a six-week strategy.
Retainer
Ongoing advisory access for leadership teams that want a senior technology voice available when decisions arise.
Fractional
Embedded CIO/CTO leadership at 2–4 days a month — board governance, roadmap ownership, and team mentoring without a permanent hire.
Common questions
Questions we're often asked.
What is a fractional CIO?
A fractional CIO is an experienced technology leader who works with a business part-time — typically a few days a month — rather than as a full-time employee. You get senior, board-level technology judgement and accountability without the cost or commitment of a permanent hire. It suits organisations too small to justify a full-time CIO, or in transition between hires.
When does a business need a fractional or interim CIO?
Usually when technology decisions are being made without a senior voice in the room, when the board wants a strategy the team can't yet deliver, or during a transformation or a gap between permanent hires. A fractional CIO brings the experience to make those calls well, for as long as it's needed and no longer.
What does a technology review cover?
An independent review assesses the technology a business runs on — technical debt and the cost to put it right, commercial exposure in contracts and licences, team capability and key-person risk, the roadmap's fitness for purpose, and security, compliance and data. The output is a plain-English report with prioritised, costed actions. The same review can support a transaction on either side.
Is Conygar Consulting independent of technology vendors?
Yes. Conygar holds no vendor relationships, takes no platform commissions, and has no reseller arrangements. Advice is given on the merits for the client alone, with no incentive to recommend one product over another. This independence is the point of engaging an advisor rather than a vendor's sales team.
What size of business does Conygar work with?
Conygar works with businesses across a wide range of sizes, with particular strength in marketing services, agencies, professional services, and PE-backed firms. The founder's experience spans organisations from 17 people to several thousand, local to global, so the advice scales to the business rather than assuming enterprise resources.
How do engagements start, and how quickly can you begin?
Most engagements start with a short call to scope the problem, followed by a clear proposal with fixed scope and timeline before any work begins. Work can be taken on a project, retainer, or fractional basis. When timing matters, we can mobilise within days.
Contact
Start with a conversation.
Tell us what you're facing. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help — and if we can't, we'll say so.