interimcio

fractional CIO

Fractional CIO for UK SMEs ready to use AI seriously.

I help £2–50M businesses turn AI from a buzzword into systems that actually drive efficiency and profit.

Shipped systems, not strategy decks.

Agentic where it matters, plain code where it doesn’t.

Richard Sanderson, fractional CIO

intro

I'm Richard Sanderson — Fractional CIO.

I work with growing SMEs on the technology decisions that actually move the business: AI deployment, tech stack strategy, data management, the lot.

I have led tech for different industrial groups, supporting multiple brands across 3 continents. I’ve spent the last decade rebuilding tech stacks and aggressively pulling costs out of the business, and the last few years shipping agentic systems in production.

My approach is simple: fewer clients, deeper relationships, and real outcomes—not quiet retainers that run for years without changing a thing.

what I do

01

AI consulting

From AI readiness audits through to shipping agentic systems in production. Less ‘ChatGPT for X’, more ‘here’s the system, here are the guardrails, here’s the ROI.’

live in 90 daysdiscovery to deployed

02

SEO + AIO + GEO

Technical SEO and answer engine optimisation, run by someone who builds the systems being audited. For B2B sites where AI Overviews are eating traffic.

+38%organic traffic, 6 months

03

Fractional CIO

Strategic IT leadership for £5–50M operating businesses — ERP strategy, vendor management, AI deployment, board-level reporting. Embedded, not consulting from a deck.

20–40 hrs/monthtypical engagement

Most Recently

£0M+

group revenue under tech leadership

0

brands worked alongside

0

countries · Over 3 continents

Live

agentic systems in production

testimonials

What people say about me.

The best engagements are the ones where strategy, delivery, and commercial judgement all point in the same direction.

Website overhaul

The result after going live? Sales tripled!

Richard helped us completely overhaul our website to reduce complexity, fix broken links, optimize SEO, speed up page load times, and improve the overall UI/UX shopping experience. We knew this was needed for years but were overwhelmed by how to actually execute it. Richard guided us through the process efficiently and got hands-on when we needed technical heavy lifting. It went way faster and smoother than expected thanks to his tech wizardry. The result after going live? Sales tripled! On top of boosting the financial health of our business, Richard was a joy to work with: fun, funny, patient, and a clear communicator. We really appreciated how well he explained complex tasks in simple terms we could understand and act on. I can't sing his praises loudly enough and highly recommend working with him if you're ready to upgrade your enterprise.

implementation

From AI buzzwords to shipped systems.

Forget generic chatbots. The real work is connecting your trusted business data to a governed AI agent, and pushing actionable outputs directly into the systems your team already relies on.

01

The Inputs

02

The Engine

03

The Outputs

newsletter

One practical workflow or system teardown per issue. Simply explained, sent occasionally, never filler.

Ready to use AI seriously?

A 30-minute call. No deck, no follow-up nurture sequence. I'll tell you whether I can help.