about
I run technology for a real operating business — that’s what makes the consultancy work.
I’m Richard Sanderson, the principal behind CIO Solutions LTD. I work with a small number of UK SMEs that need senior technology leadership before they’re ready, or willing, to hire a full-time CIO.
The difference between me and most consultants is that I’ve spent the last seventeen years on the inside, not advising from the outside. I co-founded a B2B group and helped scale it from nothing to 250 people across the US, Canada, the UK, Belgium and Taiwan — and I built most of its technology myself along the way. Everything I now consult on is something I’ve actually done under commercial pressure, in my own business, with my own money at stake.
the work
Seventeen years building the technology of a business I helped found.
I didn’t inherit a CTO title — I grew into the role by building what the business needed, in roughly this order:
I started with the websites. That led into SEO, and then into doing the same for the other companies we set up along the way — which is where the technical SEO and AIO work I offer today comes from. To run the growing operation I built an intranet and a suite of business-development tools that, over time, became an ad-hoc ERP holding the company together.
When we began acquiring other companies, that homegrown system hit its limits. I moved the whole group onto Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central — and the hard part wasn’t the software, it was getting multiple acquired businesses, each with their own way of working, onto one platform without stalling the operation. That’s the experience behind the fractional CIO and ERP work.
Most recently I’ve kept building custom tooling while deploying AI into live operations — agentic systems working alongside real teams and real customers, not pilots. That’s the work behind the AI consulting.
The thread through all of it: I’ve only ever built technology that had to earn its place in a P&L. That’s the lens I bring to your business.
how I work
Calm diagnosis, clear decisions, hands-on delivery.
Start with the estate
Systems, contracts, costs, ownership, risk. Most technology problems make more sense once the map is honest.
Make the trade-offs explicit
I give you the options, the cost of waiting, and the decision I would make if I were accountable for the result.
Stay close to delivery
Strategy is only useful if it changes the work. I lead vendors, unblock teams, and keep the roadmap tied to business outcomes.
what I believe
A few things I believe about technology in SMEs.
Most SME technology problems aren't technology problems.
They're unclear ownership, sprawling contracts, and data no one trusts. The software is rarely the bottleneck.
The job is to make myself unnecessary, not indispensable.
I'd rather help you hire and develop the right internal person than become a dependency you can't get out of.
Strategy that doesn't change the work is theatre.
A roadmap is only worth anything if it survives contact with vendors, budgets and a busy team — so I stay close to delivery, not just diagnosis.
Want senior technology leadership without the full-time hire?
A 30-minute call. No deck, no nurture sequence. I'll tell you honestly whether I can help.