A short, practical post about a change in how I spend my time.
For the past couple of years I have been acting as a fractional CTO or technology adviser for four of TLC’s customers, alongside running the company. It started informally. A client would ask a question about architecture or a supplier contract that went beyond the project we were delivering, and I would answer it, and then they would ask another. Eventually it became a defined part of the relationship. From this summer I am making more room for that kind of work, and opening it up to operators who are not TLC clients.
Why now
Twenty-five years in hospitality technology, eighteen of them at Individual Restaurants and the last stretch as CTO through the growth from six sites to forty-five, means I have made most of the mistakes an operator can make with technology and watched the rest being made. TLC is now at a size and maturity where the team runs the delivery far better than I could, and that frees me to do the thing I am probably most useful for: sitting with an operator and helping them decide what to do.
The demand is also real. Hospitality groups are being asked to make technology decisions that used to be the preserve of much larger businesses. Cloud architecture, data strategy, AI, payments, the choice between building and buying, how to run a loyalty programme without handing the guest relationship to a third party. Most groups do not need a full-time CTO for that. They need someone who has done it before, a few days a month.
Who it is for
Two kinds of operator, broadly.
The first is a group at a pivotal growth stage. Going from a handful of sites to fifteen, or from fifteen to forty. The point where the spreadsheet stops working and the choices about POS, bookings, data and reporting start to compound. Getting those right early saves years of untangling later. I have lived through that transition from the inside and it is where I think I add the most.
The second is a group that is already live, with systems in place, that needs guidance on where to go next. An architecture that has grown by accretion. Data in six places and a board that wants one number. A loyalty programme that launched well and has plateaued. A decision about whether the current stack will survive the next phase, or the next outage.
What it looks like
Practical, not visionary. I am not interested in producing a strategy deck that sits in a drawer. The engagements I run now look like this:
- A clear-eyed review of what you have: systems, suppliers, contracts, data flows, and what is actually costing you money or time.
- A short list of decisions, in order, with a recommendation on each and the reasoning laid out so you can disagree with it.
- Help with the conversations: supplier negotiations, build-versus-buy, hiring your first in-house technical lead, briefing a board.
- A standing relationship, a few days a month, so that the next question gets answered before it becomes a problem.
I am an accredited business mentor and Dale Carnegie trained, which mostly means I have learned to listen before I recommend. The operators I work with best are the ones who want a straight answer and are prepared to push back on it.
What this means for TLC
Nothing changes for TLC’s clients or the team. The company keeps building loyalty programmes, apps, websites and reporting for hospitality, and I remain its CEO. The advisory work is separate, and where it makes sense for an advisory client to use TLC, I will say so and let them decide; where it does not, I will say that too.
If you are running a hospitality group and any of this sounds familiar, get in touch. A first conversation is free and I will tell you honestly whether I can help.
If any of this is relevant to your estate, get in touch. There is more writing here, and the studio behind the work is TheLoyaltyCo.