NewIT · Rob Benson · For technology services businesses, globally
35+ years building, running and transforming technology services businesses
Helping them grow, perform and adapt.
The fundamentals of building a successful technology services business haven't disappeared. But the environment in which we apply them is changing very quickly.
GROW. Strategy, propositions, pricing, sales and customer relationships, market development, sometimes acquisitions. Not more activity. A better shape.
PERFORM. Leadership, delivery, margins, contracts, the operational grit that keeps a business standing up while it grows, and the difficult conversation nobody wants to have first.
ADAPT. Re-engineering the business around what AI now makes possible: how you deliver, how you price, how few people it takes. Guided by someone who's actually done the building, not just another AI opinion.
The shift
The technology services model is changing
Not "How do we adopt AI?" but "How does AI change our services business?"
For decades, growth meant adding people and selling more hours. AI is changing that model: how services are delivered, what customers expect, how expertise is packaged, and where value gets created. Most businesses are responding by building bespoke AI tooling on their own, reinventing what the next team down the road is quietly building too. More on that shift →
In practice
Current work
Advisory work with APIConnects, DataEngine and Techwondoe. Fractional CEO and advisory board at Mio, the standout: running real automation and IoT systems, hands directly on the work, not managing from a distance. Fractional COO at Captivate.
How
An operator, not a spectator
I don't advise on business and technology from the sidelines, and in changing times that matters more than ever. I build, test, challenge and prove what actually works, with AI models and agents, Claude Code, Codex, systems integration, IoT and computer vision, backed by a genuinely substantial technology environment of my own: home automation, solar and battery management, camera systems, access control. Not a talking point, a genuine testbed. More on the approach →
Sound familiar?
Questions I hear from founders
These are just a few of the recurring questions that come up. You'll probably recognise a few of your own in here.
- How do I get my business off the “sell more hours” treadmill?
- How do I sell my business, and what would make it more valuable when I do?
- I need a fractional CEO or COO. What does that actually look like?
- AI is changing how customers find and choose us. What do we actually need to do about it?
- Our growth has stalled. What's actually holding us back?
- One of our biggest customers is unhappy. How do I rebuild that relationship?
- ...and a bunch more.