NewIT · Rob Benson · For technology services businesses, globally
35+ years building, running and transforming technology services businesses
Helping technology services businesses 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, built 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 API Connects, DataEngine and Techwondoe. Fractional CEO and advisory board at Mio, the standout: running real automation and IoT systems, not advising from the sidelines. Fractional COO at Captivate.
How
An operator, not a spectator
I don't advise on AI from the sidelines. 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.
- Should I expand internationally?
- How do I sell my business, and what would make it more valuable when I do?
- I want to hire a salesperson. Where do I even start?
- How do I get my business off the “sell more hours” treadmill?
- How do I price for value instead of time?
- Our growth has stalled. What's actually holding us back?
- Should I raise capital, or can we grow this ourselves?
- We're going through a restructure. How do I do that right?
- How do I fix a business that's quietly underperforming?
- One of our biggest customers is unhappy. How do I rebuild that relationship?
- Everyone's telling us to adopt AI. What does that actually mean for us?
- We've been building our own AI tooling in-house. Is that actually the right call?
- Do I need a board? What's an advisory board, even?
- I need a fractional CEO or COO. What does that actually look like?
- I've got this product idea the world absolutely needs. (And a few other slightly hairbrained ones.)
- ...and a bunch more.