Experience. Clarity. Outcomes.
We connect commercial imperatives, customer insight and technology capability, including the practical use of AI, into one clear strategy, and deliver it at pace.
For private equity-backed and privately owned businesses.
Who we work with
A clear, independent view of a portfolio company's technology, and a plan that ties it directly to EBITDA, growth and exit readiness.
Senior support to get technology change moving quickly, without the disruption or overhead of a large consultancy.
The same discipline for privately owned companies preparing to scale, consolidate or bring in new investment.
Where we add most value in the investment cycle
Our focus
Our framework for technology value: the four areas where technology does most for a business, built on a common foundation of a clear operating model, intelligent design and strong governance.
Understand the business
One version of the truth
Protect the business
Protected, compliant and trusted
Grow commercial performance
More opportunities, higher conversion
Improve operational efficiency
Greater productivity, better service
Enabling foundation Underpins all four pillars
Approach
Phasing and duration are flexed to suit each client, based on business imperatives, sector and scale, the maturity of current technology thinking and landscape, and the available budget.
Then: Change Advisory, Non-Executive or coaching support as required, so the value stays embedded.
A rapid, evidence-based assessment of technology, data, people, spend and AI readiness, measured against the value creation plan. We find where technology is helping, where it is holding the business back, and where the biggest levers sit.
You get
We shape the priority initiatives, aligned to the target operating model, with supporting business cases, and drive the roadmap. Quick wins are delivered in parallel and the right partners engaged to support.
You get
Delivery moves to full pace, with governance that tracks value against the plan rather than activity against a schedule.
You get
We hand over to your team with the right structure in place, then stay involved as needed through a Change Advisory retainer or a Non-Executive role.
You get
Why OCAL
Good advice informs a decision. Our model goes further: it gets the work going, translates the strategy into execution, engages and scales the right resources to deliver it, and drives value from the first weeks.
We start with the commercial and customer question, not the technology. Then we demystify the options and explain them in terms that colleagues, the ExCo, the board and investors can each act on.
Every engagement is led personally by Mark Withers. Specialist partners in digital customer experience, data & orchestration, core applications, network & infrastructure and programme delivery join for exactly as long as they are needed.
AI applied where it measurably improves performance, built on the data, security and governance that make it work.
Handover is planned from day one. When the engagement ends, the structure stays: your people, the chosen partners and clear governance, so value creation carries on without depending on us.
Ongoing support
Value creation doesn't stop at handover. We stay involved in the way that best suits the business and its leaders.
A flexible retainer providing senior guidance as plans evolve, priorities shift and new opportunities emerge.
For
Board-level technology oversight and challenge, helping investors and directors hold the technology agenda to account.
For
One-to-one support from someone who has done the job, for leaders taking on bigger technology responsibilities.
For
Advisory and coaching support can also be the starting point, ahead of a full engagement.
About
Managing Director and Fractional CIO
Experience. Clarity. Outcomes.
Mark has 25 years' business and technology experience, including 8 years as a CxO. He works with investors, boards and leadership teams to make technology a driver of value rather than a cost to be managed.
His career spans multiple sectors and businesses of very different scale. That breadth is what he brings to every engagement: a clear sense of what good looks like, approaches proven in other settings, and the judgement to know which ones will work for your business.
Mark brings clarity to technology. He starts from the commercial and customer question, links technology execution to business strategy, and demystifies it for colleagues, the ExCo, the board and investors alike.
He founded Outcomes Change Advisory to give investor-backed and privately owned businesses senior strategic leadership, with the flexibility to scale support up or down as the plan demands.
Alongside his commercial work, Mark is looking to take on one or two trustee roles.
Outside work, Mark is a proud husband and father to his two children, a keen rugby supporter, a music lover, a determined walker and an amateur fly fisherman!
First step
A short, fixed-scope review of your technology against the value creation plan, with a board-ready summary of the biggest levers and quick wins. Or simply get in touch for a conversation.