Every Northstar engagement is led by Carl Spencer personally. No junior consultants, no standardised frameworks, no vendor agenda. Simply experienced, independent advisory that tells you honestly where you stand and what proportionate action looks like.
Independent, ongoing IT and cyber leadership without the cost of a full-time hire.
Most UK SMEs have reached a point where IT governance, cyber risk and supplier management have become too significant to handle informally, but where a full-time IT Director at £80,000 to £120,000 per year is not commercially justified.
The Fractional IT & Cyber Director service gives you senior, independent IT oversight on a retained basis. Carl attends relevant leadership and board meetings, manages the MSP relationship on your behalf, provides regular reporting on IT and cyber risk in terms the board can act on, and advises on technology decisions as a trusted member of the leadership team.
The result is board-level IT and cyber leadership that is genuinely independent, with no commercial relationship with any supplier, at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.
Enquire about this service →An independent assessment of where your business actually stands, delivered in plain English, without vendor spin.
Many businesses are not ready for a retained engagement but need an honest, independent view of their current IT and cyber position. The Board-Level IT & Cyber Risk Review provides exactly that.
Carl conducts a structured assessment of your IT governance, cyber risk posture, supplier and third-party risk, business continuity readiness, data protection practices and commercial IT exposure. The output is a clear, prioritised report, written for a business leader, not a technical audience, that tells you where your most significant risks are, what the commercial implications are, and what proportionate action looks like.
This is not a penetration test or a technical audit. It is the commercial and governance assessment that tells a board what they actually need to know about their IT and cyber position.
Enquire about this service →Vendor-neutral AI guidance, without the hype, without the vendor bias and without unnecessary complexity.
The pressure on SME leaders to engage with AI is real. Clients are asking about it. Competitors are claiming it. Staff are already using it. And every software vendor has added AI to their product with a commercial interest in a particular answer.
Northstar's AI advisory is independent of every platform and vendor. Carl provides a commercially grounded assessment of where AI can genuinely help your business, what the realistic return on investment looks like, what the data protection and governance implications are, and what sensible adoption looks like for a business of your size and type.
This includes independent assessment of Microsoft Copilot, the most widely marketed AI product in the UK business market, giving you an honest view of whether it is right for your specific environment before you commit to the licensing cost.
Read more about AI advisory →The people best placed to give honest IT advice to an SME are rarely the people with a commercial interest in a particular answer. Here is what genuine independence means in practice.
Northstar has no commercial relationship with any IT supplier, platform provider or software vendor. No referral fees, no reseller margins, no commission. The advice reflects what is right for your business, not what generates revenue for Northstar.
Your MSP cannot give you independent advice about your MSP. A vendor cannot give you independent advice about their product. Northstar can, because we sit above those relationships and represent your interests exclusively.
Carl leads every engagement personally. The experience level that you engage at the start of a relationship is the experience level that delivers your advice, attends your meetings and signs off your recommendations.
Start with a no-obligation conversation. Carl will give you an honest view of whether Northstar can help and which approach makes most sense for your business.
London
Northstar provides fractional IT director and cyber advisory services to SMEs across London. Independent, senior IT leadership for growing London businesses without the overhead of a full-time hire.
London services →Kent
Based in Kent, Northstar works with SMEs across the county and the wider South East. Independent IT governance, cyber risk advisory and supplier oversight for Kent businesses at every stage of growth.
Kent services →Nationally
Northstar works with UK SMEs nationally. Remote and hybrid engagement means geography is rarely a barrier. If you are looking for an independent fractional IT director or cyber advisor anywhere in the UK, start with a conversation.
Get in touch →