Flagship service operated by The French CTO
Fractional CTO in Dubai for growing SMEs
Senior technical leadership for SMEs and startups in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, without a full-time hire. I structure your IT, decide with you, execute, and make sure your teams adopt it.
- IT roadmap
- Cybersecurity
- Hiring
- Vendor management
The role, without the payroll
What a fractional CTO does for a Dubai SME
A fractional CTO gives you that senior leadership a few days a month: one accountable person on your side, never paid by a software vendor. Not sure where to start? The free IT audit for UAE SMEs is the first step.
Concretely
What a fractional CTO covers
IT strategy and roadmap
A 12-month plan tied to your business goals: what to fix, buy or build, in which order, with which budget.
Tool selection
ERP, CRM, accounting: options compared against your processes and UAE obligations such as e-invoicing.
Our Odoo ERP integration workCybersecurity basics
Multi-factor authentication, passwords, backups, access rights and offboarding: the controls that prevent most incidents.
Hiring and team
Role definitions, job descriptions, technical interviews and onboarding for your developers or IT staff.
Vendor management
Agencies, freelancers, software vendors: specifications, quotes and contracts reviewed, deliverables checked.
Adoption and training
Prosci ADKAR method and short training by role, so your teams actually use what we deploy.
The ADKAR change method
When to engage
Three moments when it becomes urgent
Your business is growing, your IT improvises
Clients in spreadsheets, files scattered across Drive and WhatsApp. I structure it before it breaks.
You want AI without wasting money
The offer is confusing and often oversold. I prioritise what pays off.
AI for SMEsYou are launching, raising or pivoting
The right moment to build clean, with choices you can explain to investors.
Illustrative scenario, not a real client
Example scenario: a 20-person Dubai company with no technical lead
- 1
Month 1: audit and governance
Inventory of tools, accounts, data and costs. A monthly IT steering meeting with written decisions.
- 2
Month 2: tool selection
Spreadsheets and scattered apps compared with an ERP such as Odoo or Zoho, against the UAE e-invoicing deadline.
- 3
Month 3: cybersecurity baseline
MFA on every account, a password manager, tested backups, fewer admin rights, offboarding checklist.
- 4
Month 4: vendor management
The freelance developer gets a specification, milestones and a contract giving the company ownership of its code.
- 5
Month 5: hiring
Job description for an in-house IT profile, technical interviews with the founder, onboarding plan.
- 6
Month 6: handover and adoption
Access and procedures documented, training with ADKAR, then a decision on a lighter monthly retainer.
Expected result: a documented, safer IT setup, accountable vendors, and a founder who no longer acts as the IT department. When the roadmap includes an ERP, see how we run an Odoo implementation in Dubai.
Deliverables
What’s included
- An IT audit report with risks ranked by business impact
- A 12-month IT roadmap with priorities and budget lines
- A cybersecurity baseline: MFA, access rights, backups, offboarding
- Specifications, contract reviews and hiring support for IT roles
- A monthly steering meeting with written decisions
- Full documentation handed over: architecture, access, procedures
Timeline
Typical timeline
- Week 1
Free audit and scoped proposal
30 minutes by video or in Dubai, then a written proposal: scope, deliverables, time per month, price.
- Weeks 2 to 4
Diagnostic and quick wins
Inventory of tools and access, first security fixes, decisions listed.
- Months 2 to 3
Structuring decisions
Tools, roadmap, vendor contracts and budget validated in steering meetings.
- Months 4 to 6
Execution and hiring
Implementation with weekly check-ins, recruitment support and adoption work.
- From month 7
Retainer or handover
A lighter monthly retainer, or a documented handover to an in-house lead.
Who you work with
The French CTO, a KENOBIZ service in Dubai
Expect European standards of documentation and data protection, and transparent quotes on a written scope. KENOBIZ is a member of CCI France EAU, the French Chamber of Commerce in the UAE.
Compare
Fractional CTO versus the alternatives
| Option | Cost model | Time to start | Watch-out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hire a full-time CTO | Executive salary, visa and benefits | Often several months to recruit | Oversized for most SMEs |
| IT agency | Per project | Depends on their pipeline | May push its own stack or subcontract |
| Offshore freelancer | Low day rate | Fast | No strategic view, accountability gaps |
| Fractional CTO (The French CTO) | Days per month, scoped in writing | 1 to 2 weeks | Part-time: priorities must be clear |
Budget
What drives the budget
Time per month
From one day a month as an advisor to two or three days a week during a transformation.
Advisory or hands-on
Deciding and supervising takes less time than configuring, coding or migrating data.
Size and complexity
Number of people, entities and sites, and how many tools must work together.
Hiring and vendors
Each recruitment or vendor contract adds interviews and follow-up.
Starting point
Undocumented systems or a stalled project take more work than a clean base.
On-site presence
Video follow-up is lighter; days in your offices are planned in the scope.
FAQ
Fractional CTO in Dubai: your questions
- It depends on the time per month and on whether the work is advisory or hands-on. You get a written quote after the free audit, as a monthly retainer or a fixed scope. No salary, visa or recruitment fee, and licences are paid directly to vendors.
Let’s talk about your IT in 30 minutes
A free audit, an action plan, and the option to work together if there’s a fit. No commitment.