Tech expertise without a full-time hire. Vendor-agnostic.
You can have senior technical judgment on your side without hiring a full-time executive. I've spent 35 years building systems that cut busywork and connect tools that never talked to each other.
Bring me any of these and you'll get a straight answer
- Systems that still run but slow the business down.
- Integrations that broke, or never connected at all.
- Pressure to adopt AI with no clear read on what's worth it.
What you can count on
- Advice with no strings attached. I take no software markups or referral commissions.
- A diagnosis before any recommendation. I learn how your work actually flows before I touch a line of code.
- What already works stays, where possible. We build on it instead of replacing it.
- Plain language. You get answers you can act on.
- No lock-in. You get full handover documentation, so anyone can maintain what we build.
Three ways to work with me
- A strategy session: a deep dive into your architecture, roadmap or vendor options before you make an expensive commitment. You leave with next steps you can act on.
- A scoped project: a new internal tool or a modernized system, with a clear finish line, code reviews and a clean handover.
- A fractional technologist: ongoing technical leadership on a monthly retainer, without the cost of an executive hire.
Or, if you're a business owner who would rather be the end user of the technologies and have it managed for you while you do the work that you started your business for, you might want to check out Managed Practical Tech.
I've done this before
I've solved operational problems in manufacturing, finance, health care, insurance, publishing and customer service, and I led IT teams for more than 20 years. The patterns repeat, so you aren't paying for me to learn them. Journey Magazine is a company I founded to make recovery more visible, and that work earned me Maine SBA Small Business Person of the Year in 2023. It runs every day on systems I built.
What people have said
- "She can strategically think within an IT environment, but also has the ability to relate those strategies to how it would affect the business as a whole." Michael Wilson, Chief Operating Officer
- "She has an uncanny knack for seeing the core issue, no matter how complex the situation." Linda Riddell, Population Health Scientist
- "Carolyn has a unique blend of technical knowledge, project management, and business acumen. She seeks to understand and finds a way to build bridges among departments." Randy Anderson, Owner & General Manager
- "A client-centric technology professional. Her work is scalable and sustainable for her clients." Thao Le, Director, Solution Consulting, ServiceNow
- "Highly skillful and creative in many technology and business areas… a strong vision and high integrity." Mei Selvage, Strategic Advisor, former Gartner analyst
Start with a free 15-minute call
You'll leave with a clear next step, whether or not we work together.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Delaney
Carolyn Delaney, Technologist
PracticalTech Advisory