Senior data and analytics expertise, without the senior hire.
Advisory & Fractional Support gives your business access to experienced data and analytics leadership on demand. Strategic direction, hands-on delivery, or both, shaped entirely around what your business needs right now.
If this sounds like you, keep reading.
We work with businesses that need senior data and analytics capability now, but aren't yet at the point where building it in-house makes commercial sense.
01
You have a data function that's working, just about, but there's no one senior enough to set the direction, challenge the numbers, or make the strategic calls. You need a data leader, not another analyst.
02
You're building towards an in-house capability and have started hiring, but your team is junior and needs experienced guidance. You want someone senior alongside them who can set standards, develop the team, and ensure the work is right.
03
You've got a specific challenge, a new BI tool to embed, a data strategy to build, a board-level reporting framework to design, and you need experienced hands to get it done without a long-term commitment.
Senior expertise, shaped around your business.
Advisory & Fractional Support is a working relationship built around what your business actually needs, which changes as you grow. Here is what that typically looks like.
Strategic direction
A senior data and analytics lead who understands your business, challenges your thinking, and gives leadership the confidence to make data-driven decisions, a fractional CDO or Head of Data without the headcount.
Hands-on delivery
Experienced people who do the work, building a reporting framework, designing a KPI structure, reviewing your data architecture, or embedding a new tool.
Team development
We work alongside your in-house team, setting standards, reviewing outputs, developing capability and transferring knowledge, so eventually you do not need us.
What's in every retainer
Advisory enquiry
Tell us where you need senior data help and we'll be in touch.
Senior expertise when you need it, without carrying the overhead.
Hiring a senior data leader is a significant commitment in cost, time, and risk. Advisory & Fractional Support gives you the capability without any of that.
No hiring risk
Senior data and analytics talent is hard to find and expensive to retain. With IllumiFi you get experienced people immediately, without a six-month search or a lengthy notice period.
Scales with you
We align to your needs as your business changes. More support during a strategic push, less during steady state. You never pay for capacity you are not using.
Knowledge that stays
We do not build dependencies. Everything we do is documented, explained, and transferable, so your team gets stronger over time, not more reliant on external support.
Independent perspective
An external senior lead sees things an internal team cannot. We bring objectivity, cross-sector experience, and the confidence to say what needs to be said, even when it is uncomfortable.
What your business looks like six months in.
The impact of the right data and analytics leadership is not always visible on a dashboard. Here is what clients typically experience.
A leadership team that trusts the numbers in the room, because someone senior owns them.
A data and analytics function that is developing, not static, not dependent on one person's spreadsheet.
Clearer strategic decisions, made faster, because the insight is reliable and the framing is right.
A team that is more capable than when you started, and progressively less reliant on external support.
Data foundations and reporting structures that will still be fit for purpose as the business doubles in size.
The questions we hear most.
How is this different from hiring a consultant?
A consultant typically delivers a report or a recommendation and moves on. Advisory & Fractional Support is an ongoing working relationship. We are embedded in your business, accountable for outcomes, and developing your team's capability over time. The engagement ends when you are ready for it to, not when a project scope runs out.
What does a typical engagement look like?
There is no standard template, and that is intentional. Some clients need a senior data lead for two days a week. Others need project-based delivery for a defined period. Others need strategic oversight with occasional hands-on involvement. We agree the right model in an initial conversation and adjust it as your business changes.
How long does an engagement typically run?
There is no minimum commitment imposed, but meaningful capability development takes time, and we are honest about that from the start. Most engagements run for six to twelve months, though some continue beyond that as the relationship evolves.
Will we become dependent on IllumiFi?
We design every engagement to avoid this. Everything we do is documented and transferable. Our goal is a team that progressively needs less of us, not more. If that means the engagement naturally winds down, that is a success, not a problem.
How does this sit alongside the Analytics Platform or Data Foundations?
For some clients it runs alongside the Analytics Platform, providing the strategic leadership layer while the platform handles operational reporting. For others it follows Data Foundations, applying senior expertise to act on what the foundations work uncovered. For some it is the standalone starting point. We will help you work out which combination makes sense.
How is it priced?
Pricing is agreed based on the scope, cadence, and duration of the engagement. There is no standard rate card for a service this flexible. Book a discovery call and we will give you a clear, honest indication of what an engagement would look like and what it would cost.