North Star Technology Leadership Demystifies IT for Clients

A Whole New World

 

 

After 20 years building a successful commercial printing business, Michael Weber stopped the presses and took a step into his future — both his own and that of the changing role of business IT.

The printing story begins around 2004, when Weber and his wife, Lindsey, who were living in Boston at the time, had the opportunity to buy Minuteman Press in Enfield, Conn. So they moved to this region and began to grow that business, eventually expanding it to two more locations in Springfield and Brattleboro, Vt., with numerous employees at all three sites.

When Weber received an offer to sell the company in late 2023, he was intrigued.

“The business had changed a lot over 20 years, and I thought it was an interesting opportunity and an interesting time to do something new. So that’s what we did,” he told BusinessWest. “We accepted the offer and took some time off. We traveled with the kids and tried to enjoy life the best we could for a little while — knowing that I needed to get back to work at some point.”

Before his two decades in the printing world, Weber earned a degree in management information systems at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and built a career as a middleware engineer, and had kept his finger on the pulse of IT since. His idea for a second career was to become a fractional chief technology officer (CTO), someone who offers technology leadership and expertise to client companies on a contract basis.

That’s how his current enterprise, North Star Technology Leadership, was born.

“I have a unique skill set in the sense that I understand technology, but I also understand business. So I can talk to business owners about their technology in a way that’s very different than most technology people can,” he explained. “Most technology people are so focused on the bits and the bytes and those kinds of things, but the business people just want the technology to work right. As somebody who’s been on both sides, I feel like I can bring that to the table more clearly than so many other technology companies.”

He chose the name of his firm purposefully. “I wanted to make it clear that I’m not competing with those other technology companies, those managed service providers that come in to fix your computer. I don’t want to do that. I could fix your computer if that’s what I needed to do, but I’m trying to provide leadership and an understanding of technology.

“I have a unique skill set in the sense that I understand technology, but I also understand business. So I can talk to business owners about their technology in a way that’s very different than most technology people can.”

“I felt like part of doing that meant I had to be sitting next to the CEO of the company and not across the table, and the only way I can do that is if I don’t sell anything other than myself,” he went on. “So I don’t sell any products, and I don’t accept commissions. I’m not competing with that MSP who’s already selling hardware and software to the client.”

But the needs Weber does meet are significant, particularly for companies that don’t have a CTO. North Star’s services fall into a few broad buckets, including technology leadership and management; technology roadmap and alignment with business objectives; technology staff and vendor management; and risk, security, and compliance management.

One example of a specific service is a technology stack review. “That’s just understanding what do they have, and is it working, or is it not working? Often, they’ve been doing a process for 15 or 20 years because that’s how they’ve always done it, and nobody’s ever looked at it and said, ‘this is not the efficient way to do it.’

“One of my clients was doing a payroll export from their payroll software into Microsoft Excel and then manipulating that data file for about two hours every payroll period to get it into a format they needed. I was able to automate that task and turn it into, like, 25 seconds. That’s a huge savings,” he explained. “That’s not uncommon, and it’s not his fault that he didn’t know how to make those changes because he’s not a technology person.”

 

Mindset Shift

One major focus with clients lately — and for the foreseeable future — is the role of artificial intelligence in myriad businesses and industries.

“The biggest concern seems to be understanding the data policy and what is happening with their data. You have employees who are scared of AI as a concept. You have a lot of business owners who don’t understand it, but want to understand it, and they don’t know who to turn to. So I’m providing that level of knowledge and guidance for them,” Weber explained.

“In terms of using AI, the easy ways are using it to rewrite your email to make it more clear and concise, or using it to build your PowerPoint presentation deck that you need to pass off to a client, or using it for data analytics. All those things are really low-hanging fruit, and we can show their staff how to actually engage and use these things in a productive manner that doesn’t have gigantic bills behind it, and is just there to make their day easier and more efficient.”

“You have employees who are scared of AI as a concept. You have a lot of business owners who don’t understand it, but want to understand it, and they don’t know who to turn to. So I’m providing that level of knowledge and guidance for them.”

After he conducts presentations on current uses of AI in the workplace, he noted, “they’re understanding it better, and they’re saying, ‘oh that’s not so scary,’ or ‘yes I can do that better.’ Because it is an amazing technology, and it’s a whole mindset shift in how you’re using it because it’s not just a Google search window. There’s so much more to it and so much more feedback it can provide to you — if you understand the right questions to ask and how to use it.”

Whatever the issue, Weber says he has found a niche in a landscape where many mid-sized businesses — he typically works with firms between $5 million and $50 million in annual revenue, in a wide range of sectors — don’t have this expertise in-house.

“It has to be companies that are interested in growth because you’re not going to bring in somebody as a fractional CTO if you’re just kind of plodding along and doing OK. You’re interested in growing your company, and now you’re looking for those efficiencies to make everything work better. That’s the space I’m filling.”

Since opening North Star last September, Weber has seen a steady influx of clients. He noted that the field isn’t as competitive as one might think.

“There are a lot of fractional CFOs,” he said, referring to the financial side of a business. “Companies will go, ‘accounting is important, and I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, and I need a guy.’ So they bring in a person to fill that role. So a fractional CFO is a very common thing.

“A fractional CTO is very uncommon,” he went on. “I don’t think I’ve met another one in this area. Again, I think I’m unique by bringing the technology and the business sense together, which creates a unique situation.”

 

Change Agent

Weber also appreciates that he’s able to lessen anxiety — for both business owners and employees — around the changing face of IT, and especially AI.

“Obviously, people get scared whenever there’s change, and that is understandable,” he said, while noting that today’s students may be preparing for high-tech jobs that don’t exist yet, while other careers will fade away. “People need to be aware of both those sides. I mean, if I was a young person today and I was graduating high school or college, I would want to know what’s not going to exist and what is still going to exist in a period of years.

“I was doing an AI presentation the other day, and a woman was talking, and she has a son who’s in high school, and he wants to be a plumber. His job is safe for now. That’s not going anywhere anytime soon,” he noted. “For somebody like him, AI is just an asset because it can help answer questions and provide guidance, but the actual work of a plumber is still going to be done by a human. It’s not being replaced by AI anytime soon.”

For many other jobs and industries, the outlook is less certain, but Weber is optimistic that he can steer clients toward growth and opportunity as they grapple with all the coming changes.

“I owned a small business for a long time, with employees and multiple locations. And now I have the opportunity to help businesses in different manner,” he said. “I’m having a lot of fun, and my clients seem to be really enjoying engaging with me and having this conversation. So it’s working out really well.”

At the end of the day, Weber added, he loves helping and teaching people, demystifying the role of IT, and seeing the impact he can make on a growing pool of clients.

“It’s like I was saying before — I’m kind of a unicorn in the sense that I can talk about technology in a way that regular people understand. And that is rare. You find a lot of really smart IT people that you wouldn’t want to have a coffee with because you couldn’t understand them. And you find a lot of amazing business people that don’t know anything about their technology, but they need to. So I can bridge that gap for them, and that’s what I’m doing.”