The Mid-Market Gap
Most mid-market technology leaders carry the complexity of a Fortune 500 CTO without the team, budget, or board infrastructure to match.
Generic coaching lacks the depth. Big-firm consulting adds the bloat. RLK is the third option.
of middle market companies operate without a formal strategic plan
Nat'l Center for the Middle Market
organizations fail to fully execute their strategic priorities
Kaplan & Norton / HBR
target engagement ROI: the return threshold built into every engagement before work begins
RLK Engagement Standard
Every engagement is built to clear that bar. If the math doesn't work for your situation, I'll tell you in the first conversation, and we won't start.
Who You're Working With
The strategist you talk to is the one who does the work.
Ryan L. King
Founder, RLK Consulting
Over 15 years advising CIOs, CTOs, and senior technology leaders responsible for enterprise-scale systems, large portfolios, and board-level accountability. First at McKinsey and Deloitte, then at RLK.
I work with technology leaders in transition: stepping into a new role, navigating cost pressure, modernizing delivery, or preparing for a transaction moment. The work is about repositioning technology as a front-office enabler, a function that creates value the business can underwrite.
Start the conversation →Why Leaders Choose RLK
- Clarity fast: most engagements wrap in ~6 weeks
- Repeatable frameworks and rigorous analysis, not guesswork
- Direct access to a McKinsey- and Deloitte-trained strategist
Background
Client Work
Representative engagements.
Work completed at McKinsey, Deloitte, and through RLK.
Fortune 500 Insurance CIO
Result
Board embraced the framework on first presentation
A Fortune 500 insurance CIO needed a board-facing technology scorecard. Existing reporting was nonexistent and immature at best: no coherent framework, no financial translation, nothing the board could use to assess technology value. RLK designed 13 board-facing metrics and 30 underpinning IT health metrics for IT leadership, including custom indices calibrated against insurance industry peers. IT became the first function in the organization with reporting that mature. Technology went from a cost center narrative to a value creation story in a single presentation.
Global Logistics Operator
Result
Board approved multi-year program on first reading
A global logistics operator carried five inherited ERPs across acquired entities and had no commercial case the CFO could take to the board. RLK built the consolidation case across twelve workstreams (finance close, inventory, planning, procurement, HR) with sequencing that ran the lowest-risk workstreams first. The board approved the multi-year program on the first reading.
Large Federal Agency CIO
Result
$4B in modernization capital deployed against named outcomes
A large federal agency received a major legislative appropriation for technology modernization with no prioritization framework in place. Capital availability was not the problem; deployment discipline was. RLK built the investment prioritization framework tied to specific citizen-facing service outcomes and tranche-level accountability. Approximately $4 billion in modernization capital was deployed against named outcomes, and the program was nationally recognized with industry awards.
Regional Healthcare Organization
Result
11% technology spend reduction, zero capability reduction
A regional healthcare organization faced a board mandate to cut $3M in annual technology spend without impacting operations. Spend analysis identified the savings by restructuring two major vendor relationships and eliminating redundant licensing. Full savings realized within 90 days, at zero capability reduction.
PE-Backed Technology Services Firm
Result
Board-ready growth plan cleared in a single session
A PE-backed technology services firm ($220M ARR) needed a board-ready growth plan ahead of a recapitalization. RLK mapped three underserved segments with quantified revenue upside, sequenced the sprint plan, and built the supporting financial model. The plan cleared the board in a single session.
Financial Services Firm
Result
Three pilots moved to production within a single quarter
A financial services firm with 14 active AI pilots and zero production deployments. Structural diagnostic identified a governance bottleneck: every AI rollout required a compliance committee cycle averaging 8 months. Redesigned approval framework cut cycle time to 6 weeks. Three pilots moved to production within the next quarter.
Offerings
Built around a defined problem.
Not a scope that expands until the budget runs out. A focused sprint that produces decision-ready output and clears a defined ROI threshold.
Growth Strategy and Sprint Plan
A board-ready growth roadmap in roughly six weeks. Identify your highest-leverage growth levers, sequence them into an execution plan, and size the revenue impact before committing resources.
Customer and Product Strategy
A clear view of where you're losing revenue across the customer lifecycle, which product investments will recover it, and a sequenced plan your team can execute without a reorganization.
Board Readiness and Performance Analytics
A board-facing technology scorecard tied to financial outcomes. The kind of reporting that earns director confidence in a single presentation rather than a three-hour briefing.
Cost, Value and Vendor Strategy
A vendor and spend audit that shows where budget is going and where it should go instead. Cuts that create room to grow, not just cuts that make the CFO happy for one quarter.
Executive Advisory and Fractional Partnership
Ongoing access to a senior strategist for decisions that don't fit inside a consulting project: board dynamics, major investment calls, and situations where you need a thought partner before the next planning cycle.
AI Enablement and Value Capture
A plan to move AI from pilot to production: where it creates real financial value, what decisions need to change to capture it, and how to get past the pattern of fourteen pilots and zero production deployments.
Other scopes
These are the engagements where I go deepest and clients see the most repeatable results. Other scopes are possible. If your situation doesn't fit a category, start a conversation.
Thinking Out Loud
Strategy and AI perspectives written with the same rigor applied in client work. Specific enough to share with your team.
Why Now
The age of AI is a reason to hire this kind of consultant, not avoid one.
AI compresses the analytical groundwork. Research that once took two weeks takes two days. That efficiency goes back to the client. What it cannot do is read the room, tell you which of your five AI initiatives are real and which three are theater, or push back when the strategy misreads the organization. The judgment calls are still ours.
Start a conversation →The Dispatch
Practical strategy and AI perspectives for mid-market executives. One issue per quarter. No filler.
AI Diagnostic · Free
Know where your organization stands on AI.
61 questions scored across five dimensions of AI readiness. You get a stage classification, a financial impact estimate, a P&L business case, ranked priority actions, and competitive positioning against your sector. Delivered as a full interactive report the moment you complete it. Two sample reports available before you commit.
Free Resource
The Human and Machine Company
A strategic guide for executives navigating AI adoption without ceding organizational control. Covers how to evaluate AI investments, where human judgment stays irreplaceable, and how to lead through the transition without letting vendors or internal advocates set the agenda.