Fractional COO

A fractional COO is a chief operating officer you hire for part of a week rather than full time — typically a few days a month on a retainer, to run or repair the operating side of a business that cannot justify an executive salary. The work is the same work: process, suppliers, stock, reporting, people. Only the hours and the cost change. In South Africa the arrangement is common among SMEs that have outgrown owner-run operations but are several years away from an executive payroll, and it is usually bought when the owner has become the bottleneck.

A food supplier turning over a few million rand a year has the problems of a much larger business and none of the head count to solve them. Somebody has to watch prices, deliveries, stock and debtors every week, and in most SMEs that somebody is the owner, at night.

A fractional COO is one answer to that. Software that watches the same things every day and briefs you on a Monday is another, and it is the one Finch is priced as: R6,000 per location per month, everything included. The two are not the same purchase, and the comparison page sets them side by side rather than pretending one replaces judgement.