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Tanduo Advisor Toolkit

Become a More Technical Advisor

You don't have to be a technology expert to advise your clients on technology. You just need to know the right questions to ask.

Explore the ToolkitBecome a Partner

Free tools, training, and resources designed specifically for advisors who want to help their clients make better technology decisions.

A person points to a laptop screen during a meeting while a colleague looks on

Technology is becoming part of almost every business conversation.

People, Process, & Data are at the forefront of every Technology and AI enablement conversation.

But you don't need to know how to architect a system, select software, or speak IT to help.

You need to recognize when technology might be holding the business back, ask the questions that uncover what's really happening, and help your client figure out the right next step.

That's what the Tanduo Advisor Toolkit is built to help you do.

Explore the Toolkit

Your Clients Are Already Talking to You About Technology

They just might not call it technology.

They say things like:

  • We know we should be doing something with AI, but we don't know where to start.
  • Too much tribal knowledge lives with one person.
  • Nobody trusts the data.
  • We're adding people just to keep up.
  • Our systems don't talk to each other.
  • We keep finding workarounds instead of fixing the problem.
  • This process takes way too much manual work.
  • What worked before isn't working anymore.

These sound like business problems because they are business problems.

But underneath them, there's often a technology, data, or process problem keeping the company from scaling.

You don't need to have the answer. You need to recognize the problem and know what to ask next.

We'll Help You Become a More Technical Advisor

Our goal isn't to turn you into an IT consultant. It's to make you a better business advisor when technology enters the conversation. We'll give you simple tools, frameworks, and training to help you:

Spot Technology Problems Earlier

Recognize when systems, processes, data, or technology are becoming constraints to growth.

Ask Better Questions

Go beyond "What software are you using?" and start asking questions that uncover how technology is actually helping or hurting the business.

Connect Technology to the Business

Help leadership teams connect technology decisions to growth, productivity, customer experience, risk, and execution.

Guide the Next Step

Help your client determine what they can solve themselves, what they should investigate further, and what requires additional expertise.

Know When to Bring in Help

Take the conversation as far as you're comfortable. When the problem gets beyond what you should solve yourself, Tanduo can step in alongside you.

Practical Tools You Can Actually Use With Clients

This isn't technology training for technology people. It's a toolkit for business advisors. Use the tools directly with your clients to uncover problems, create better conversations, and identify where they should focus next. It's the same toolkit your clients' executive teams can use on their own, the Tanduo CIO Toolkit.

  1. Step 1 · Assess

    Scaling Readiness Assessment

    Identify what may break as the company grows and where technology could become a constraint to scale.

    See the assessment
  2. Step 2 · Converse

    Technology Conversation Starters

    Start the technology conversation with a question matched to the company's Scaling Readiness level.

    Level 0 · People Powered

    • When work gets stuck, who do people go to, and how do they decide what happens next?

    Level 1 · Work Visibility & Accountability

    • What shared view do you use to see what's in flight, what's blocked, and who owns each outcome?

    Level 2 · Organizational Alignment

    • What is the top priority right now, and what are you explicitly not doing to protect that focus?

    Level 3 · Enablement Mindset

    • Where do teams need help from other groups, and how do they ask for it?

    Level 4 · Repeatable Delivery

    • Which delivery pattern or framework is used most often, and where does it break or get bypassed?

    Level 5 · Tech Enabled Strategic Value

    • What decision would improve fastest with better data or automation, and what experiment would you run first?

    Regardless of level

    • How do you know your IT team is working on the right things?
    • How do you know technology is working the way the business needs it to?
  3. Step 3 · Understand

    Technology Inventory

    Capture what systems exist, what they support, who owns them, and the key risks and gaps. Then ask which key vendors are part of the ecosystem, and whether each one is a 9 or 10 out of 10.

    Includes a Lifecycle Management sheet for versions, support dates, planned upgrades, and license costs.

    xlsxExcel workbook · 16 KB

    Download template
  4. Step 4 · Prioritize

    Department Heatmap

    Identify each department's important decisions and workflows, then understand how people, process, data, and technology support them.

    Use the rubric below to place each department at a level for people, process, data, and technology. The template includes the rubric.

    xlsxExcel workbook · 566 KB

    Download template

    People: skills, capacity, clarity of roles, collaboration

    • 1 · Unstructured Roles: Unclear, siloed work, low collaboration
    • 2 · Reactive: Some role clarity, but mostly firefighting
    • 3 · Defined: Roles and responsibilities are documented and followed
    • 4 · Empowered: Teams are cross-functional, accountable, and proactive
    • 5 · Scalable Talent: People are enabled, supported, and aligned to scale

    Process: standardization, repeatability, agility, governance

    • 1 · Ad Hoc: No standard process, inconsistent execution
    • 2 · Emerging: Some repeatable steps, but not standardized
    • 3 · Standardized: Documented and followed processes
    • 4 · Optimized: Continuously improved and measured
    • 5 · Adaptive: Agile, scalable, and responsive to change

    Data: accessibility, quality, usage, insights

    • 1 · Opaque: Data is inaccessible or unreliable
    • 2 · Available: Data exists but is hard to use or interpret
    • 3 · Organized: Data is structured and accessible
    • 4 · Insightful: Data is used for decision-making
    • 5 · Intelligent: Data drives strategy, forecasting, and innovation

    Technology: tooling, automation, integration, scalability

    • 1 · Manual: Reliant on spreadsheets, email, or legacy tools
    • 2 · Fragmented: Tools exist but are disconnected or underused
    • 3 · Integrated: Core systems are connected and functional
    • 4 · Automated: Key workflows are automated and efficient
    • 5 · Scalable: Tech is modular, extensible, and enables growth
  5. Step 5 · Roadmap

    Strategic Paths

    Translate what you learned into priorities, sequencing, ownership, and next actions.

    Map the key milestones and steps for each path, such as upgrades or product buildouts, and see where one path depends on another.

    xlsxExcel workbook · 15 KB

    Download template
  6. Step 6 · Measure

    Strategic Highlights

    A simple ongoing view of whether technology investments are actually supporting business goals. Start with 1 to 3 KPIs.

    docxWord document · 296 KB

    Download template

    Questions to ask

    • What are your business goals?
    • For each, how do people, process, data, and technology play a role?
    • If people, process, data, and technology helped you be anything you want to be, what would that look like?

Know Just Enough to Know... When to Bring in the Experts

You don't need to know everything about technology.

You need to know enough to recognize when something doesn't add up.

  • If a company says it's ready to double, but half its critical processes live in spreadsheets, that's worth a conversation.
  • If they're adding people because their systems can't keep up, that's worth a conversation.
  • If leaders can't get the information they need to make decisions, that's worth a conversation.
  • If they've invested heavily in technology but aren't seeing the business impact, that's worth a conversation.

The Advisor Toolkit helps you have those conversations with confidence.

You don't need to solve the problem. You need to help your client see it.

Advisor Toolkit Questions

What is the Tanduo Advisor Toolkit?

Free tools, training, and resources designed specifically for advisors who want to help their clients make better technology decisions, without becoming technology experts.

What's included in the Advisor Toolkit?

Six steps you can use directly with clients: the Scaling Readiness Assessment, Technology Conversation Starters, and templates for a Technology Inventory, a Department Heatmap, Strategic Paths, and Strategic Highlights. The templates are Excel and Word files you can download and use right away.

Who is the Advisor Toolkit for?

Business advisors, commercial bankers, M&A advisors, EOS Implementers and other operating system leaders, fractional executives, financial and accounting advisors, business consultants, and other trusted advisors working with business owners and leadership teams.

Does the Advisor Toolkit cost anything?

No. We've made the Advisor Toolkit and training available to Tanduo partners for free.

Will Tanduo take over my client relationships?

No. We're not trying to insert Tanduo into your client conversations. Use the toolkit yourself and take the conversation as far as you're comfortable.

If you uncover something that requires deeper technology leadership, strategy, or execution, that's when Tanduo can join you.

Interested in Becoming a Tanduo Partner?

If you're a fractional leader, business advisor, EOS or operating system leader, M&A advisor, banker, or another trusted advisor, your clients already trust you to help them think through their business. Technology is increasingly part of that conversation.

Tell us a little about you and how you'd like to work together. We'll follow up within one business day to talk through which partnership model fits, from referrals to shared engagements.

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