Your function. Fully run. For as long as you need it.
An outsourced function engagement is not a project with an end date. It is not a leadership role with a handoff plan. It is the entire function — strategy, execution, vendors, measurement, and ongoing refinement — run by Cerebratum principals on a continuous basis. The function stays with us. You get the output, the accountability, and the compounding benefit of a team that knows your business better every year.
outsourced function
19
Years — the longest active outsourced function engagement in Cerebratum’s history
10+
Years of the second longest active engagement — and still running
0
Outsourced function engagements that ended because the client chose to internalise the function
HOW IT’S PRICED
Two phases. One continuous engagement.
Most outsourced arrangements charge the same way regardless of what they’re doing. Ours doesn’t — because strategy and execution are fundamentally different kinds of work.
PHASE 01
Strategy & Foundation
The first phase is intensive. We immerse ourselves in the business — the market, the audience, the competitive landscape, the internal capabilities, and the gaps. We build the strategy, the architecture, and the operating model for the function from the ground up.
This phase carries a higher retainer — commensurate with the depth of thinking, the volume of work, and the speed at which it needs to happen. There are no rate cards in this phase. The retainer covers everything.
DELIVERABLES
→ Function strategy and annual operating plan
→ Brand or positioning framework (where relevant)
→ Audience architecture and segmentation
→ Channel and content strategy
→ Vendor landscape assessment and recommendations
→ KPI framework and measurement model
PHASE 02
Execution & Compounding
Once the foundation is built, the engagement shifts into execution mode. The retainer reduces — reflecting the fact that the heavy strategic lifting is done — and a transparent rate card governs individual deliverables. You know what each piece of work costs before it’s commissioned.
Lower base retainer covering ongoing strategic oversight, function management, and principal availability. Individual executional outputs — content, campaigns, collateral, presentations — priced from a transparent rate card. No surprises.
EXAMPLES FROM THE RATE CARD
→ Social media content (per post or per calendar month)
→ Long-form content — white papers, reports, articles
→ Campaign creative — digital, print, outdoor
→ Presentations and pitch decks
→ Brochures and sales collateral
→ Email campaigns and nurture sequences
Outsourced function is not fractional CXO with a longer notice period
The distinction matters — because the two models serve fundamentally different client situations, and choosing the wrong one costs time and money.
Fractional CXO is leadership. A principal embedded in your organisation, carrying KRAs, with an implicit exit — when the function is ready to be led internally, the engagement concludes.
Outsourced function is ownership. The entire function — not just its leadership — sits with Cerebratum on a continuous basis. There is no internalisation plan. The function stays with us because that’s the most effective way to run it.
Fractional CXO
Outsourced Function
A principal leads the function internally
Cerebratum runs the entire function externally
Time-bound — typically 12 to 18 months
Open-ended — continues for as long as it works
Exit plan built in from the start
No internalisation plan — by design
You manage the function day-to-day with principal support
We manage the function — you manage the outcomes
Fixed monthly retainer throughout
Two-phase commercial model — strategy then execution
what we run
Every function we offer as fractional, we also offer as outsourced.
The scope is identical. The difference is the commercial structure, the time horizon, and the fact that the function never comes back in-house.
in practice
What nineteen years of outsourced function engagement looks like.
This is not a summary. It is what actually happened — across one client, across nineteen years, across six functions.
| CLIENT | A globally recognised enterprise SaaS platform — serving Fortune 500 clients across North America, Europe, and Asia |
| ENGAGEMENT TYPE | Outsourced function — multiple functions, continuously run |
| DURATION | 19 Years — Ongoing |
| FUNCTIONS COVERED | Marketing · Product Management · Engineering · HR & People · Finance & Governance · Customer Success |
| OUTCOME | A platform that grew from a regional product to global recognition in its category — without ever building the senior functional leadership internally |
When the engagement began, the brief was straightforward: run the marketing function. Nineteen years later, the engagement covers six functions and has compounded through every stage of the platform’s growth — from market entry through international expansion, product maturity, financial restructuring, and engineering modernisation. No function has ever been internalised. The question of whether to bring any of it in-house has not been raised — because the compounding value of an external team that knows the business better every year has consistently outweighed the cost of building it internally.
| YEAR 1–3 | Marketing Function
The engagement began with marketing — and it began in Phase 1 mode: immersion, strategy, and architecture. The platform’s positioning was unclear, the audience was underserved by the messaging, and the marketing output was tactical without strategic direction. The first phase rebuilt everything from the ground up: brand positioning, audience segmentation, content architecture, and the demand generation model. By the end of the foundation phase, the platform had a coherent market identity and a marketing engine that could run continuously. WHAT IT PRODUCED |
| YEAR 3–6 | Marketing Function — Execution & Compounding
With the foundation in place, the engagement shifted into execution mode. The retainer reduced. The rate card governed individual deliverables. And the marketing function ran — continuously, with full accountability for output and outcomes. The compounding effect of three years of institutional knowledge meant that every campaign, every piece of content, every market conversation was informed by what had come before. The function improved every year not because the brief changed but because the team running it got better at running it. WHAT IT PRODUCED |
| YEAR 5–8 | Product Management Function
As the platform matured, the product function needed to become a formal discipline rather than an informal process. A Cerebratum principal took over product management — establishing structured roadmapping, customer feedback loops, and prioritisation frameworks that had not previously existed. The function was built from the ground up, inside the organisation, run externally. Product decisions became more deliberate, release quality improved, and the gap between what customers needed and what the platform delivered narrowed materially. WHAT IT PRODUCED |
| YEAR 7–12 | HR & People Function
International expansion created a people challenge the organisation was not equipped to handle internally. The HR function — talent architecture, culture design, retention frameworks, and the people visibility that leadership needed — was added to the engagement. As the organisation scaled across geographies, the people function scaled with it: hiring frameworks, performance management, compensation benchmarking, and the cultural coherence that makes distributed organisations work. No internal HR leadership was ever hired. The function ran externally for the duration of the expansion. WHAT IT PRODUCED |
| YEAR 10–15 | Finance & Governance Function
A period of significant financial complexity — restructuring, investor engagement, and the need for investment-grade reporting — required the finance and governance function to operate at a standard the organisation had not previously needed. The function was added to the engagement: financial reporting architecture, multi-horizon forecasting, and the governance frameworks that gave leadership and investors real visibility into the business. The organisation navigated the complexity without a permanent CFO. The function ran externally until the financial model stabilised. WHAT IT PRODUCED |
| YEAR 12–PRESENT | Engineering & Customer Success Functions
The final functions to be added — engineering modernisation and customer success — completed the picture. Engineering moved from a legacy release model to full CI/CD adoption, automated deployment pipelines, and a DevOps-embedded culture. Customer success was built as a formal function: onboarding, health scoring, expansion playbooks, and the churn prevention model that protected revenue. Both functions run externally. Both have improved every year. WHAT IT PRODUCED |
The question of whether to bring any of it in-house has not been raised in nineteen years. Not because the option wasn’t available — but because the compounding value of a team that knows your business better every year is worth more than the theoretical benefit of owning it internally.
This model is right for you if…
- You need an entire function run, not just led
- The function is not something you plan to build internally — now or in the future
- You want the compounding benefit of a team that knows your business better every year
- You need strategy and execution from the same accountable source
- You’ve had poor experiences with agencies that execute without strategic ownership
- You want transparent pricing — a clear retainer and a rate card, not open-ended billing
And not right for you if…
- You want to build internal capability and internalise the function within 12 to 18 months
- You need someone physically present in your office every day
- The brief is likely to change significantly in the first six months
- You’re looking for a low-cost outsourcing option — this is senior principal-led work, priced accordingly