Consultancy services
Six service lines that follow a technology decision from the first uncomfortable question through to a system your team can run without us. Each can be bought on its own, or combined into a single engagement.
IT strategy & advisory
Most organisations do not have a technology problem. They have twelve small ones that nobody has ever written down in the same place.
We start by mapping what you actually have — systems, contracts, costs, licences, the spreadsheet three departments quietly depend on — and comparing it against what the business is trying to do over the next two years. The result is a single document that states the gaps honestly, ranks them by risk and cost, and sets out a roadmap you can take to a board, a funder or a bank.
Where an existing plan already exists, we are just as happy to review it: a second opinion on a proposal, a business case, or a supplier's recommendation is often the cheapest consultancy you will ever buy.
What you get
Typical questions: Are we spending the right amount on IT? What would break first if we doubled in size? Is this proposal good value?
Cloud & infrastructure
Moving to the cloud is not a project you do once. It is a series of decisions about identity, data, licensing and cost — and the order you take them in decides how painful it is.
We plan migrations to Microsoft 365, Azure and Google Workspace: what moves, in what sequence, what has to be cleaned up first, and what stays where it is because moving it would cost more than it saves. Where you are already in the cloud, we review what you are running against what you are paying — unused licences, over-specified tiers, duplicated tools and storage nobody has looked at since the migration.
We design; we do not resell. You buy licences on your own tenant and your own contracts, and the design documents are yours to hand to whichever partner implements them.
What you get
Typical questions: Should we move this server or replace it? Are we paying for licences nobody uses? What breaks on day one?
Cyber security & resilience
Security advice sized for a real organisation, not for a bank. The goal is not a perfect posture — it is knowing your genuine risks and closing the cheap ones first.
We review how identity and access actually work in your organisation: who can reach what, which accounts still exist for people who left, where multi-factor authentication is missing, and how an attacker would most plausibly get in. Alongside that we look at the other half of the problem — whether you could keep operating after ransomware, a lost laptop, a failed supplier or a mistake by someone with admin rights.
Everything is delivered as a prioritised list with effort and cost attached, so security work can compete fairly for budget instead of arriving as an undifferentiated wall of recommendations.
What you get
Typical questions: Could we recover from ransomware? Who still has access that shouldn't? What do we tell a client asking about our security?
Systems integration & data
The most expensive software in most organisations is the software they already own and never connected to anything.
We map how work actually flows — an order arriving, a case opening, an invoice going out — and find the places where a human is copying data between systems because nobody ever joined them up. Some of those gaps close with configuration you already paid for; some need a small integration; and some are best solved by removing a tool entirely.
The same discipline applies to reporting. If three departments produce three different numbers for the same question, the fix is rarely a new dashboard — it is agreeing where the number lives and what it means.
What you get
Typical questions: Why is this still being typed in twice? Can these two systems talk? Whose figure is the right one?
Procurement & vendor selection
Buying technology badly is expensive twice: once when you pay for it, and again when you cannot leave.
We help you write requirements that describe outcomes rather than features, approach a sensible shortlist of suppliers, and compare what comes back on identical terms. Demos get scripted against your real scenarios instead of the vendor's showcase, and references get called. When the decision is made, we review the contract for the details that matter later: notice periods, price escalation, data export, and what happens at renewal.
We take no commission from any supplier, so the shortlist is built from what fits, not from who we have a partnership with.
What you get
Typical questions: Is this quote reasonable? What are we agreeing to at renewal? Which of these three systems fits how we work?
Business & project support
A recommendation nobody has time to implement is just a document. Sometimes what an organisation needs is a pair of hands with authority to chase.
Under our second registered activity — other service activities — we provide the practical support that carries a change over the line: coordinating the project plan, holding suppliers to their dates, running the weekly check-in, writing the documentation nobody else will write, and training the people who have to use the new system on Monday.
This is deliberately time-boxed work. We aim to leave your team with the documents, the routines and the confidence to run it themselves — not with a dependency on us.
What you get
Typical questions: Who is actually running this project? Will anyone document it? How do we stop people going back to the old spreadsheet?
Predictable from the first email
No discovery workshops billed by the hour before anyone knows whether we can help. The first conversation is free, the scope is written down, and the fee is fixed against it.
- Introductory call — free Thirty minutes on the problem, the constraints and the deadline. If we are not the right people, we say so and point you elsewhere.
- Written proposal — within 5 business days Scope, deliverables, timeline, fixed fee, and what we will need from your team. Nothing starts until it is signed.
- Fieldwork — 1 to 3 weeks typically Interviews, system reviews, contract and cost analysis, with a short progress note each week so nothing lands as a surprise.
- Report & presentation Draft first for factual correction, then the final document and a walkthrough with whoever needs to make the decision.
- Optional support Implementation coordination, supplier management or a retainer — quoted separately, never assumed.
Not sure which service you need?
Most people aren't — that is usually the first thing we work out together. Describe the situation in a few lines and we will tell you which of these is the right starting point, or whether you need one at all.