Services
IT consultancy for decisions too costly to get wrong
Three vendor proposals that differ fourfold in price. A project six months late with no clear cause. A board asking whether to build an in-house team. You receive a clear, written answer from practising engineers.
Advice from engineers who still deliver production systems
Advice is only as sound as the adviser’s recent experience. Our consultants are the engineers who build and operate client systems, so recommendations reflect what has succeeded and failed on real projects, not on slides.
Engagements are short and outputs concrete: a report, a decision record, a reviewed contract, a hiring plan. If the right answer is not to build anything yet, the report says so.
What we build
Typical consultancy engagements
Vendor proposal review
We compare the proposals you have received line by line, flag omissions and ambiguities, and set out the questions to ask before signing.
Project health check
A focused assessment of a live project’s backlog, process and team, with a candid view of whether it is on track. Deeper code review sits within our software consulting practice.
Technology due diligence
For investors and acquirers: architecture, code quality, security posture, technical debt and key-person risk, explained in business terms.
Build-versus-buy analysis
Whether to customise a product, build your own or combine both, with three-year cost of ownership rather than first-invoice price.
Engineering team planning
Which roles to hire first, what to outsource, how to assess candidates, and an appropriate engineering budget for your stage.
How we work
How a consultancy engagement runs
Step 1: Frame the decision
We agree, in one or two sentences, the decision you need to make and what you need from us to make it.
Step 2: Gather evidence
Interviews, documents, code access or vendor proposals, depending on the question. Usually a few days of work.
Step 3: Findings workshop
A working session in which we present findings and test emerging conclusions with you before committing them to writing.
Step 4: Written recommendation
A concise report with options, costs, risks and our recommendation, short enough to be read in full by decision-makers.
Deliverables and tools
Deliverables and technology
What you receive
- A clearly framed decision and engagement scope
- Findings workshop with your team
- Written report with options, costs and risks
- Our recommendation, with rationale
- Follow-up session after internal discussion
Advisory areas
- Web, mobile and cloud architecture
- AI adoption and data readiness
- Vendor contracts and statements of work
- Security and data protection fundamentals
- Engineering process and team structure
- Hosting cost reviews
Fees and independence
Most engagements are fixed-fee and run from three days to three weeks. We quote after a short call to understand the question.
When we review other vendors’ proposals, we do so independently. We declare up front if we would also like to bid, and you may require us to stay out of the bidding entirely. For deeper work, our consultancy practice covers solutions architecture, technology and platform selection, business process consulting, digital transformation roadmaps and code reviews and project rescue.
FAQ
Questions about IT consultancy
Can you review a proposal we received from another vendor?
Yes, and it is among the most valuable work we do. We compare it against your actual requirement and highlight gaps, vague items and pricing that appears out of line.
Will you simply recommend yourselves?
We declare any interest in bidding before we start, and you can make the review conditional on our not bidding. The report must stand on its reasoning either way.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes. Consultancy often involves confidential plans, contracts or code, and we sign a mutual NDA before you share anything.
How quickly can you start?
Short reviews can often begin within a week. We confirm availability when you contact us.
Facing a technology decision with significant cost attached?
Tell us what you are deciding and by when. We will confirm whether we can help and what it would involve.