10
Consulting
Digital Transformation & Process Consulting
Find out where the working day really goes, remove the steps that don't need to exist, then choose changes and tools people will actually use.
From$2,400
Technology Consulting · Service 07
IT Consulting & Technology Strategy
Independent, vendor-neutral advice on what to build, buy, keep or retire, turned into a roadmap and budget your leadership team can act on.
Starting from
$1,900
- Discipline
- Technology Consulting
- Shortest timeline
- 2 to 4 weeks
- Clients
- Businesses, organizations & founders
- Delivery
- Remote, worldwide
What this service is
Technology decisions tend to get made in a hurry, by busy people, on the advice of someone with something to sell. Good ones need an advisor who earns nothing from the answer.
IT consulting and technology strategy is independent advice on the systems your organization runs on and the ones it's thinking of buying. We help you decide what to build, what to buy, what to keep and what to switch off, then turn those decisions into a roadmap with a budget and an order of work. We don't resell software, take referral fees or earn commissions from vendors, so the advice is the only thing we're paid for.
The work is practical. It might be a review of every subscription your teams pay for, a scored comparison of three CRM platforms, a plain-language risk summary for your board, or a standing monthly session with someone who can act as your part-time technology lead. Often the most useful advice is to buy a standard product, change nothing, or stop a project before it starts. Either way, you leave with a written decision, not a slide deck that sits in a folder.
Problems we solve
The situations that bring people to us
Technology strategy usually becomes urgent at one of these moments.
The situation todayWhat changes
You're about to sign a large software contract and only the vendor has done the analysis
An independent evaluation against your own requirements, scored before you sign
Nobody can say exactly which systems you run, who owns them or what they cost
A complete inventory of systems, owners, contracts and annual spend
The board asks about technology risk and the answers are vague
A plain-language risk summary with owners, priorities and dates
Every department buys its own tools, and none of them share data
Simple purchasing standards and a plan to consolidate the overlap
You can't tell whether to build something custom, buy a product or leave things alone
A build, buy or leave decision with the costs and trade-offs written down
There's no senior technical person to ask, and a full-time CTO would be premature
Fractional technology leadership for as many days a month as you need
What you get
Deliverables
Not every engagement includes every item. Your proposal lists exactly what's in scope, and what isn't.
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01
Technology estate review
An inventory of every system, subscription, integration and owner, with costs, renewal dates, overlaps and the risks attached to each.
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02
Build, buy or leave analysis
For each decision on the table: the realistic options, their total cost over several years, the risks, and a clear recommendation you're free to challenge.
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03
Software selection and vendor evaluation
Written requirements, a long list cut to a shortlist, scripted demos scored against agreed criteria, reference checks and the contract terms worth negotiating.
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04
Technology roadmap and budget
A sequenced plan for the next one to three years, with each project's cost, owner and dependencies, and the point where you decide whether to continue.
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05
Risk and security posture review
The basics checked (backups, access control, patching, multi-factor sign-in and supplier risk), with fixes ranked by how much risk they remove for what they cost.
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06
Board-ready briefing
A short written report and a one-page summary in plain language, so non-technical directors can see the decisions, the costs and the risk of doing nothing.
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07
Decision workshops
Facilitated sessions with your leadership team to settle priorities and trade-offs, with each decision recorded alongside its reasoning so it doesn't get reopened every quarter.
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08
Ongoing advisory (optional)
A fractional CTO arrangement: regular sessions, reviews of proposals and contracts, and a senior technical voice your team can call on without a full-time hire.
Visual model
How a technology decision comes together
How the pieces typically fit together on this kind of engagement.
Your goalsGrowth, cost and risk
Current estateSystems, data, contracts
ConstraintsBudget, people, timing
Options appraisalBuild, buy, keep or retire, costed
RoadmapThe order of work
BudgetCosts by quarter
Risk registerOwners and review dates
Agreed decisionRecorded, owned and reviewed
Common use cases
Where this work usually applies
Practical patterns rather than industry labels. The shape of the problem matters more than the sector.
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Use case 01
Replacing a core business system
Your ERP, CRM or practice management platform is nearing the end of its contract. We define what the replacement must do and run a fair, scored selection.
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Use case 02
Annual technology budget planning
A realistic budget built from what you run today, what's up for renewal and the few projects that actually matter next year.
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Use case 03
Software sprawl and subscription cleanup
Overlapping tools found, owners named, and a consolidation plan that cuts spend without taking away anything people rely on.
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Use case 04
Combining systems after a merger
Two sets of tools, contracts and habits. We decide which systems survive, what happens to the data, and an order of change people can cope with.
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Use case 05
Board and investor technology briefings
A plain-language view of where technology helps, where it's a risk and what fixing it would cost, for directors who don't work in IT.
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Use case 06
Interim or fractional CTO
A senior technical advisor for a few days a month while you grow, recruit a permanent technology leader, or steady things after one leaves.
Our approach
How we handle this kind of work
The parts of our method that matter most for it strategy.
- 01
Independent, with nothing to sell
No commissions, referral fees or reseller margins. If the right answer is a product we've never touched, or no product at all, that's what you'll hear.
- 02
Start from the business, not the technology
We begin with what you're trying to achieve and what's getting in the way. Technology choices come later, and only where they make a real difference.
- 03
Evidence over opinion
Recommendations rest on your contracts, usage data, scored demos and the experience of the people doing the work, not on a vendor's pitch or our own preferences.
- 04
Do less, on purpose
A roadmap with three things done well beats twelve things started. We recommend what to stop, delay or leave alone as firmly as what to begin.
- 05
Leave a written trail
Decisions, reasons, owners and dates go into documents you keep, so anyone can see later why a choice was made and whether it still holds.
Project stages
From first conversation to delivery
Each stage has a defined output and a review point, so you always know where the work stands.
How our process works-
01
Brief
A first conversation to agree the questions to answer, who needs to be involved and what a useful result looks like.
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02
Discover
Interviews, a review of systems, contracts and spend, and time with the people who use the tools every day.
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03
Analyze
Options compared on cost, risk, effort and fit, with vendors evaluated against your criteria where a purchase is on the table.
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04
Recommend
A written report with a clear recommendation, the alternatives considered and the reasoning behind each one.
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05
Decide
A workshop with your leadership team or board to test the recommendation and agree the roadmap and budget.
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06
Advise
Optional ongoing support: regular reviews, help in vendor negotiations, and a technical voice in the room when you need one.
Capabilities
What we bring to this work
Only the capabilities that matter for this service, and nothing we wouldn't actually recommend.
Assessment
- IT and software estate reviews
- Contract and renewal mapping
- Spend analysis by system and team
- Security posture basics
- Supplier and dependency risk
- User interviews and surveys
Strategy
- Build, buy or leave decisions
- Technology roadmaps
- Multi-year budgets
- Requirements and shortlists
- Scripted demos and scoring
- Total cost of ownership modeling
Governance
- Board and investor reporting
- Decision records
- Software purchasing standards
- Risk registers
- Vendor performance reviews
- Fractional CTO advisory
Delivery and engagement
Typical timelines
Timescales depend mostly on how quickly we can reach the people, contracts and data involved. Every engagement starts with a written brief and a dated plan.
A single decision, such as one software selection2 to 4 weeks
Full estate review and technology roadmap4 to 8 weeks
Ongoing advisoryA set number of days each month, reviewed quarterly
Who it's for
Typical clients for this work
We work with companies, organizations and individuals. The requirement matters more than the size of the buyer.
Businesses
- Growing companies without a senior technology leader
- Firms facing a major software purchase or renewal
- Leadership teams who suspect they're paying for the same thing twice
- Owners preparing the business for sale or investment
Organizations
- Nonprofits planning technology spend on a fixed budget
- Boards and trustees who want an independent view
- Schools, associations and membership organizations replacing core systems
Leaders and founders
- Founders who need a technical sounding board before hiring a CTO
- Operations and finance leaders who've inherited responsibility for IT
Related services
Often commissioned alongside this
09
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Software Architecture & Technical Consulting
Independent architecture and code reviews, technical due diligence and design advice, so big technical decisions rest on evidence, not habit.
From$2,200
08
Consulting
Cloud Strategy & Migration
Decide what to move, rebuild, keep or retire, model the real costs, then migrate in planned waves with a tested way back at every step.
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Service FAQ
Questions about it strategy
Do you earn anything from the software you recommend?
No. We don't resell licenses, accept referral fees or hold arrangements that pay us when you buy. You pay for the advice and that's all we earn, so telling you to buy nothing costs us nothing.
You also build software. Won't you steer us toward a custom build?
It's a fair question. Strategy work is paid for on its own and doesn't assume a build. When a standard product fits, we'll tell you to buy it. If custom software does come out ahead, the specification is yours to take to any supplier, us included.
We're a small organization. Is this overkill?
Not if it's sized properly. For a small team, the work might be a two-week review ending in a short list of changes and a simple budget. The aim is the least strategy that leads to a good decision, not a thick document.
What does a fractional CTO arrangement involve?
A set number of days each month with a senior technical advisor who joins leadership meetings, reviews proposals and contracts, supports your team and keeps the roadmap honest. It suits organizations that need judgment rather than a full-time hire, and it can change or end as you grow.
What does the $1,900 starting price cover?
One clearly defined question, such as a build-or-buy decision or a small estate review, taken through interviews and analysis to a written recommendation. Full software selections, roadmaps and ongoing advisory are larger pieces of work, priced against a written brief before you agree to anything.
Starting from
$1,900
Final pricing depends on the number of systems, people and decisions involved, and on whether ongoing advisory follows. Every engagement is agreed as a fixed fee against a written brief.
Have a project in mind?
Tell us what you're trying to achieve. We'll come back with a clear view of the scope, the approach and the cost, and if we're not the right fit, we'll say so quickly.