Technology Consulting
An independent, written second opinion on one technology decision, for a fixed fee: whether to build or buy, which system to choose, whether a vendor's proposal or a project plan holds up.
We reply within one business day.
Sounds familiar?
- You're about to sign with a vendor, and nobody outside that vendor has checked that its system fits.
- Your team can't agree whether to build something or buy it.
- A developer or an agency sent a proposal, and you can't tell whether the price and the plan make sense.
- A project has stalled, and you need to know whether to fix it, restart it or stop.
- You want a second opinion from people who have built these systems themselves.
If you can name the decision, we give you an answer you can act on before the budget is committed.
What you get
One answer, in writing, and the time to walk through it with you.
The written answer
The decision, the options we weighed, what each one costs and risks, and the one we recommend and why.
A walkthrough
We walk your decision-makers through the answer and the evidence behind it, and take their questions.
The next step, named
What to ask a vendor for, what to build or what to stop, ready to act on.
How the work runs
The people who answer the question are the people who would build what it recommends.
Frame the question.
We agree in writing on the decision to answer, what a useful answer looks like and what's out of scope. If the question turns out to be a symptom of something wider, we say so before the investigation starts.
Investigate.
We talk to the people the decision affects and review what it depends on: the systems, the data, the quotes and proposals in front of you. Every option is tested against how your business runs, not against a feature list.
Answer.
We write the answer: the options, what each one costs and risks, and our recommendation with the evidence behind it. If the honest answer is to wait, or to change nothing, that's the answer you get.
Walk through.
We present it to the people deciding. What happens next is your decision: act on it with us, with your own team or with another partner.
A few engagements at a time.
Start dates go in the order conversations begin, so the sooner you reach out, the earlier the date you can hold.
Start the conversationHow pricing works
Every question is a different size, so the fee depends on what it takes to answer:
- 01How broad the question is, and how many options it weighs
- 02How many systems, vendors or proposals we review
- 03How many people we talk to
- 04How deep the technical review has to go
Whatever the question, the fee is fixed: quoted after a short call and agreed before we start.
How the engagement is governed
The same four rules on every engagement, agreed before work starts, so nothing surprises you midway:
- 01The question
- Agreed in writing before we start, with what's in scope and what isn't.
- 02The fee
- Fixed, and agreed before we start.
- 03Changes
- A new question is a new scope, agreed in writing with its fee before we work on it.
- 04What comes next
- Yours to decide. Nothing in the answer obliges you to hire us for what follows.
Common questions
How much does technology consulting cost?
It depends on the question: how broad it is, how many systems, vendors or proposals we review, how many people we talk to and how deep the technical review goes. The fee is fixed, quoted after a short call and agreed before we start.
What kinds of questions do you take on?
The technology decisions a growing company faces: whether to build or buy, which system to choose, whether a vendor's proposal or a specification holds up, whether to fix, restart or stop a stalled project. Each one is a single decision. If your question is what's slowing the business down, that's operations consulting.
Can you review a proposal another firm sent us?
Yes: whether the scope, the price and the plan make sense, what's missing and what to ask before you sign.
Technology, operations or AI consulting?
One decision you can put in a sentence, such as build or buy or which system: Technology Consulting. What's slowing the business down: operations consulting. Whether and where AI pays off: AI consulting. Already decided to build and want the specification confirmed? That's Custom Software's first milestone.
Are you a technology consulting firm?
We're an operations and technology firm for growing companies, and this is how we answer one technology decision at a time. The difference is that the same team builds: when the answer is to build something, we can take it from the brief to a running system.
Are you independent from the vendors you recommend?
Yes. We take no commissions or referral fees from software vendors, so the recommendation follows your business, not a commission. We do build software ourselves; when the answer is a build, it works with any team, ours or not.
Is this IT consulting?
Yes, for the decisions: which systems to use, how they connect, whether to build or buy and whether a vendor's proposal holds up. We answer them from how your business runs, and the same team can build what the answer recommends.
Do we have to hire you for what comes next?
No. The answer works with us, with your team or with someone else. If it points to a build, our development services take it from there.
Tell us what's slowing you down.
We reply within one business day, and if we're not the right fit, we'll say so.