Find out how your business and its systems actually work today.
Processes, applications, data, integrations, costs and contracts, and the people who hold the knowledge. Every finding comes with its evidence and the way it was measured. The issues are ranked by impact, and everything that follows builds on them.
A large company, simplified Example
Assessment view
Customers
- MarketingSound
- SalesAt risk
- ServiceAt risk
- Online channelsWeak
Operations
- PlanningWeak
- Supply chainSound
- FulfilmentAt risk
- ProcurementSound
Corporate
- FinanceSound
- PeopleSound
- Legal and riskSound
- ReportingWeak
Foundations
- DataWeak
- IntegrationWeak
- InfrastructureSound
- SecurityWeak
- You get
- A current-state map, a ranked issue register, a cost and contract summary, baseline measures and recommendations.
- Typical length
- 4 to 8 weeks for one company or business unit
- Priced as
- A fixed fee, agreed before work starts
When you need it
- Systems were added one at a time, and nobody has the whole picture.
- IT costs rise every year, and nobody can say what they buy.
- A large decision is coming: a core system, an acquisition, a new market.
- I’m new in the role, and I want an outside view before I set priorities.
- Each company in the group runs its own systems, and we need one view.
What you get
- Current-state map
- Processes, systems, data flows and owners on one page, with the detail behind it.
- Issue register
- Each issue with its evidence, its impact, the effort to fix it and a suggested owner, ranked.
- Cost and contract summary
- What you pay, for what, and when each contract can be changed or ended.
- Baseline measures
- Volumes, times, error rates and costs for the processes in scope, each with the way it was measured.
- Recommendations
- What to do first, what can wait, and what to stop.
- Open questions
- What the assessment couldn’t establish, and how to find out.
Issue registerIllustrative
| Rank | Issue | Evidence | Impact | Effort to fix | Suggested owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orders from email typed into both the CRM and the ERP | A timed sample of 40 orders: 6 minutes on average. Errors in 3% of 500 orders checked | High | Medium | Order desk lead |
| 2 | Customer records re-keyed between two CRM systems | A time log kept by the sales team for two weeks: about 10 hours a week | High | Medium | Head of sales |
| 3 | Service visits booked by phone after each call | Service desk tickets for three months: 3 days from call to visit (median) | High | Medium | Service manager |
| 4 | Warehouse system out of vendor support | The vendor’s published dates and the contract: support ended over a year ago, with no security updates since | High | High | Operations director |
| 5 | Monthly report rebuilt by hand from three exports | Calendars and interviews: 4 working days a month | Medium | Low | Finance controller |
- Ranked by impact, then by the effort to fix. Impact and effort are judged against the company’s goals for the next two years, agreed with the leadership team in week 1.
What we look at
- Processes
- How work actually flows, where it waits, and where people work around the systems.
- Applications
- What you run, who uses it, how well it fits, and when vendor support ends.
- Costs and contracts
- Licences, renewal dates, notice periods, and what you pay for and don’t use.
- Data
- Where key records live, how many copies exist, and how far they can be trusted.
- Integrations
- What connects to what, how, and what breaks when something changes.
- Infrastructure and security basics
- Hosting, access, backups and the visible risks. We flag where a specialist security test is needed and help you scope it. We don’t run one.
- People and skills
- Who knows what, and where knowledge sits with one person.
- Where AI could help
- Tasks that happen often enough to matter and are easy to check, and whether the data they need exists.
How it runs
A typical six-week assessment of one company:
- Week 1
Scope and access
Your sponsor agrees the scope and the questions. Interviews with leaders; documents and read-only access.
- Weeks 2–3
Evidence
Walk-throughs with the people who use the systems, data samples and contract review. Findings are checked with the people who know.
- Decision point
Midway
With your sponsor: what we’ve found so far, and where to go deeper.
- Weeks 4–5
Analysis
Issues ranked by impact and effort, options for the important ones, and the baseline measures.
- Week 6
Review
A working session on the findings with your leadership team, then the final report.
- Decision point
What next
A strategy, a short list of fixes, a selection, or nothing more. You decide.
We measure processes and report the figures in aggregate. Where employee representatives, such as a works council, have a say in how work is measured, the method is agreed with them before we start, and we prepare what they need to decide.
What you provide
- A sponsor who can open doors and decide on scope.
- 4 to 8 hours of interviews across the leadership team, and short sessions with key users.
- Read-only access to the main systems, or someone to walk us through them.
- Contracts and invoices for software and IT services.
How to judge an assessment, ours included
- Every finding traces to evidence: an interview, a data sample or a contract clause.
- Findings are ranked, and the ranking is explained.
- Numbers come with their source and the way they were measured.
- It says what it didn’t cover.
An assessment that passes all four is usually short enough to read and specific enough to act on.
Length and pricing
- Typical length: 4 to 8 weeks for one company or business unit. A group assessment is scoped company by company.
- Priced as: a fixed fee, agreed before work starts. It depends on the number of companies or business units, systems and countries in scope.
Questions
Is an assessment an audit?
No. Our assessment is advisory: it certifies nothing, and nobody is graded. Its purpose is to decide what to do next. If you need a formal audit or a security test, we tell you and help you scope it.
How long does an assessment take?
An assessment usually takes 4 to 8 weeks for one company or business unit. A group assessment is scoped company by company. The scope, the timeline and the fee are fixed before work starts.
Will you recommend your own services?
Sometimes the sensible next step is work we do, and the report recommends it. The report is written so that any capable team can act on it, and it belongs to you.
Do you need access to our live systems?
It helps but isn’t required. Read-only access saves time, and walk-throughs with the people who use the systems work too. We work through your accounts and under your access policies.
How much of our people’s time does an assessment take?
Usually an hour or two from each interviewee, 4 to 8 hours in total from the leadership team, and a short weekly check-in with the sponsor.
Can one assessment cover several companies in a group?
Yes. A group assessment adds a view across the companies: shared and duplicated systems, overlapping contracts, and renewal dates that fall together. It is scoped company by company, with one summary for the group.
Tell us what you’re trying to decide or fix.
A line or two is enough. We read every enquiry ourselves and reply within two working days.
What happens next
- We reply to arrange a call. If we’re not the right fit, we say so.
- A first call of 30 to 45 minutes with the person who would lead the work.
- A written proposal for the first stage: scope, deliverables, length and fee.
We can sign a non-disclosure agreement, yours or ours, before you share anything sensitive.