Digital strategy that answers to the balance sheet
We audit what you have, map what you actually need, and hand you a technology roadmap prioritised by return on investment — written by senior engineers with ex-Amazon and Ticketmaster experience, in language a board can act on.
How we approach it
Most digital strategies fail for one of two reasons: they were written by people who have never built software, or they were written to justify a purchase someone had already decided on. Ours start from a different place. We look at your current digital estate — website, systems, data, integrations, contracts — and ask one question of every proposed investment: what commercial result does this produce, and how will we know? If the answer is vague, it doesn’t make the roadmap.
The work usually begins with an audit. We review what you’re running, what it costs, where it’s fragile, and where it’s quietly leaking money — duplicated tools, manual processes that should be automated, systems that don’t talk to each other, licences nobody uses. Because we’re engineers rather than analysts, we read the actual codebases and contracts, not just the org chart, so the findings are specific enough to act on.
From there we build a prioritised roadmap: what to fix, build, buy or retire, in what order, and roughly what each step costs and returns. Build-vs-buy decisions get honest treatment — sometimes an off-the-shelf platform like Shopify, HubSpot or Xero beats a custom build, and we’ll say so even when it means less work for us. Vendor and platform selections come with plain-English reasoning you can defend to a board.
Every recommendation is written for the person who signs it off, not the person who implements it. That means investment cases with realistic numbers, measurement frameworks that tell you within a quarter whether something is working, and a roadmap that flexes when budgets change rather than collapsing. Strategy engagements are fixed-price, agreed upfront, and start with a free 30-minute scoping call.
Digital Strategy, done properly
Digital estate audit
A thorough review of your websites, systems, integrations, data and supplier contracts — what works, what’s fragile, what’s costing more than it returns.
ROI-ranked roadmap
Every initiative scored by expected return, cost and risk, then sequenced so the highest-value work happens first — not the most fashionable.
Build vs buy decisions
Honest analysis of whether custom software, an off-the-shelf platform or a configuration of both serves you best — with the reasoning written down.
Vendor and platform selection
Structured evaluation of CMSs, CRMs, ecommerce platforms and agencies against your actual requirements, so you choose on evidence rather than sales polish.
Board-ready investment cases
Costs, returns, risks and timelines written in plain English, so owners and boards can approve technology spend with genuine understanding.
Measurement frameworks
Clear metrics and review points for every initiative, so you know within a quarter whether it’s working — and can stop funding what isn’t.
From first call to launch
- 01
Scope
A free call to understand your commercial goals, current frustrations and budget reality. You get a fixed quote for the strategy engagement in writing.
- 02
Audit
We review your digital estate hands-on — systems, code, data, contracts and costs — and interview the people who use them daily.
- 03
Roadmap
We present findings and a prioritised, costed roadmap, then pressure-test it with you until the sequencing and numbers hold up.
- 04
Support delivery
We can hand the roadmap over cleanly, help you brief suppliers, or deliver the build work ourselves — your choice, with no lock-in either way.
Digital Strategy questions, answered
What does a digital strategy engagement cost?
It depends on the size of your digital estate, but most audit-and-roadmap engagements are quoted as a single fixed price after a free 30-minute scoping call. You’ll know the full cost in writing before anything starts. There are no day rates, and no open-ended “phase two” surprises — the deliverable and price are agreed upfront.
How is this different from what a management consultancy offers?
We’re engineers who have shipped software inside AWS, Ticketmaster and the UK’s largest news publisher, so we audit the actual systems and code, not just processes and org charts. The output is a specific, costed roadmap you can hand to any developer — including us — rather than a slide deck of principles that still needs translating into work.
Do we have to use you to deliver the roadmap?
No. The roadmap is written so any competent team can deliver it — requirements, sequencing, rough costs and success measures are all documented in plain English. Many clients do ask us to build the priority items, but the strategy is priced and scoped as a standalone piece of work, and there’s deliberately no lock-in.
When would you recommend buying software instead of building it?
Whenever an established product does the job well enough. If your requirement is standard — accounting, email marketing, basic ecommerce — platforms like Xero, Shopify or HubSpot usually beat a custom build on cost and reliability. Custom software earns its keep when the process is genuinely unique to your business or the off-the-shelf option forces workarounds that cost more than the licence saves.
How long does a digital strategy take to produce?
Most audit-and-roadmap engagements take three to six weeks depending on how many systems and suppliers we need to review. We agree the timeline alongside the fixed price, and you’ll see interim findings as we go rather than waiting for a big reveal at the end — so nothing in the final roadmap should surprise you.
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Tell us what you're trying to achieve. A free 30-minute chat, no obligation — we'll tell you honestly what we'd recommend and what it would cost.