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Ackho
Digital transformation

Most of the value is in the steps we delete.

Mapping how the work actually happens before deciding what software should exist, and being willing to conclude that less software is the answer.

Where we have experience

  • Banking
  • Government
  • E-commerce
  • Consumer technology
  • Energy and utilities

How the engagement runs

You can stop after the map.

The mapping phase is priced and delivered so that it stands on its own. If the honest conclusion is that you do not need us for the build, you will have a document worth having anyway.

  1. 01

    Map the current state

    Two to three weeks observing the process as it runs, across every site and team it touches.

  2. 02

    Recommend build, buy or delete

    A per-system recommendation with the reasoning, including the ones where the answer is to change nothing.

  3. 03

    Agree the sequence

    A phased plan with phase one scoped and priced, and an explicit list of what it does not touch.

  4. 04

    Deliver and cut over

    One site or one team live first, measured against the old process, with a runbook your team can repeat.

What changes

The map first, then the decision.

A purchase approval that crossed four inboxes and two systems before anything was ordered. Nobody described it that way. It only looked like that once we watched it.

  • A process crossing four teams where nobody owns the whole of it
  • A legacy system that is expensive to keep and frightening to replace
  • A platform bought to fix this, and the workarounds that came back
  • A decision you cannot justify a budget for until someone has mapped it

What you get before you commit

Phase one is priced so phase two stays a choice.

Transformation goes wrong when it is bought whole. The plan scopes and fixes the first phase only, and its job is to make the larger decision cheaper rather than to commit you to it.

  • A build, buy or delete recommendation for each system, with the reasoning
  • Phase one scoped and fixed; later phases priced separately, if at all
  • The process documentation is yours and outlives the engagement
  • One site cut over and measured before the others are asked to follow

Engagement plan

Approvals and procurement, phase one

Manufacturing · 300 staff, four sites

Duration

16 weeks

  • Fixed fee
  • Billed by milestone
  • Phase two priced separately

A plan for a project of this shape, not a client’s. Phase one exists to make phase two a decision rather than a commitment.

  1. 01

    Map the current state

    Weeks 1–3

    Owner: Strategy lead

    15% of fee
  2. 02

    Agree the target and the sequence

    Weeks 4–5

    Owner: Both leads

    10% of fee
  3. 03

    Build the request and approval path

    Weeks 6–11

    Owner: Engineering lead

    35% of fee
  4. 04

    Cut over one site

    Weeks 12–15

    Owner: Both leads

    30% of fee
  5. 05

    Handover

    Week 16

    Owner: Both leads

    10% of fee

Typical shape

What a phase usually looks like.

Short enough that the organisation has not reorganised underneath it, and narrow enough that one team can be proved before the rest are asked to move.

2–3weeks of mapping before anything is scoped or priced

One team first, measured

A single site or team runs in parallel with the old process. The case for the rest is evidence rather than a mandate.

The documentation is yours

Written for the people who run the process, not for a steering committee. It outlives us and does not need a consultant to update.

What we work across

The systems these projects usually touch.

We integrate with what you run rather than replacing it by default. Replacement is a recommendation we have to justify, not a starting assumption.

  • SAP
  • NetSuite
  • Xero
  • Salesforce
  • Dynamics
  • Workday
  • Jira
  • SharePoint
  • Snowflake
  • Power BI
  • Postgres
  • Legacy on-prem

FAQ

Transformation work, in practice

What does digital transformation actually mean here?
Mapping how work happens, deciding which steps should not exist, and then building or buying only what is left. It is deliberately narrower than the usual definition, and it usually produces less software rather than more.
Can we buy just the mapping phase?
Yes, and some clients should. It is priced and delivered as a standalone piece with a fixed fee, and the document is yours whether or not you continue with us.
Will you tell us not to build something?
Regularly. The recommendation for each system is build, buy or delete, and delete is the cheapest good answer. We would rather lose the build than deliver one you did not need.
How do you handle change management?
By cutting over one team first and measuring it, so the case for the rest is evidence rather than a mandate. We run the training and the change management alongside that, scoped per site in the plan rather than left open.
Do we have to replace our ERP?
Usually not, and not in phase one. Most of the pain attributed to an ERP is in the processes wrapped around it, which are far cheaper to change.

Tell us the partthat is costing you.

One call. We tell you what we would build, what we would not, and what it costs, before either of us commits.

Start a projectFractional CTO

Tell us the workflow.

It goes to the people who would do the work, not to a sales inbox.

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