Digital strategy review — before you commit the budget
For boards, CEOs, and programme sponsors about to commit serious budget and wanting one independent read before the decision hardens.
You are about to sign off a sizeable digital budget — often low‑ to mid‑seven figures — and something in the plan feels off. Before the RFP goes out or the vendor contract is signed, I review the strategy, scope, and assumptions and tell you whether the programme, as written, is likely to land.
- Typical scope: review of existing strategy decks, business case, and draft brief; 3–5 stakeholder conversations; written assessment and recommendations.
- Typical duration: 2–4 weeks.
- Output: a short, concrete note: what is sound, what is missing, and what I would change before you commit.
Programme salvage — when delivery is already in motion
For programmes where budget is committed, delivery is moving, and confidence is dropping.
Budget is committed, vendors are engaged, and you are not seeing the progress or outcomes you expected. Scope has drifted, the vendor contract is already signed, or business and IT are explaining the gap to each other rather than closing it.
I come in as an independent, senior owner of the reset: where the brief broke, where communication between business and delivery is misaligned, and what has to change now to avoid burning the next six months.
- Typical scope: on‑site or remote diagnostic; reconstructed timeline of decisions; working sessions with sponsor, CIO, and vendor; concrete reset plan.
- Typical duration: 4–12 weeks, often followed by a lighter oversight phase.
- Output: decision‑grade view of what is recoverable, what is sunk, and a path to get the programme back to delivering.
Owning a specific phase — when one piece must be done properly
For organisations that do not need another general adviser; they need one critical phase properly owned.
Sometimes you do not need another consultant in the steering committee; you need one critical phase to be owned end‑to‑end. I take the pen on that phase and make sure what leaves it is fit for purpose.
Common examples include a diagnostic of an existing programme, vendor selection or re‑selection, a regulatory feasibility review for a new digital product, or a go / no‑go recommendation before pilot or scale‑up.
- Typical duration: 3–8 weeks per phase.
- Output: the artefact that matters for that phase (for example, decision memo, vendor recommendation, feasibility note) plus the conversations that make it stick.
Bridge between business and delivery — translator and stabiliser
For programmes where the sponsor, product, technology, and vendor sides are all working — but not working from the same reality.
When the business sponsor and the delivery team are talking past each other, progress stalls. I sit between them as a senior translator: making sure decisions are made at the right level, trade‑offs are explicit, and what gets built is what you actually need.
- Typical scope: embedded in the programme leadership; attends key ceremonies; consolidates decisions and risks; keeps the brief and reality aligned.
- Typical duration: 3–12 months, often part‑time.
- Output: fewer surprises, cleaner decisions, and less rework.
How I typically run a programme
Not a branded methodology; just the sequence I keep returning to when things need to become clearer.
- 1. Re-anchor on intent. What is this programme actually for, and what business consequence justifies doing it now?
- 2. Rebuild the decision trail. Which assumptions, shortcuts, and political compromises got us here?
- 3. Expose the real constraints. Regulatory, technical, commercial, organisational — preferably before they show up as delay.
- 4. Move phase by phase. Clear scope, named owner, explicit output, and a decision at the end of each phase.
The Philippines corridor
If your digital programme involves entering the Philippine market, I can help with the regulatory and practical groundwork — see the Philippines page for more.