Technology vendor assessment for financial services.
From the build / buy / outsource decision to ongoing vendor monitoring.
Before the shortlist, there's a prior question.
Most vendor selection processes start too late, after the decision to buy has already been made implicitly. We start earlier: with a structured analysis of whether buying is the right answer at all.
Path
Build
Appropriate when the capability is core differentiation, talent exists in-house, and time horizons exceed three years. Rarely the right answer for commoditised infrastructure.
Path
Buy
The default for most regulated capabilities. Right when the technology market is mature, integration is well-understood, and the cost of ownership compares favourably to internal development.
Path
Outsource
Appropriate when scale efficiencies and regulatory burden outweigh the loss of control. Increasingly relevant for back-office functions and managed cloud operations.
Market scan
We map every credible vendor in your category, including emerging entrants the analyst houses haven't yet covered. We strip out the names that don't fit your scale, regulatory profile or architectural starting point.
You know exactly who is in the market, who is financially stable, and who has actually delivered for institutions like yours.
Shortlisting
We translate your real requirements, not the wishlist, into an evaluation framework and run vendors through it with documented evidence. References are taken from peer institutions, not vendor-selected accounts.
You have a defensible, documented shortlist, not a list of vendors who responded fastest to an email.
RFP & evaluation
We design the RFP to surface architectural and commercial truth, score responses against the agreed framework, and lead the structured demo and proof-of-concept process.
You make a vendor selection you can explain to your board, your regulator, and yourself in three years' time.
Vendor health monitoring
Post-selection, we track vendor financial position, client churn, executive movement, regulatory action and product investment on a quarterly cadence.
You stop finding out about vendor problems when it's too late to do anything about them.
Tech strategy & architecture
Short-form, fixed-scope architecture reviews and technology roadmap engagements for institutions reconsidering the shape of their estate.
Discuss a brief →Fixed scope. Defined deliverables.
- Engagements are scoped against a written statement of work.
- Every project has a named deliverable and a fixed fee.
- We open with a 30-minute call. No pitch.
- No open-ended retainers. No charge-by-the-hour creep.
Ready to start?
Most engagements begin with a thirty minute call. No pitch, no proposal, until we've established a genuine fit.