Service
IT Strategy
Multi-year technology roadmaps for regulated financial institutions — current-state assessment, target architecture, vendor and sourcing strategy, business case modelling, and regulatory-driven platform decisions. Led by senior partners with hands-on banking implementation experience, vendor-independent across the cloud and platform stack, with MBAs from London Business School and Columbia.
Technology strategy in banks too often arrives as a deck — strong on framework, weak on engineering reality. Roadmaps written without hands-on platform experience don't survive contact with the systems they're meant to change. We work the other way round: every senior consultant on an engagement has built or operated the systems being discussed. Cloud direction informed by hands-on architecture work across the major hyperscalers and sovereign clouds. Vendor selection informed by platforms we have implemented in production. Business cases that hold up under audit committee scrutiny, written by partners with MBAs and engineering depth in the same team.
What You Get
Multi-year technology roadmap
Definition of the 3–5 year technology direction for a platform, business line, or the institution — current-state assessment, target architecture, capability gaps, sequenced initiatives, and the investment envelopes that go with them. Where the engagement scope justifies it, modelled in TOGAF or ArchiMate so engineering can pick up directly.
Cloud and infrastructure strategy
Cloud direction work — workload placement, data residency and sovereignty, multi-region resilience, and the build-vs-managed-service decisions that shape long-run economics. Vendor-neutral across the major hyperscalers and sovereign-cloud options where data residency or geopolitical exposure shapes the decision. Hands-on architecture experience across the stack.
Vendor and sourcing strategy
Build vs buy vs partner decisions on core systems — core banking, card processing, CRM, fraud, AML. Structured RFI/RFP design, scoring frameworks, reference checks, and integration-complexity analysis. Independent of vendor partner programmes; recommendations are shaped by fit and total cost of ownership, not by partner quota.
Business case and investment modelling
Board-ready commercial framing — ROI quantified across cost reduction (legacy decommissioning, licensing rationalisation), revenue uplift (new digital capabilities), risk reduction (compliance and resilience), and operational efficiency. Includes total cost of ownership analysis and sensitivity modelling on the assumptions the case rests on.
Regulatory-driven strategy
Strategy work shaped by the regulations actually applying — DORA ICT risk management and third-party concentration limits, PSD3 and PSR transition, FCA operational resilience, MiCA for crypto-asset services. Regulatory inputs are core to platform selection and cloud adoption decisions, not a separate workstream bolted on at the end.
IT operating model and team design
Definition of the engineering organisation needed to deliver the strategy — team topology, in-house vs external balance, governance model, and the operational disciplines (platform engineering, SRE, release management) that determine whether strategy translates into reliable software. Suitable for institutions scaling or rebuilding after a transformation programme.
Our Approach
Discovery & current state
Stakeholder interviews, platform inventory, vendor relationships, and technical debt assessment. Aligns scope, decision-makers, and what "success" actually looks like for this engagement.
Target architecture & options
Definition of the target state and realistic options for getting there, with trade-offs framed in commercial and engineering terms — not as a single recommended path.
Roadmap & sequencing
Multi-year roadmap with dependencies, investment envelopes, and the risk profile of each initiative. Quick wins identified separately so funding momentum doesn't depend on the long horizon.
Investment case
Board-ready commercial framing — cost, benefit, risk, and the realistic alternative-to-action baseline. Sensitivity modelling on the assumptions the case rests on.
Handover & follow-through
Roadmap handed to delivery owners with the detail engineering needs to act on it. Optional follow-on governance or delivery support.
Related Expertise
Frequently Asked Questions
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