Home / Managed services

Managed services

A defined piece of work, a fixed price, and a date.

Buying an outcome rather than a number of days. We scope the work, bring in the right people from the network, and deliver against a written statement of work. You know what you are getting, and what it costs, before anything starts.

Talk through a piece of work What we are asked for

Why this model

The work did not go away when the headcount did.

Organisations have spent two years taking cost out. The programmes still need running, the operating models still need designing, and the people who used to do it are no longer on the payroll. Some of that gap closes with better tooling. The rest of it needs experienced people, engaged for the piece of work that needs them rather than carried for the eleven months they are not.

01
The work outlasted the restructure. Nothing on the roadmap was cancelled because a team was reduced. It just has fewer people to land it.
02
AI covers part of it, not all of it. It is genuinely good at the analysis, the drafting and the donkey work. It does not sit in front of a steering group and own the answer.
03
Capability you can switch on. A scoped engagement gives you senior delivery experience for the weeks it is needed, with no permanent headcount decision attached to it.

Fixed scope engagements

The five we are asked for most

Each one is a defined deliverable for a fixed fee. The durations below are the usual shape rather than a rule, and every engagement is scoped and quoted on its own.

Transformation readiness assessment

Typically 4 weeks

An honest view of whether the organisation can absorb what is being proposed, before the budget is committed. What will get in the way, what has to be true first, and whether the timeline is real.

Change impact assessment

Typically 2 to 3 weeks

Who is affected, by how much, and what it takes to bring them with you. The work that stops a technically successful rollout failing on the morning people have to use it.

Operating model design

Typically 6 to 8 weeks

How the work actually gets done once the change has landed. Roles, decision rights, handoffs and the operational detail a target operating model diagram tends to leave out.

Programme assurance review

Typically 1 to 2 weeks

An independent read on a programme that is either in trouble or heading there. What the status report is not telling you, said plainly, with the options that are still open.

Stakeholder engagement strategy

Typically 2 to 3 weeks

Who needs bringing along, in what order, and with what message. Built around the politics that actually exist rather than a generic communications plan.

Something that is not on this list

Scoped from the conversation

These are the five we are asked for most, not the only five we do. If the problem is clear enough to describe, it is usually clear enough to scope.

How it is priced

A fixed fee against a written scope, not an open meter.

You get a statement of work setting out what is included, what the deliverables are, and how a change of scope is handled. The fee is agreed before the work starts. If it takes us less time than expected, that is our gain rather than your invoice going down, and if it takes longer, that is our risk rather than yours.

Budget certaintyA number you can take to whoever approves it, before anything begins.

One accountable nameA single point of contact who owns the outcome, not a rotating bench.

Scope in writingWhat is in, what is out, and what happens when something changes.

No procurement theatreNo qualification call with someone who will not be doing the work.

Ongoing support

The things that need doing every week

Not every need is a project. These run on a monthly arrangement, sized to what you actually use, and are how most smaller businesses start with us.

Business support

The inbox, the diary, the invoices and the follow ups, handed to someone who does it properly. Hours sized to the month rather than a permanent hire.

Virtual assistant

Hosting and website care

Hosting is the easy part. Someone noticing when it breaks, keeping it patched and answering when you ask is the service you are actually buying.

Website hosting

Bookings and payments

Letting people book you and pay you without you being in the middle of it. Set up, configured to how you work, and looked after afterwards.

Bookings and scheduling

Branding on a budget

Not every business needs a brand agency. For most, something clean and consistent that you own outright is enough to get started properly.

DIY branding

For associates

Where the work comes from.

Managed services are the reason the network sees varied work rather than one long placement and then a gap. A readiness assessment is four weeks. An assurance review is one. They fit around longer engagements, they pay for defined output rather than attendance, and they are the kind of work experienced people generally want more of.

The associate network

Scoped, not open endedYou know the shape of the commitment before you accept it.

Paid for the outcomeDefined deliverables rather than being measured on days present.

Fits around other workShort engagements sit alongside a longer placement rather than replacing it.

Commercials handledScope, contracting and chasing the invoice are ours, not yours.

Start here

Describe the problem. We will tell you if it is a piece of work.

Half an hour, with the person who would scope it. If it is smaller than you think, or if you do not need us at all, we will say so.

Talk through a piece of work Join the network