IT strategy consulting before you commit budget to a platform, a migration or a custom build. Codnity reviews your systems and architecture, compares the options and writes down the trade-offs, risks and next steps.
Compare the realistic options on cost, integration effort and delivery risk. You get a recommendation that states its assumptions and trade-offs.
An ERP, CRM or commerce platform is up for renewal or replacement, and the shortlist came from vendor demos.
What we look at first: the processes the platform must support and the systems it has to connect to.
Vendor and platform selectionGo-live has moved more than once, and nobody can say what done looks like.
What we look at first: the scope against the original goal, the open dependencies and how the team works.
Architecture reviewAfter an acquisition, a change of supplier or a departure, the people who built it are gone.
What we look at first: what it does for the business, who depends on it and who can maintain it.
Modernisation planningData is copied between systems by hand, and one change breaks three other tools.
What we look at first: which system owns each record, how data moves today and where failures go unnoticed. For online stores, see ecommerce integrations.
Architecture reviewSmall changes take weeks, releases feel risky and estimates keep growing.
What we look at first: where change is slow and why, and which parts the business still needs.
Modernisation planningOne side wants custom software, the other a SaaS product, and both have a case.
What we look at first: how standard the need is, the cost of ownership and how you would leave.
Build vs buyFive kinds of work, each with the document it produces. Most engagements start with an architecture review. It maps the systems and data flows the change touches, and marks what is sound and what creates risk.
Map the systems you run and how data moves between them. Then rank the findings by business impact, with evidence for each.
Turn the findings into phased work. Each item gets an owner, a budget assumption and the gate that starts it.
Score building, buying and extending against criteria your team agrees first. Cost of ownership and the cost of leaving are always on the list. For a new AI-native product, see AI software development.
Rank your requirements and script the demos around your own scenarios. Then check references and compare the total cost.
Plan the move off an ageing system in stages, with a parallel run and a rollback point at each step.
Illustrative sample data.
Extend a system you already have, buy a product or build custom software. We compare the options against your real requirements before anyone picks a technology.
| Requirement | Extend the CRMExtend | Buy a portal productBuy | Connect existing toolsConnect | Custom portal on the ERP APICustom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contract prices for each trade customer | Partly | Partly | Does not meet | Meets |
| Quotes approved by the sales team | Meets | Meets | Does not meet | Meets |
| Orders reach the ERP without re-keying | Partly | Meets | Meets | Meets |
| Stock shown for each branch | Does not meet | Partly | Meets | Meets |
| Runs without a dedicated developer | Meets | Meets | Partly | Does not meet |
| Requirements met | 2 of 5 | 3 of 5 | 2 of 5 | 4 of 5 |
Order the changes into phases, each with its budget and risks. Leadership and the team that builds it work from the same document.
What works, what doesn't and the evidence for each finding.
The realistic options side by side, with their cost, risk and what each one rules out.
The risks that could change the recommendation, each with a mitigation and an owner.
Initiatives in phases, with dependencies and the gate that starts each phase.
Order-of-magnitude costs and the people you need, with the basis for each estimate.
The decisions needed now, who makes them and what happens once they are made.
Norvalt Group · IT strategy and roadmapDraft v1.2
Findings
Finance and the warehouse systems work well. Order entry, product data and admin access are where time and risk build up.
| Area | Finding | Impact | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order to cash | Trade orders from the web shop are typed into the ERP again each morning, by two people. | High | Interviews, two weeks of order logs |
| Platforms | The legacy order system depends on one external developer and has no automated tests. | High | Code review, supplier contract |
| Access | Four admin accounts have no multi-factor authentication. | High | Identity export |
| Data | No one owns product and price data. Three teams edit it in different places. | Medium | Workshop, field audit |
| Integration | The nightly stock file to the web shop fails without an alert, about once a week. | Medium | Job logs, last eight weeks |
Security appears here only as far as the architecture shows it. A separate security assessment is recommended.
Prepared by Codnity for Norvalt Group4
Norvalt Group · IT strategy and roadmapDraft v1.2
Options for order entry
Three realistic options. All of them end the double entry. They differ in cost, risk and what Norvalt gives up.
| Criterion | Keep and extend the legacy system | Move order entry into the ERPRecommended | Buy an order management product |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | An import from the web shop into the current system | The ERP's sales module, with pricing rules rebuilt there | A separate product between the web shop and the ERP |
| One-off cost | Low | Medium | Medium |
| Yearly cost | Medium, developer retainer | Low, existing licence | High, new licence |
| Main risk | One developer, no tests | Pricing rules must fit the ERP | One more system to integrate |
| What you give up | Nothing now. The risk stays. | Some custom pricing screens | A single place for orders |
Why the ERP: it ends the double entry and the single-developer risk, and uses a licence Norvalt already pays for.
Prepared by Codnity for Norvalt Group9
Norvalt Group · IT strategy and roadmapDraft v1.2
Risks and mitigations
The four risks that could change the recommendation, with an owner for each.
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing rules don't fit the ERP's price model | Medium | High | Prototype the 20 most-used rules before committing | Sales operations |
| Key users are unavailable during the parallel run | High | Medium | Backfill two roles for the parallel run | COO |
| The legacy developer leaves before handover | Medium | High | Record the order flows and data model now | IT lead |
| CRM adoption stays low | Medium | Medium | Configure it around each sales team's real process | Head of sales |
Prepared by Codnity for Norvalt Group12
Norvalt Group · IT strategy and roadmapDraft v1.2
Phased roadmap
Three phases. Each one starts when the gate before it is passed.
| Phase | Goal | Main initiatives | Gate to the next phase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Now | Stabilise and decide | Freeze the legacy order system, choose a CRM, name data owners, MFA on admin accounts | CRM contract signed, data owners named |
| Next | Replace order entry | Order entry in the ERP, CRM rollout, integration layer, single sign-on | Order entry live in the ERP at all branches |
| Later | Retire and extend | Retire the legacy system, trade customer portal, reporting in Power BI | Legacy system switched off, history archived |
The full roadmap by workstream, with dependencies, is on page 14.
Prepared by Codnity for Norvalt Group13
Norvalt Group · IT strategy and roadmapDraft v1.2
Budget and resource assumptions
Order-of-magnitude sizes, with the basis and confidence of each estimate. Ranges are in appendix B.
| Item | Basis | One-off | Yearly | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRM licences, 24 users | Vendor list prices | S | M | High |
| Order entry in the ERP | Estimate from a pricing prototype | L | S | Medium |
| Integration layer, three systems | Estimate from the architecture map | M | S | Medium |
| Data clean-up and migration | Sample of 2,000 records | M | None | Low |
| Two backfilled roles for the parallel run | Internal cost | M | None | High |
People: Norvalt provides an operations lead two days a week and key users for testing.
Prepared by Codnity for Norvalt Group18
Norvalt Group · IT strategy and roadmapDraft v1.2
Decisions and next steps
Four decisions for the steering group. The Now phase can start as soon as they are made.
| Decision | Owner | Needed by |
|---|---|---|
| Approve moving order entry into the ERP | CFO | Next steering group |
| Start CRM selection with three vendors | Head of sales | Next steering group |
| Fund MFA for all admin accounts | IT lead | This month |
| Name owners for product and price data | COO | Before the Next phase |
Delivery: Norvalt's own team, another supplier or Codnity can deliver the roadmap. It is written to work with any of them.
Prepared by Codnity for Norvalt Group21
Illustrative sample deliverable.
Five steps, in order, so you always know what has been decided and what is still open. The scope sets how deep each step goes.
Agree the decision to be made, the budget range and who decides.
You get: a decision brief
Talk to your team, read the documents and look inside the systems.
You get: an architecture map and findings
Compare the realistic options, including doing less, with their cost, risk and what each one rules out.
You get: options and trade-offs
Recommend one option and state its assumptions and risks. Then walk the decision-makers through it.
You get: a recommendation and a decision record
Put the work into phases, with the budget and the decision point for each.
You get: a phased roadmap
Codnity also builds software and integrations, so we can deliver what we recommend. The review stays separate from any delivery offer. If we deliver, we write down exactly what is included.
You receive the report and the roadmap, and deliver them with your own team or another supplier.
We build some or all of what the roadmap recommends, such as custom software, ecommerce integrations or AI automation.
We review a plan, a vendor proposal or a project already under way, and tell you what we would change.
If we have a commercial relationship with a vendor on your shortlist, we tell you before the evaluation starts.
IT strategy is not a security audit. Where security risks come up, we note them and recommend a cybersecurity assessment.
EcoBaltia · waste management
After two previous vendors couldn't deliver, EcoBaltia brought Codnity in to build a CRM. It connects their sales, support and logistics teams in one system.
This case is a custom software build, separate from any IT strategy engagement. It shows that the team that writes the roadmap can build what it recommends.
Diagram based on the published case study.
Short answers to what buyers ask before an IT strategy engagement. Ask Cody for anything else.
IT strategy consulting helps you decide what to do with your systems before you commit budget. A consultant reviews your current architecture, compares the realistic options and writes a phased roadmap with the costs, risks and next steps. Codnity does this for platform choices, migrations and custom builds.
Get an IT architecture review before a big platform choice or migration, or when a project keeps slipping. It also pays off when you inherit a system nobody fully understands, or when integrations and technical debt slow every change.
An IT architecture review should deliver a map of your systems and data flows, and findings ranked by business impact with the evidence behind each one. Each finding says what is sound, what creates risk and what needs a closer look. The review also states what was out of scope.
Choose an ERP, CRM or other vendor on evidence from your own scenarios. Rank your requirements, script each demo around real cases and check references. Then compare the total cost over several years, including implementation and the cost of leaving.
Replace an ageing system in stages, with a rollback point at each one. Put an API in front of it first, move new work to the new system and run both in parallel with a daily reconciliation. Switch the old system off only after a clean parallel run.
Buy software when the need is standard and a product covers most of it, and build when the process sets you apart and no product fits without heavy changes. Often the answer is a mix: buy the standard parts and build a thin layer on top. Extending a system you already have is a third option worth scoring.
No, buying a product and extending what you already have are always scored next to building, against criteria your team agrees first. If we have a commercial relationship with a vendor on your shortlist, we tell you before the evaluation starts.
From an IT strategy engagement you receive a written report with the findings, the options and trade-offs, the risks, a phased roadmap, budget assumptions and the next decisions. We agree the deliverables and how deep the technical review goes before we start.
The length of an IT strategy engagement depends on how many systems are in scope and how quickly we get access. A review of one decision is much smaller than a roadmap for the whole business. We agree the scope and a schedule before we start.
Most of your team's time goes into the first step: interviews with the people who run each system, plus documents and read-only access. After that, your team reviews the findings and options in short sessions, and the decision-makers attend the recommendation meeting.
The cost of IT strategy consulting depends on the scope: one decision, a full architecture review or a roadmap for the whole business. After a first call we agree the scope and give you a fixed price before any work starts.
Yes, Codnity reviews late or over-budget software projects as a second opinion. We look at the scope, the code and the remaining plan, then recommend whether to continue, change course or stop. If we have any relationship with the current supplier, we tell you before we start.
Yes, Codnity can build what the roadmap recommends, such as custom software, integrations or AI automation. The review stays separate from any delivery offer, and the roadmap is written so your own team or another supplier can deliver it too.
No, IT strategy consulting covers your systems, data flows and the decisions about them. Security risks that come up are noted in the findings, and for a full review we recommend a separate cybersecurity assessment.
Tell us what you need to decide, what is driving it and who is involved. We'll suggest the right scope, from a focused review to a full roadmap.
The roadmap is the plan. Check it is safe, then build what it says.
What we learn building AI systems, reports, secure software and stores, written down.
All insightsCody
