What you run,
and what to do with it.
A bounded review of the application estate. What the business does, what it runs to do it, what each of those things is worth, and what to keep, fix, replace or switch off — with the moves in an order that survives the renewal calendar.
It is one engagement, not a menu. The capability model, the landscape, the assessment and the sequence are parts of the same piece of work, because none of them is worth much without the others.
Most estates are not managed. They are accumulated.
Nothing here is a technology failure. Each one is a decision that was never framed, until a date or an invoice forced it.
“Nobody can produce the list.”
Finance has one, the identity provider has another, and an analyst built a third two years ago. They disagree, and the systems that matter most are on none of them.
“Both divisions bought the same thing.”
Two order systems, two CRMs, two ways of quoting. Each has an owner who is certain theirs is the one that works, and nobody has compared them on anything.
“This renews in six weeks.”
An invoice arrives for something with no named owner, and the choice is to sign for another year or find out what depends on it in the time left.
“We rationalized two years ago.”
The output was a spreadsheet with a RAG column. Nothing was switched off, because no verdict had an owner and no move had a date.
“Everything is critical.”
Every system is essential to the person who owns it. Without a common frame, the review becomes a negotiation and the loudest sponsor wins.
“We cannot switch it off.”
Barely any users, no support, and three other systems quietly reading from it every night. It is the cheapest line on the list and the hardest thing in the estate.
Eighty-four applications, four decisions.
An invented mid-market estate carried end to end: the capability model, the applications mapped onto it, where the money actually goes, a verdict on each system with what it commits you to, and the six moves that can realistically happen — in the order the renewals and the retirements allow.
See the worked example ↗Advisory. A bounded review, bought as one piece, ending in a verdict on every application and a sequence you can fund.
A CEO, CFO or technology leader who has to decide what to keep, fix, replace and switch off — and make the decision hold.
An acquisition has doubled the estate, a renewal has forced a question nobody can answer, or last year’s rationalization produced a spreadsheet and nothing else.
Three parts, in this order, because each one depends on the one before it. They are described separately so you can see what the work involves — they are not sold separately.
Capability Modelling
What the business does, stated once and independently of the org chart — the frame everything else in the review hangs off.
Two systems are both described as essential by their owners, and no one can say whether they do the same job.
What this involves ↗Part 2Application Landscape Mapping
Every application you run, with its owner, cost and connections, mapped onto the capability model until the duplication and the gaps are visible.
A renewal lands for something nobody can name an owner for, or an acquisition has doubled an estate that was already unclear.
What this involves ↗Part 3Assessment & Disposition
A verdict on every application, what that verdict commits you to, and the order the moves have to happen in.
The rationalization exercise from two years ago produced a spreadsheet, and nothing was ever switched off.
What this involves ↗Start with a 45-minute briefing.
Bring the renewal you cannot answer, the list nobody trusts, or the two systems that do the same job. We will tell you honestly where to start.