Business Systems Consulting
Systems strategy from the engineer who'd have to build it.
Before the next platform, the next hire, or the next rebuild: a stack audit, an architecture blueprint any team can execute, and a straight answer on what not to build at all.
Strategy you can hand to an engineer.
I've sat on both sides of this table — fifteen-plus years running marketing and operations, twenty-plus writing code. The consulting is what happens when the person mapping the workflows is also the person who'd have to wire them up.
The deliverable
A blueprint, not a deck.
Most systems consulting ends in a presentation that nobody can build from. This ends in an architecture document precise enough to hand to any engineering team — including one that isn't me.
- Which platforms stay, which go, and which record each one owns
- Data flows and integration points, mapped before anyone writes code
- A build order with reasons — what's first, what waits, what never happens
The honest no
Paid to say don't.
The most valuable line in a systems plan is usually the one that removes something. I have no software to sell you and no build quota to hit, so the advice can afford to be against my own interest.
- The platform you're about to buy when a webhook would fix it
- The tool that duplicates one you already pay for
- The automation that saves ten minutes and breaks monthly
Three lanes, one discipline.
Every engagement starts with how the business actually runs and ends with a document someone can build from. The lanes differ in how far past the audit they go.
Stack audit
Your systems mapped as they actually run: every platform, every data flow, every manual step in between — and what each one costs you. The gaps and duplicates surface on paper before they surface in production.
- Every tool inventoried, with what it owns and what it duplicates
- The manual steps documented, priced in hours per week
- A prioritized fix list — connect, automate, consolidate, or cut
Architecture & roadmap
The target system designed from how the business runs, not from a vendor's diagram: what connects where, which record lives in which tool, and the order to build it in. You approve the blueprint before anything is implemented.
- Systems architecture with one source of truth per record
- Technical specifications an engineering team can execute directly
- A staged roadmap — value early, risk late, rollback paths kept open
Build oversight
Strategic review while your team — or any vendor — implements the plan: architecture reviews, spec clarifications, and someone technical in your corner when a contractor says something can't be done.
- Architecture and code reviews against the approved blueprint
- Translation between stakeholders and whoever is building
- Course corrections in writing before they become rework
When the blueprint is approved and you want the same hands to build it, it rolls straight into the build services.
What this looks like in practice
70+ steps refactored down to 22.
A workflow audit on an e-commerce operation I ran: the map showed which steps earned their place and which existed because nobody had drawn the picture. That drawing — for your stack — is the product on this page.
From discovery to an approved blueprint.
- Step 1
Discovery
How the business actually runs — the tools, the workflows, and the spreadsheet everyone pretends isn't load-bearing.
- Step 2
Audit
The current stack on paper: what owns what, what duplicates what, and what each manual step costs.
- Step 3
Blueprint
The target architecture and the build order, with reasons. You approve it before anything gets implemented.
- Step 4
Execute
Your team builds it, a vendor builds it, or I do — the blueprint works the same in all three hands.
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- WordPress VIP
- PostgreSQL
- AWS
- REST & GraphQL APIs
- Zapier / Make
- Custom middleware
How pricing works.
Fixed numbers agreed before the work starts — and an audit scoped so it pays for itself in the first thing it removes.
Audit
Fixed feeThe stack mapped and the fix list prioritized. Useful on its own, and the foundation for everything after — yours to keep either way.
- Full inventory of platforms, flows, and manual steps
- What each gap and duplicate costs you
- A prioritized plan of what to fix first, and why
Blueprint
Fixed priceThe audit plus the target architecture: specifications, data ownership, integration design, and a staged roadmap any engineering team can execute.
- Architecture document with one owner per record
- Technical specs written for whoever builds it
- A build order you approve before implementation
Advisory
MonthlyStanding strategic capacity while the plan gets built — reviews, specs, vendor translation, and a technical voice in the decisions as they come up.
- Architecture and delivery reviews on a cadence
- Async answers when a build question blocks someone
- Cancel or pause between months
What moves the number
Bring the stack to a 30-minute call and you'll leave with a real range — not a proposal you have to chase.
- How many platforms and departments are in scope
- Whether workflows are documented or live in people's heads
- How much of the target system already exists
- Whether oversight continues through the build
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from systems integration?
Systems integration is the build: wiring platforms together and shipping the middleware. Consulting is the thinking before the build — which systems, which flows, which tool owns each record, and in what order. Buy the blueprint here; build it with me or with anyone.
What types of systems do you consult on?
Marketing technology, CRM architecture, e-commerce operations, internal tools, data pipelines, and the integrations between all of them. The focus is the connective tissue between marketing, sales, and operations — the part no single vendor owns.
What do I actually receive?
Documents a team can build from: a stack audit with a prioritized fix list, an architecture blueprint with technical specifications, and a staged roadmap. Strategy you can execute without me in the room — that's the test each deliverable has to pass.
Can you also build what you design?
Yes — that's the difference. The blueprint is written by the engineer who would have to live with it, so it skips the hand-wave that makes most strategy decks unbuildable. If you want the same hands to build it, that's a project or retainer engagement.
Do you work with our existing team or vendors?
Both. I can architect for your internal team to execute, review a vendor's delivery against the blueprint, or sit between stakeholders and engineers translating requirements into specs. The plan is written to survive whoever builds it.
What if the answer is that we don't need anything new?
Then that's the deliverable, in writing: what to consolidate, what to cancel, and what the tools you already pay for can do that nobody switched on. Some of the best audits end with a shorter stack, not a longer one.
Bring the stack. Leave with a read.
30 minutes on how your systems actually run — you'll leave knowing what I'd audit first, what I'd cut, and whether this engagement is even the right one.
Book an intro call