CONSULTING AND DISCOVERY
Know what to build before you pay to build it.
Technology consulting that starts with a preliminary analysis (what the industry calls discovery): a short phase, with its amount agreed in writing before it starts, that turns an idea or a problem into a defined scope, a plan and an estimate that hold up.
Why hardly any project fails at the building stage
Almost every project that goes wrong was badly decided from the start. The building was the easy part.
- The solution is chosen before the problem is pinned down
- The brief arrives with the answer already filled in (an app, a portal, a CRM) and nobody has yet checked that it is the answer.
- Nobody has written down what is in scope and what is out of scope
- Without that list, every meeting decides the scope: it grows by accumulation and without anyone approving it.
- The quote comes before the analysis
- A quote on an open-ended scope isn’t an estimate, it’s a bet. And somebody pays for it.
What it costs to leave it
The wrong solution gets built, on budget. You find out late, when money has already been spent and people are waiting, and by then only two ways out remain: rebuild it or live with it.
What gets decided
A document that lets you decide: go ahead, change the approach or don’t do it. It is yours, and it is just as useful whether we build afterwards or someone else does.
- The problem and the objective written the way the business understands them, not the way a technician does.
- A prioritised scope: what is in, what is out and in what order.
- A technical approach with its risks and dependencies, each one named.
- A phased plan and an estimate built on that scope.
- The criteria by which you will know, in the end, whether it went well.
What a technology consultancy covers
Proportionate to the project: not every preliminary analysis looks at all six things with the same depth.
- Business context and the real objective
- What has to change in the company for the project to have been worth it. If that can’t be said in one sentence, it isn’t there yet.
- The people involved
- Who will use it every day, who decides and who can block it. They are almost never the same person.
- Current situation
- Which systems exist, what is done by hand, what information already exists and what state it is really in.
- Requirements, risks and dependencies
- What has to be met, what can go wrong and what none of the people in the room control.
- Scope, technical approach and phased plan
- What is built, what it is built on and in what order, with what is left out stated just as clearly.
- Estimate and success criteria
- An estimate that rests on the scope above, and a concrete way of checking the result.
How we work
It is the first phase of our method, and here it ends in a decision instead of in a system.
- Initial conversationYou tell us the problem and how it is solved today. No formal brief and no quote: those come later, and they come from this.
- Working sessionsWith the person who decides and with the people who live with it every day. Both versions are needed because they almost never match.
- AnalysisWe look at the systems, the data and the real constraints, which are not always the stated ones.
- Delivery and closeWe deliver the document and walk through it with you, so you decide with it in front of you, not a week later.
How it is built inside
A preliminary analysis is not a long meeting. When something already exists (a system, a database, an integration) we look inside it, because an estimate built on what is said in a meeting room and not on what is on the machine falls apart in the first week.
- We review what already exists: systems, integrations and real data, where we have access to them.
- Risks are written down with a name and a consequence. “It depends” isn’t a risk; it’s a way of not naming one.
- The document is yours. You can use it to ask for other quotes, not only ours.
Before you write to us.
What is technology consulting and what does it include?
It is the work that comes before building or changing a system: turning a business problem into a decision with a scope, risks and an estimate. You receive a document with the problem and the objective written as the business understands them, a prioritised scope, a technical approach with its risks, a phased plan with an estimate and the criteria for knowing whether it went well. The document is yours and is just as useful whether we build it or someone else does.
What do I need to bring to the first conversation?
Nothing formal: no brief and no budget. It is enough to describe the problem in your own words, how it is handled today, who uses it and what worries you about changing it. With that we can see whether the approach is viable and whether a preliminary analysis makes sense; details are asked for later, as needed. The first conversation is free.
When do I need a technology partner, and when is a one-off supplier enough?
If what you need is well-defined, comes to an end and you won’t touch it for years, a one-off supplier will do and costs less. If what you build is going to carry day-to-day work, grow with the business and call for new decisions every few months, then it matters that someone knows the system inside out and stays around. We work either way; what changes is the commitment, not the quality.
Do you offer technology consulting to businesses in Lanzarote and the Canary Islands?
Yes. The studio is based in Lanzarote and knows the islands’ business landscape; elsewhere it works remotely with the same method. The first conversation commits you to nothing and, if the case calls for it, we continue with a preliminary analysis whose scope, deliverable and price are agreed in writing.
What kind of company does it make sense to start here?
SMEs and companies without an in-house technology team that have a clear problem but do not know what to build. For example: processes on paper or in spreadsheets, programs that do not talk to each other, a website nobody can touch. The founder’s projects, some of them already under BAZROX, have been for IT companies, advisory firms, restaurants, the automotive sector, ports, retail, real estate, events, tourism and public bodies, among others. Starting with an analysis avoids buying the solution before understanding the problem.
Is the preliminary analysis paid for separately?
It can be commissioned as a piece of work in its own right, with its own scope, deliverable and price, or form part of a larger project. We say which of the two it is before starting, and what you receive in each case. What it doesn’t do is commit you to anything: if at the end you decide not to build, or to build with another team, the document is still yours. The first conversation, by contrast, is free; the preliminary analysis is not.
Can you give me a price without going through this?
When the work is simple and standard, yes. In other cases, a price without a defined scope isn’t information: it is a risk someone absorbs midway through the project, and it is usually you who absorbs it. That is why we define first and estimate afterwards, although in the first conversation we can already tell you whether the approach is viable.
How long does it take?
It depends on how many systems and how many people have to be looked at, which is why it is bounded before we start. We agree what will be analysed, what will be delivered and by what date. It is a short phase by design. Its job is to unblock a decision, not to produce a long report nobody will read in full.
What if the conclusion is that the project shouldn’t be done?
That is a valid result, and it is precisely why you pay for the analysis and not for the build. A preliminary analysis that concludes the problem is solved by changing a process, adjusting a tool you already have or waiting six months has saved you the entire project. We recommend and you decide, and the analysis doesn’t depend on you ending up building.
This is the preliminary analysis: scope, deliverable and fee agreed in writing before we begin. We usually reply in under 24 working hours.
If you already know that your main problem is repetitive work: automation and AI.
If you want to know what the price depends on: how much custom software costs and what drives it.
If you don’t yet know what kind of supplier you need: web agency or digital product studio.