ServicesTechnical Consulting

Advice first. Then the build — if you want it.

You know the problem. We help you decide what to build.

An old system nobody dares to touch. Two systems that should talk and do not. A process that lives in Excel. Before anyone writes code, we look at it with you, write down what we recommend, and hand you a document you own. Whether we build it afterwards is your decision.

Isometric illustration of a system blueprint under a magnifying lens, next to a prototype and a written report

Most software projects go wrong before the first line of code.

A development shop asks you for a specification you cannot write yet. A large consultancy hands you slides and leaves. Either way, the hard questions — what to build, what to keep, what it will cost, in which order — are answered by whoever is loudest in the room, not by anyone who has to live with the result.

We have sat on both sides. Our CTO built the IT of two universities from the inside and wrote the requirements for an SAP rollout as the client. Our CEO spent a decade in regulated manufacturing before founding exbisoft. We advise the way we would want to be advised.

Four fixed-scope packages.

Each one has a fixed duration, a written deliverable, and a clear next step. You own everything we produce and may take it to any supplier, including into a tender. If you build with us afterwards, the fee is credited as stated.

Second Opinion

You have a proposal, an estimate, an architecture or a codebase from someone else and want an independent view before you sign or continue.

Duration
5 working days
Fixed price
Fixed price, quoted after the first conversation.

You receive

  • Written assessment, 10–15 pages: risks, gaps, what we would change, a clear recommendation
  • 90-minute readout with our CTO

Leads to: A Requirements Workshop, a Discovery Workshop, a Modernisation Assessment — or nothing. That is fine.

Requirements Workshop

One well-defined initiative — a portal, an integration, a single process — and no written requirements yet.

Duration
2 weeks, including one workshop day
Fixed price
Fixed price, quoted after the first conversation.

You receive

  • Process map of the initiative
  • Requirements catalogue, functional and non-functional
  • Integration list
  • Rough budget corridor (±40 %) and a recommended next step
  • 2-hour readout

Leads to: A fixed-price proposal for the initiative, or an upgrade to the Discovery Workshop with the full fee credited.

If you build with us: Full fee credited against a development contract signed within 3 months

Discovery Workshop

A whole system or product. You know the problem, not the solution: no specification, no budget number, no idea whether it is a week or a year.

Duration
3 weeks, including one workshop day
Fixed price
Fixed price, quoted after the first conversation.

You receive

  • Everything in the Requirements Workshop, plus:
  • Clickable prototype (Balsamiq or Figma) you can show internally
  • Architecture sketch
  • Phased roadmap and budget corridor (±25 %)
  • Requirements specification usable in a tender
  • Half-day readout

Leads to: A concrete proposal. The Discovery Workshop is the first phase of our full-lifecycle process, priced and packaged on its own.

If you build with us: Full fee credited against a development contract signed within 3 months

Modernisation Assessment

You run a system nobody dares to touch and need to know: keep, wrap or replace — and in which order.

Duration
4 weeks
Fixed price
Fixed price, quoted after the first conversation.

You receive

  • Component-level keep / wrap / replace map
  • Risk register
  • Quick wins for the next 90 days
  • Phased roadmap with budget corridors and a target architecture
  • Half-day readout

Leads to: An app modernisation engagement, or a tender with our report as the specification.

If you build with us: 50 % of the fee credited against a development contract signed within 3 months

What applies to every package.

  • Fixed price, fixed duration, written deliverable listed up front. 50 % at start, 50 % at delivery.
  • Everything we produce belongs to you and is vendor-neutral. Take it to any supplier, including into a public tender.
  • Recommendations are recommendations, not guarantees of outcome. Liability is capped at the package fee.
  • NDA before the first document changes hands. Your material stays on our onshore infrastructure in the EU.
  • Not included: implementation, licence advice for third-party products, legal or tax advice.

On request, not packaged: tender support (we write the specification and evaluate vendors, and then do not bid) and an outside-architect retainer for companies that want a standing technical counterpart.

What a first conversation looks like.

Sixty minutes, free, on video. Its only purpose is to say which package fits — or that none does. The second meeting is paid.

  • You describe the situation in your words; we ask questions, we do not pitch
  • We tell you which package fits, what it would produce, and what it would cost
  • If it is a Second Opinion, we can usually start within a week
  • If none of the packages fits, we say so and, where we can, point you somewhere better

Why exbisoft for advice.

Advice from people who build.

Every recommendation we write, we would be willing to implement ourselves. That keeps the advice honest: no architecture we could not deliver, no estimate we would not sign.

We have been the client.

Our CTO specified and lived with university systems for over a decade, including writing the requirements for an SAP rollout delivered by someone else. We know what a good specification has to do for you after we leave.

You see it before you pay for it.

A Discovery Workshop ends with a clickable prototype, not a slide deck. Your management can click through what you are about to commission.

The report is yours.

Vendor-neutral, tender-ready, owned by you. Most clients stay with us for the build. None of them has to.

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Not sure what to build yet?

Tell us the problem in a sentence. We will tell you in an hour which package fits — and whether you need one at all.

Book a first conversation