Technology assessments for boards

We test the group's technology against what the group means to control: its customer, its fulfilment and its margin. The assessment lists what is in place, what each tool costs in licences and people, how well it does its job, and what a change would cost and risk.

It ends in a board paper that recommends keep, fix, replace or retire for each platform.

• A technology inventory with licence cost, support cost and owner for each platform.
• Written selection criteria agreed with the board before any platform is scored.
• A scoring of current and candidate options against those criteria.
• A total-cost view over three years, including migration and training.
• A risk register for lock-in, data portability and key-person dependence.
• A board paper with a recommendation, the alternatives and the decision needed.

• Technology spend sits behind documented decisions.
• Unused licences come to light.
• Candidate platforms are scored against criteria the board signed first.
• A vendor proposal reaches a board decision sooner, measured as time from proposal to decision.
• Later reviews compare migration cost estimated with cost incurred, so estimates improve each time.

Technology decisions are usually made by whoever argues best, often with the supplier in the room. The group then carries licences it does not use, platforms that do not fit its operating model, and a replacement cost nobody priced before signing.

• A vendor has proposed a platform and the only analysis came from the vendor.
• A renewal is due and nobody can say what the tool delivers.
• Different brands run different systems for the same job.
• Growth plans assume systems that have not been tested at that volume.
• The cost of technology across the group has never been added up.

Chairmen and chief executives facing a renewal, a vendor proposal or a growth plan, and finance leaders asked to approve technology spend.

Qasim Abbas has spent more than 16 years inside Gulf family-based and venture-backed groups, where a platform arrives as a cost line before it is a capability. We price each platform by what it costs once the people and rework around it are counted.

We test any platform the group runs or is considering, in private working sessions with you, against criteria the board agrees first. See how fees work.

Is the assessment separate from implementation?

Yes. The assessment is delivered on its own.

Can this cover AI tools?

Yes. We test them like any other tool: what they cost, what data they need, what approvals they require and who is accountable.

What does the board decide from the paper?

Keep, fix, replace or retire for each platform, with the alternatives and the decision needed set out.

If a renewal or a vendor proposal is on the board's agenda, bring it to a private briefing. We say what the assessment covers and how long it takes.