For organisations

Working alongside your partner

Your consultancy or systems integrator brings the programme. I bring senior, hands-on depth in the systems your AI has to work with. Same team, same goal.

Talk it through →Questions to ask any partner

Teamwork, not competition

Where I fit with a consultancy or systems integrator

Good partners bring things one person can't: scale, change management, a programme office. What a programme often lacks is someone senior who knows your systems in detail and builds as well as designs. That's the gap I fill.

They bring

I bring

The strategy and operating modelWhere AI creates value, and how the organisation will change around it.
Depth in your core systemsThe ERP, warehouse, EDI and CRM detail the AI has to plug into, from day one.
Delivery at scaleSquads, testers, change managers and a programme office.
A senior pair of handsDesign and build the hardest integration and AI pieces alongside those squads.
Platform partnershipsAccelerators, specialists and relationships with the cloud and software providers.
Neutral judgementNo platform alliance and no product to sell, so my advice on AWS, Azure or a vendor tool stays neutral.
Programme governancePlans, gates and reporting to your board.
Decisions that outlast us bothDesign choices written down, so your own team owns them after the programme ends.

Lead or support. Whichever your team needs.

Option A

Lead the architecture

When it fits
There's no architect yet, or the AI work is bigger than the current team can design.
What I do
Own the target architecture and the design decisions, set the standards, guide the engineers, and report to your programme board.
What success looks like
A design the team can build and run, with every decision recorded and nothing hidden.

“I'll take responsibility for the design, and make sure it works on your systems.”

Option B

Support your architect

When it fits
You already have an architect, internal or from a partner, who owns the design.
What I do
Work under their lead: take on the AI, integration or cloud parts, review designs, de-risk the hard pieces, and add senior hands-on capacity.
What success looks like
Your architect has more time, fewer unknowns, and a second senior opinion they trust. I don't quietly take over.

“Your architect stays in charge. I make their job easier and their design stronger.”

Six roles, one person

Where I fit on your team

I fill a named gap in the RACI, not a parallel workstream.

Solutions architect / design authority

Owns the target architecture across AI, data, middleware and your systems of record, and signs off design decisions.

Technical project manager

Turns the programme plan into engineering work, runs technical risks and phase gates, and translates between the board and the engineers.

Integration and cloud engineer

Builds the hard, hands-on pieces: APIs, events, pipelines and infrastructure as code, on AWS, Azure or your own stack.

AI/ML engineer

Retrieval, agents, document AI and predictive models, tested and monitored on your own data.

Security and compliance lead

Threat modelling, DPIA support, AI-specific threats, UK GDPR and PCI DSS, from the first gate.

Independent technical assurance

A second pair of eyes on a partner's or vendor's design before you commit to it.

For existing clients

The board wants AI. You already have someone who knows your systems.

Already working with me? I know your systems, your data and your people. Adding AI to them is a continuation, not a new start. Here's how I'd approach it, and where I'd tell you to bring in extra people.

  • Start with one process where the data is already clean and the owner is keen.
  • Reuse the integrations we've already built, rather than adding new ones.
  • Say plainly where you need more people, or a specialist I'm not, and help you find them.
  • If a partner joins later, I hand over the design and work inside their team.

For consultancies and systems integrators

You've won the programme. You need senior capacity, safely.

When your bench is short of someone who can architect and build on the client's AWS or Azure estate and their legacy systems, I can step in under your lead and make the team look good in front of the client.

Talk about a programme →
  • I work under your programme, your governance and your client relationship. Your client sees one team.
  • I can lead the architecture or support your architect, and I'll be clear on day one about which.
  • Hands-on on AWS, Azure or an on-prem stack, and on the legacy ERP, WMS, EDI and CRM systems the AI has to reach.
  • I can start quickly, and I write things down so your team keeps the knowledge when I leave.
  • I don't sell products or compete for your client's work.

Due diligence

Questions worth asking any partner

Including me. Good partners welcome every one of these.

Copy them into your next partner meeting

  1. Who, by name, will design the integration with our core systems?
  2. How much of the hands-on design and build will senior people do?
  3. Which decisions will be written down, and who owns them when the programme ends?
  4. How will you prove accuracy on our own data before we scale?
  5. What would make you recommend we stop or shrink the programme?
  6. Which parts of the proposal depend on a particular product or platform, and what are the alternatives?
  7. What does it cost to run each month after go-live, at our volume?
FAQ

Working alongside a partner

Something not covered here? Ask me directly →

Will my partner see you as competition?

I'm not bidding for the programme. I fill a named gap in their plan, under their governance, and make their design easier to land. Most partners are glad of a senior person who knows the client's systems.

Who do you report to?

Whoever owns the design. If your partner has an architect, I work under their lead. If not, I report to your programme board.

How do you avoid two architects arguing?

By agreeing up front who owns which decisions, and writing it down. Lead or support is a choice we make on day one, not a negotiation every week. If I join to support, I don't quietly take over.

Can you join part-way through a programme?

Yes. Often the most useful moment is just before a big commitment, or just after something has started to drift.

Do you bring other people?

Where the work needs more hands, I bring in people I trust, or work inside your partner's team. You'll always know who is doing what.

Already have a partner on the programme?

Let's talk about where I'd fit, what I'd own, and what I'd hand back.

Book a call →Browse the playbooks
Sam Naseem
Sam NaseemBirmingham, UK · UK & Europe
Available now