A senior second opinion before you commit the budget.
You're about to choose between upgrading IdentityIQ and moving to Identity Security Cloud, or between Snowflake and Databricks, and the vendors' answers are predictable. We put a senior consultant on the question for a fixed scope and give you a written recommendation.
Decision to makeupgrade or migrate · A or BWritten scopetimeline · interviews · access
02 · Investigate
Stakeholder interviewsowners · engineers · securityConfig and code reviewcustom code · integrationsHands-on testingproof of concept · rehearsal
03 · Recommend
Written recommendationfindings · options · trade-offsReadout sessionteam · leadership
04 · Next step
Your team deliversimplementation outlineCohash delivery or staffingproject team · contractorsAnother partneryour choice
SailPointSaviyntOktaMicrosoft Entra ID
in short·20-second read
Our consulting engagements are scoped pieces of advisory work, each led by a senior consultant in identity, enterprise platforms or data.
Typical ones are assessments, architecture reviews, platform selection and upgrade planning. We agree the question, scope and timeline before starting, and finish with written findings and a recommendation your team can act on. Carrying it out is a separate decision, and we can staff or deliver that work if you want.
you probably need this if
You're weighing an IdentityIQ upgrade against a move to Identity Security Cloud.
Each vendor's answer to your platform question favors their own product.
A design is about to go to build and nobody outside the team has reviewed it.
From the first call to a setup your own team can run.
Here's what usually prompts a call about your Consulting Services, what we do about it and in which order, and where you end up.
01 · where it hurts02 · what we change03 · how it runs04 · where you end up
incident board · consulting services3 open
openYou're weighing an IdentityIQ upgrade against a move to Identity Security Cloud.
recurringEach vendor's answer to your platform question favors their own product.
blockedA design is about to go to build and nobody outside the team has reviewed it.
exposure
Assessments and health checksArchitecture reviewsPlatform selectionUpgrade and migration planningFractional technical leadership
startrehearsehandover
Frame the question
Scope and plan
Investigate
Recommend
we are here
ready to hand over
Leadership gets a written recommendation naming the customizations that drive the…
The decision rests on tests the team watched, and the trade-offs are written down for…
Leadership gets the design in writing, with the reasoning for each point, before any…
Agreed scope and question statement
chapter 01 · where it hurts
Why teams reach out
You're weighing an IdentityIQ upgrade against a move to Identity Security Cloud.
Each vendor's answer to your platform question favors their own product.
A design is about to go to build and nobody outside the team has reviewed it.
chapter 02 · what we change
How we solve it
Assessments and health checks
Architecture reviews
Platform selection
Upgrade and migration planning
Fractional technical leadership
chapter 03 · how it runs
Our approach
Frame the question
Scope and plan
Investigate
Recommend
chapter 04 · where you end up
What changes
Leadership gets a written recommendation naming the customizations that drive the decision.
The decision rests on tests the team watched, and the trade-offs are written down for whoever runs the platform.
Leadership gets the design in writing, with the reasoning for each point, before any money is committed to the build.
Agreed scope and question statement
what we do
Where we spend the hours
5 areas of work, each one done by an engineer who has run it in production.
A structured review of an existing platform covering configuration, custom code, performance, security and operations, with a ranked list of fixes.
A review of the design before anyone builds it, whether that's an IGA rollout, a Salesforce identity model or a data platform layout. Risks and alternatives go in writing.
Requirements, a shortlist, scripted vendor demos and a comparison grounded in your use cases, ending in a recommendation we're willing to defend.
Version paths, prerequisite work, custom-code impact and a rehearsal plan for upgrades like IdentityIQ 8.5 to 9.0 or moves between platforms.
A part-time senior consultant who acts as your identity or data architect while you hire for the role.
capability 01 / 05in production
Assessments and health checks
A structured review of an existing platform covering configuration, custom code, performance, security and operations, with a ranked list of fixes.
A review of the design before anyone builds it, whether that's an IGA rollout, a Salesforce identity model or a data platform layout. Risks and alternatives go in writing.
We pieced these together from Consulting Services situations that come up a lot. They're patterns. You won't find a specific client in them.
case file 01
IdentityIQ 9.0 or Identity Security Cloud, decided within a quarter
composite · not a client story
Beforethe situation
An IdentityIQ 8.x estate has hundreds of custom rules, on-premises connectors to mainframe and SAP, and hosting that a data center exit will take away. Leadership wants an upgrade-or-migrate decision within a quarter.
What we dothe work
Inventory custom rules, plugins and connectors, and classify each by how it would move to 9.0 or to Identity Security Cloud. Run a short proof on the two hardest connectors, then cost both paths including hosting and staffing.
Afterwhere you end up
Leadership gets a written recommendation naming the customizations that drive the decision. Whichever path wins, the inventory is the first work package.
case file 02
Snowflake or Databricks, with both vendors recommending themselves
composite · not a client story
Beforethe situation
Two vendor pitches each recommend their own platform for a new analytics program. Workloads include BI on curated tables, some ML on clickstream data and strict data residency for one business unit.
What we dothe work
Write requirements from the actual workloads, script the vendor demos around your data and governance needs, and run a small hands-on test of the hardest workload on both platforms. Compare license, skills and governance effort.
Afterwhere you end up
The decision rests on tests the team watched, and the trade-offs are written down for whoever runs the platform.
case file 03
Checking another firm's Experience Cloud login design
composite · not a client story
Beforethe situation
The company runs Auth0 for its other apps, yet a system integrator has proposed an Experience Cloud design with customer login handled inside Salesforce. Leadership wants it checked before the build starts.
What we dothe work
Review the design against the company's identity standards, test the riskiest assumptions such as account linking and MFA flows, and set out where it holds up, where it doesn't and what the alternative would cost.
Afterwhere you end up
Leadership gets the design in writing, with the reasoning for each point, before any money is committed to the build.
How a scoped consulting engagement reaches a recommendation
A framing call turns your decision into an agreed question and written scope. Interviews, config review and hands-on testing feed a written recommendation, which you can carry out with your own team, with Cohash, or with another partner.
01 · Frame
Decision to makeupgrade or migrate · A or B → Written scope · framing call
Written scopetimeline · interviews · access → Stakeholder interviews · plan→ Config and code review · access
Readout sessionteam · leadership → Your team delivers · decision→ Cohash delivery or staffing · decision→ Another partner · decision
04 · Next step
Your team deliversimplementation outline
Cohash delivery or staffingproject team · contractors
Another partneryour choice
Read the diagram as text
Decision to make → Written scope: framing call
Written scope → Stakeholder interviews: plan
Written scope → Config and code review: access
Stakeholder interviews → Written recommendation: evidence
Config and code review → Written recommendation: evidence
Hands-on testing → Written recommendation: results
Written recommendation → Readout session: walkthrough
Readout session → Your team delivers: decision
Readout session → Cohash delivery or staffing: decision
Readout session → Another partner: decision
how it runs
A typical engagement
We don't start a step until the last one has produced something you can check.
step 01
Frame the question
We hold a short call to pin down the decision in front of you, the people who need to be in it, and what a useful answer would look like.
step 02
Scope and plan
Before work starts, we put the scope, timeline, interviews and access in writing and you sign off.
step 03
Investigate
Interviews, configuration and code review, and hands-on testing where it settles a question faster than discussion.
step 04
Recommend
Written findings and a recommendation, walked through with your team and leadership.
you keep
What you're left with
We write these for your Consulting Services setup, and they're working documents. Your team should be able to keep things running from them long after we've gone.
Some clients want a project team, some want a couple of engineers on theirs. Either works. Onsite, nearshore or offshore, with handovers across time zones that keep things moving.
Onsite
Engineers at your sites in the US
Nearshore
Overlapping hours with US teams
Offshore
Overnight progress on your backlog
All time zones
Coverage handed over across time zones
24-hour coverage · US Central time
OnsiteUS business hours
Nearshoreoverlapping US hours
Offshoreovernight progress
Combinedhandover, not hand-off
00:0006:0012:0018:0000:00
roles we staff
Identity architect
Data platform architect
CRM architect
Solution architect
Technical program manager
Business analyst
due diligence · consulting services
Questions to ask any partner, including us.
Put these to anyone bidding on your Consulting Services work. The ones who've done it answer differently from the ones who've read about it.
Q1
Who exactly will do the work, and can we meet them before signing?
Senior people selling and junior people delivering is a common pattern. Put the named consultants and any substitution rules in the statement of work.
Q2
Does the firm earn anything from the vendors it might recommend?
Resale margins, referral fees or partner incentives can tilt a recommendation. Ask for a written disclosure before the engagement starts.
Q3
Who owns the findings, and can we share them with other vendors?
You may want to hand the report to an implementation partner or a vendor. Confirm in writing that the deliverables are yours to use and share.
Q4
What will you test hands-on instead of taking from documentation?
Vendor documentation describes the happy path. A short proof on your hardest case often settles a question faster than another round of interviews.
Q5
What happens if the scope turns out to be wrong halfway through?
The question often changes once discovery starts. Agree how a scope change gets approved and priced before that happens.
01How is consulting different from staff augmentation?
Consulting answers one defined question and ends with a written recommendation. Staff augmentation puts an engineer on your team for ongoing work, and you direct them. Plenty of clients start with consulting, then staff the plan.
02What does a consulting engagement cost?
It depends on the scope, how many systems and stakeholders are involved, and how much hands-on testing is needed. We usually price a defined assessment as a fixed scope and quote after the framing call.
03Will you recommend your own services?
Only if they fit. The recommendation has to stand up without us attached, and you can deliver it with your own people or someone else.
04Can you review a recommendation another firm already made?
Yes. We check the reasoning and the evidence behind it, test the assumptions that matter most, and tell you where we agree, where we don't, and why.
05Can we share the report with our auditors or board?
That's what a written recommendation is for. Confirm in the statement of work that the deliverables are yours to share, and tell us the audience early so the report is written for them.
related
Often paired with
Projects on Consulting Services usually end up touching one of these, so they're worth a look.
