ASCENDARE ADVISORY
WE DON'T FIND YOU VENDORS. WE ARCHITECT YOUR CAPABILITIES.
Most companies chaotically hire people, buy technologies, and engage contractors. We architect your business capabilities from scratch - systematically determining what to build in-house, what to buy as technology, and what to outsource to external partners.
THE PROBLEM
Suboptimal Decisions
Companies hire expensive agencies when simple automation + one specialist would cost 60% less. Without analysis, you overpay 200-300% for capabilities.
Companies make capability decisions chaotically: hire a team? buy software? engage contractors? Without systematic approach, this leads to excessive costs and operational chaos.
Vendor Sprawl
After few years: 47 different contractors, 63 SaaS tools. Nobody knows who's responsible, functions duplicate, integration chaos.
Technology Without Strategy
Buy CRM because "everyone does it", add marketing automation because "we need it". Result: disconnected tools, data in silos, confused team.
Build vs Buy Paralysis
6 months of debates: build in-house or find contractor? Random decision based on opinion. No framework, no criteria, start from scratch next time.
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STEP 1
BUILD
(Build In-House)
When needed:
It's your competitive advantage
Requires full control and flexibility
Specific requirements, no ready solutions exist
Long-term strategic importance
What we do:
Design organizational structure
Define necessary roles and competencies
Find people (or help you hire)
Implement tools for the team
CAPABILITY ARCHITECTURE: SYSTEMATIC APPROACH
We're not recruiters. Not consultants. Not IT integrators. We're business capability architects. For each capability, we design optimal architecture: what to build inside the company, what to buy as technological solution, what to transfer to external partners.
OUR APPROACH: BUILD — BUY — PARTNER FRAMEWORK
STEP 2
BUY
(Buy Technology)
When needed:
Standardized function, doesn't require customization
Technology can replace human labor
Mature SaaS solutions exist
Need rapid scalability
What we do:
Analyze technology solutions market
Select optimal platform
Implement and integrate with existing systems
Train team on usage
STEP 3
PARTNER
(Engage Partners)
When needed:
Need specialized expertise
Project work, not permanent need
Rapid scaling up/down
Not core function, but requires quality
What we do:
Find and vet specialized providers
Structure contracts and SLAs
Organize interaction with your team
Control quality and results
WHY THIS WORKS
Objective Criteria
We have clear decision framework for evaluating each capability with strategic importance, cost-benefit analysis, and scalability metrics.
Cost Optimization
Clients save 40-60% on building capabilities compared to intuitive approach through optimal architecture design.
Operational Clarity
Know exactly what capabilities you have, how they're structured, who's responsible, and what tools are used.
Avoid Lock-In
Technologies chosen with migration capability. Partners with clear SLAs. Build solutions with full documentation.
Default to BUY for commodity functions
5 PRINCIPLES WE FOLLOW
If mature SaaS solution exists - use it
1
For standard business functions that don't differentiate your company, buying existing software is almost always better than building internally. Modern SaaS platforms are built by teams of specialists, continuously improved based on feedback from thousands of companies, and maintained by dedicated support teams. Your internal team can't compete with this level of focus and resources for non-core functions.
Common functions to always BUY:
Email marketing → HubSpot/Mailchimp
Accounting → Xero/QuickBooks
Project management → Asana/Monday
CRM → HubSpot/Salesforce
SaaS vendors invest millions in development, security, compliance, and integrations. They improve their product monthly based on market feedback. When you build internally, you get a static solution that requires ongoing maintenance, security updates, and feature development - all diverting resources from your actual business.
2
BUILD only core capabilities
If it doesn't give you competitive advantage - don't build in-house
Building internal capabilities is expensive and time-consuming. It makes sense only when the capability directly contributes to your competitive differentiation. If customers don't choose you because of this capability, and competitors can easily replicate it, there's no strategic value in building it internally.
Questions to determine if capability is truly "core":
Is this what makes us unique in the market?
Do customers choose us specifically because of this?
Would it be difficult for competitors to copy this?
Is this critical for our strategy over the next 5+ years?
If even one answer is "no" - the capability is likely not core to your business. In that case, it's more efficient to BUY technology or PARTNER with specialists rather than build an internal team.
3
PARTNER for specialized expertise
Specialized work done rarely - always PARTNER
When you need deep expertise that's used occasionally, hiring full-time specialists is wasteful. They'll be underutilized most of the time, yet you pay full salary and benefits. Instead, partnering with specialized firms gives you on-demand access to the best experts in their field, who bring experience from dozens of similar projects.
Work that should always be done through partners:
Legal Work - PARTNER (law firm)
Financial Audit - PARTNER (accounting firm)
Creative Campaigns - PARTNER (creative agency)
Strategic Consulting - PARTNER (domain experts)
External partners also bring objectivity and fresh perspective that internal teams often lack. They're not influenced by internal politics and can provide honest assessments. Plus, you can scale partnership up or down based on current needs without the complexity of hiring and firing.
4
Automate before you delegate
Before hiring person or finding vendor - check if you can automate
Many business tasks that seem to require human labor can actually be automated with modern software. Before you hire someone or engage a contractor, ask: "Can technology do 80% of this work?" If yes, start with automation. A person or agency should only handle the remaining 20% that genuinely requires human judgment or creativity.
Decision process:
Need new capability → Analyze if automation can handle 80%+ → If yes: BUY software first → Add human only for the remaining 20%
Common tasks where automation is the right answer:
Data entry → Automated integration between systems
Report generation → Business intelligence platforms
Customer notifications → Marketing automation
Invoice processing → OCR + accounting software integration
Automation is cheaper, more reliable, scales instantly, and frees your team to focus on high-value work that requires human skills.
5
Measure everything
Every capability should have performance metrics
Without measurement, BUILD-BUY-PARTNER decisions are based on gut feeling and office politics. When you track specific metrics for each capability, decisions become objective. You can clearly see which capabilities are performing, which need optimization, and which should be restructured.
"You can't improve what you don't measure" - this applies to capabilities as much as to products. Systematic measurement allows you to compare the actual cost and performance of different approaches, identify inefficiencies, and make data-driven decisions about resource allocation.
Key metrics to track for every capability:
Cost Metrics: Total cost of ownership, Cost per unit of output, Cost as percentage of revenue
Quality Metrics: Error rate, Customer satisfaction scores, Delivery time and reliability
Efficiency Metrics: Throughput and capacity utilization, Resource utilization rates, Level of automation
Strategic Metrics: Contribution to competitive advantage, Market differentiation value, Alignment with strategic objectives
HOW WE WORK
We don't charge hourly. We don't sell "consulting days." We design and build capabilities - outcome-based engagement.
MODEL 1: CAPABILITY DESIGN
For companies that want architecture but will execute themselves
What's included:
Full capability audit (current state)
Architecture design for prioritized capabilities
Build-Buy-Partner analysis with recommendations
Implementation roadmap
Technology stack recommendations
Vendor requirements documents (if PARTNER)
Cost projections and ROI analysis
MODEL 2: DESIGN + IMPLEMENTATION
For companies that want turn-key solution
What's included:
Everything from Capability Design
Full implementation support
Technology sourcing, selection, procurement
Vendor sourcing through tender process
Hiring support (if BUILD)
Technology deployment and integration
Training and change management
Go-live support
Documentation and playbooks
MOST POPULAR
MODEL 3: ONGOING PARTNER
For companies in active growth, constantly adding capabilities
What's included:
Initial architecture design (onboarding)
Quarterly capability planning
Continuous optimization of existing capabilities
New capability design and implementation
Technology stack management
Vendor relationship management
Performance monitoring and reporting
Strategic advisory
ANWERS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What's the difference between you and regular IT integrator?
IT integrators implement technologies. We design business capability architecture. Sometimes the solution is technology. Sometimes - people. Sometimes - contractors. We do objective analysis of what's optimal. IT integrator will always sell you software because that's their product.
Are you recruiters or consultants?
Neither. Recruiters find people. Consultants give recommendations. We design and build capability architecture. If optimal solution is hire person - we'll help. If buy technology - we'll implement. If find contractor - we'll find. We're architecture-first, execution-focused.
Can you just provide the ready solution we need?
Yes, absolutely. If you've already done analysis and know exactly what solution you need - technology platform, specific contractor, or internal team - we can work as implementation partner. We'll help with sourcing, deployment, integration, and launch of the ready solution without preliminary design phase. However, in most cases even brief scoping assessment helps confirm the right direction or identify more optimal alternatives.
How many capabilities do you typically design per project?
On average 4-6 capabilities per engagement. Less than 3 - project too narrow, may be more direct approach better. More than 8 - too wide scope, better to split into phases. Sweet spot: 4-6 capabilities that form coherent functional area.
LET'S WORK TOGETHER
READY TO ARCHITECT YOUR CAPABILITIES?
Let's start with 45-minute discovery call where we'll discuss your business, current challenges, and determine if capability architecture fits your situation. No sales pressure - honest assessment.