Service · Consultancy

Digital transformation consultancy that also builds.

Strategy and execution under one roof. We don't just draw up the roadmap, print it in a PowerPoint and walk away. We stay with you through the build phase, develop the pilot and make sure your transformation actually goes live.

Book a discovery call See our work

We are not McKinsey, Deloitte or Accenture.

The big consultancies deliver hefty decks and strategy documents. Impressive analyses and sophisticated frameworks, but few hands on the build. When it is time to take the roadmap into production, the strategy team leaves and you have to find an implementation partner yourself. There is a gap between advice and build where many transformations stall: reports in a drawer, ambition in slides, nothing in production.

We do it differently. Appfront is a hands-on consultancy and software development agency in one. We write the strategy with you, build the pilot, guide vendor selection and stay involved through rollout. No "advice delivered, good luck": we stand beside you until it works. App transformation experts who know the full stack: mobile, web, AI, integration and organisation.

That makes our advice sharper too. When we say an integration is "simply" a matter of building it, we know where the gotchas are because we have solved them ourselves time and again. When we warn that an off-the-shelf SaaS package almost always needs a custom workflow, that doesn't come from an analyst firm's report but from our own implementations. Advice that is developed alongside the code stays realistic.

What a transformation programme typically involves.

Discovery
Workshops and interviews with your team and stakeholders
Roadmap
Priority, effort and impact matrix for the coming years
Pilot
Prove the approach on one concrete process or application
Scale up
Phased rollout with change management

Three ways we help you.

Depending on where you stand: no direction yet, a direction but no plan, or a plan but no hands to carry it out.

Approach 01

Discovery and roadmap

For organisations without their own CTO or CIO

A multi-day discovery workshop with your management team, followed by interviews on the shop floor and an audit of the current application landscape. We map which systems are in place, which processes run around them, where the pain lies and which hidden dependencies cause delays. Result: a roadmap document with priorities, ROI projections and an honest build-versus-buy assessment for each component. Suited to SMEs and larger mid-sized organisations that are digitising but have little IT expertise in-house, such as family businesses, manufacturers and healthcare organisations with ageing IT landscapes who want to know, at board level, where to start.

Discovery workshopPlatform auditRoadmap documentROI projection
Approach 02

Vendor selection and build versus buy

For those who want to compare proposals

You know which direction you want to go, but not which supplier or package fits. We guide RFP processes, compare SaaS options with custom scenarios and give independent advice. As developers ourselves, we know exactly where complexity hides in quotes, which integrations get very expensive and which promises are worth little. We also know how an implementation partner sounds when they are, or aren't, sure of a promise. Also read our approach to custom software for context. It helps you weigh up a standard package against custom.

RFP guidanceVendor shortlistBuild versus buyTCO analysis
Approach 03

Pilot implementation and scaling up

For scale-ups and enterprise programmes

The strategy is settled, now it needs building. We launch a focused pilot or MVP that proves the approach in one department or process, deliver a working solution and then help scale it across the rest of the organisation. Change management, training and governance are part of the programme: a new application without an adoption strategy is an expensive way to change nothing. We work alongside your own team rather than as an external black box, because knowledge transfer is a goal, not a by-product. For larger programmes, see also enterprise software development.

Pilot / MVPChange managementTraining and adoptionGovernance

What you take away from a transformation programme.

No loose advice, but practical building blocks your organisation can take further itself.

Roadmap document

Priority, effort and impact per initiative, phased over several quarters.

Architecture blueprint

What the current landscape looks like and where the transformation is heading.

Business case

Investment and ROI projection per phase, so the board and shareholders can follow along.

Working pilot

One department, one process or one application that proves the concept in production.

Governance and training

Ground rules for your IT portfolio, an adoption approach and knowledge transfer to your in-house team.

When a digital transformation consultant is the right choice.

Four scenarios in which we make the difference for SME and scale-up clients.

No in-house CTO

Strategic IT decisions without an internal expert

You are growing, but your IT organisation is still built for an era when the bookkeeper also kept track of the licences. You are missing a partner who thinks at board level without increasing your permanent payroll costs.

Outdated landscape

Too many standalone applications, too little oversight

A decade of expansion has produced a patchwork of applications. Some still run on old servers, others are SaaS packages that overlap one another. You know things need to change, but not where to begin.

Scale-up growth

From early-stage stack to enterprise

What worked in the early years, with Notion, a CRM and a few scripts, is now hitting its limits. Customer numbers are rising, processes are straining at the seams, and the next funding round calls for demonstrable scalability.

AI readiness

Deploying AI or automation without the pitfalls

The board is asking for an AI strategy and the shop floor sees opportunities, but you do not want a pilot without a business case. We map which data is usable, what governance is required and how to meet the requirements of the EU AI Act.

The role of a digital transformation partner.

The term "digital transformation consultant" covers a wide spectrum in practice. At one end are advisers who focus exclusively on strategy and culture. At the other are implementation firms that sell specific packages, usually from a single vendor. We deliberately sit in the middle: strategic enough to think with the board about portfolio and operating model, yet technical enough to build alongside your development team or supplier.

That also means we advise on matters that pure strategy consultants often work around. Which API integrations are realistic within a running sprint. How a monolithic ERP replacement can be phased rather than run as a big bang. Which data quality challenges only surface once you finally try to report on everything at once. What a platform-as-a-service really costs once you count all the integration costs. Questions that need answers before you commit to investments.

We also work explicitly on adoption. A transformation is only successful when the people who must work with it actually do so. Many programmes fail not on technology but on the quiet resistance of an organisation that was never involved in the choice. Our workshops, training sessions and governance meetings are therefore not a "soft skills" layer added at the end; they begin in week one.

How a transformation programme runs.

01Introduction→ 02Discovery→ 03Roadmap→ 04Build & scale
First conversation

Introduction

A no-obligation conversation about your context, your ambitions and the specific challenges you have on the table.

Workshop & interviews

Discovery

A workshop with management, interviews on the shop floor and an audit of the existing application landscape.

Document & matrix

Roadmap development

Prioritisation by effort, impact and dependencies. A build-versus-buy assessment for each initiative.

Ongoing

Pilot & scale-up

First one process or department, then a phased rollout. We remain your sounding board for as long as you wish.

Sectors where our consultancy fits well.

Our strongest consultancy engagements arise in sectors that combine outdated IT infrastructure, regulation that puts pressure on data quality, and a board that must steer the transformation itself because there is no in-house CIO. Think of manufacturers looking to integrate their ERP and MES, healthcare organisations working with multiple registration systems, property companies with fragmented portfolio administrations, and family businesses making the move from Excel-driven to system-driven working.

Scale-ups form a second group. What worked in the first few years with a handful of SaaS tools and some scripts starts to break down once customer numbers grow twelve- or twentyfold. Here, consultancy is often a combination of architecture choices, talent strategy (in-house team versus external partner) and governance. It is rarely about replacing everything; more often it is about targeted reinforcement and making the connections between systems mature.

Finally, we often work with existing Appfront clients who are broadening their digital ambitions. A client we first helped with a single application may discover after a few years that the wider IT roadmap needs attention. Because we already know the context, we can add value more quickly, and we will tell you honestly where we are and aren't the right partner.

Topics we address as standard.

Digital transformation touches far more than just technology. We make sure the difficult questions reach the table before the build phase.

Strategy & portfolio
App transformation strategyBuild-vs-buyVendor selectionRFP supportTCO analysis
Technology & data
Architecture auditAPI integrationData governanceAI readinessEU AI ActLegacy migration
People & organisation
Change managementTraining & adoptionGovernanceOperating modelIT roadmap

Frequently asked questions about digital transformation consultancy.

Are you consultants or builders?
Both, and that is precisely the difference from the large consultancies. Our advisers are also developers and architects. A roadmap we write can then be implemented by us too, or we can guide you while another partner or your own team builds it. We don't step back when things get genuinely challenging. In practice we often work in a hybrid way: strategically at board level, technically with the development team, and organisationally with HR and operations. Which hat we wear depends on the phase of the engagement.
What is your approach compared with McKinsey, Deloitte, Accenture or Capgemini?
The large consultancies are strong in group-level strategy and in formal change programmes with a lot of overhead. Their engagements are often heavy on documentation and light on execution. We are more pragmatic, smaller and closer to the execution. For SMEs and mid-sized organisations that want to see movement quickly, and would rather have a working pilot than a thick strategy document, we are a better fit. For multinationals with tens of thousands of employees and geopolitical stakeholders, the big names are more appropriate. Sometimes a combination makes sense: a large firm for the group-level story, and us for the operational transformation of a specific business unit.
Can you help us assess quotes from other suppliers?
Yes, this is a frequently requested engagement. We compare quotes on substance, expose hidden assumptions, assess how realistic the timelines are and give independent advice. Because we are builders ourselves, we recognise which promises are risky and which integrations will cost more than they appear to. We are transparent about this: if another party is a better fit, we will say so.
Do you also handle vendor selection if we can't or don't want to build it ourselves?
Certainly. We guide RFP processes from drawing up requirements through to contract negotiation. We have a good view of the Dutch and international supplier market for SaaS platforms, custom development agencies and niche players by sector. We do not work on a commission basis; our advice is independent.
What do you do with AI readiness?
We map out three things: which data within your organisation is usable for AI (quality, structure, access rights), what governance is needed to handle models responsibly, and which obligations you have under the EU AI Act depending on the use case (prohibited, high-risk, limited-risk or minimal-risk). We then prioritise use cases on feasibility and value, with attention to what fits realistically in your operations. No demos, but a well-founded plan that matches where your organisation stands in data maturity.
What determines the cost of a transformation consultancy engagement?
The depth of discovery (how many departments and stakeholders), the scope of the roadmap (one domain versus the whole organisation), whether a pilot is included, and how much change management is needed. A compact discovery and roadmap is a defined project; a full transformation programme with a pilot and rollout support runs over several quarters. After the introductory conversation, we provide a reasoned scope indication.
How long does a project like this take?
A discovery with roadmap is a short engagement, typically a few weeks. A pilot implementation follows in a few sprints, depending on scope. Full transformation programmes with scaling and change management usually run over several quarters. We never give firm timelines before we truly know the scope; doing so would be irresponsible.
Do you also work with our existing IT suppliers?
Yes, in practice almost always. We are not out to replace what already works well. Often the outcome of an audit is that much of the current landscape remains in place and we focus on the pain points. Working alongside your existing partners and in-house IT team is standard practice: we put our recommendations openly on the table and engage constructively with other suppliers. Our role is that of sparring partner and catalyst, not protectionist.
Which sectors do you know best?
In recent years we have worked for manufacturers, logistics companies, healthcare providers, accountancy firms, property managers, and scale-ups in fintech and SaaS. A family construction business faces different transformation challenges than a scalable e-commerce player, so we adapt our approach and language accordingly. What these sectors share is pressure on productivity, data that is fragmented, and a board that wants honest direction without a sales pitch.

Talk to us about your digital transformation.

A no-obligation conversation of about half an hour. We listen to your situation, ask pointed questions and give direction, including if the outcome is that you are better off with another partner. For specific sectors we can share examples, such as our experience with transport software.

Schedule an introductory callEmail fabian.vandijk@appfront.nl

Edit content