Case study
Business Performance Consultancy
From static Excel models to a live multi-tenant platform clients actually run.
- Systems
- Digital product
11 wks
Four delivery phases
30 min
Time to insight
+85%
Client retention (stated)
The business
A boutique management consultancy serving mid-market businesses (£2m–£50m revenue). The classic model: diagnose with complex Excel models, deliver recommendations, then move on—while clients struggled to sustain momentum.
The problem: value dies with the spreadsheet
High-value diagnostic work, but limited ongoing use of the tools after the engagement ended.
- One-time engagements with limited recurring revenue
- Sophisticated analysis delivered as Excel files that gather dust
- Client momentum stalls when consultants leave
- Limited differentiation vs. competitors delivering the same static artefacts
- ROI hard to prove when insights do not translate to sustained improvement
- Internally: frameworks too complex for client teams to maintain; regression to old habits without monitoring
What we did
Approach
We transformed the model from static spreadsheet delivery to a live, multi-tenant SaaS platform that works as both an engagement tool and a licensed product.
- 1
Phase 1: Foundation (4 weeks)
Reverse-engineered the firm's Excel-based performance framework; multi-tenant architecture (organisations, users, scenarios); Firebase Auth + Firestore with role-based security; then deployed to production.
- 2
Phase 2: Calculation engine (3 weeks)
Spreadsheet-faithful calculation engine in Cloud Functions; five department efficiency indices (GTM, Finance, Operations, Product, Support); EBITDA tracking, RAG indicators, baseline comparison.
- 3
Phase 3: Client features (2 weeks)
Scenario planning and what-if modelling; baseline locking; group consolidation for multi-entity clients; onboarding wizard for self-service setup.
- 4
Phase 4: Subscription model (2 weeks)
Stripe for recurring billing; seat-based pricing with entitlements; super-admin for managing clients.
Outcomes
Results
For the consulting firm
- ·Engagement value uplift: one-time projects extended with recurring monthly revenue (magnitude varies by client base)
- ·New revenue stream from SaaS subscriptions post-engagement
- ·Differentiation: live dashboards vs. static Excel deliverables
- ·Standardised framework and multi-tenant delivery without duplicating work per client
For client organisations
- ·What-if scenarios before committing resources
- ·Compare current performance to baseline to measure improvement
- ·Executive and department-level visibility without waiting for manual reports
- ·Framework becomes part of operating rhythm with continuous monitoring
Client feedback
“This has fundamentally changed how we engage with clients. We're no longer delivering static reports—we're embedding ourselves as ongoing partners. The recurring revenue has transformed our business model.”
Commercial outcomes depend on pricing, seat count, and client adoption; figures cited reflect a specific rollout.