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Advisory

Architecture choices that stand up to your board.

Before capital is committed, we help you choose the route: an honest picture of the present landscape, options with their trade-offs set side by side, recorded decisions, and a phased roadmap that delivery teams can execute.

For boards and leadership teams of Indian groups and GCCs deciding on platforms, AI and cloud for operations in India and the European Union.

Share your requirementsRead the EU AI Act guide
Architecture & Consulting: the three layersThree layers drawn one behind the other. Top: the phased roadmap. Middle: the options and the records of each decision. Bottom: the business goals and the present landscape on which everything rests.01Phased roadmap02Options and decision records03Goals and present landscape
  1. 01Reviews of the present landscape that expose technical debt and risk
  2. 02Options weighed on value, feasibility, risk and lifetime cost, and recorded as decision records
  3. 03Roadmaps ordered by dependency and business value, with assurance during delivery

01 Challenges

When leadership wants an independent view

  1. 01

    A major decision is due and every option sounds sensible

    Which platform, build or buy, which cloud, which implementation partner. Each option has a sponsor, and no one has assessed them against the same yardstick.

  2. 02

    Many AI ideas, no prioritised portfolio

    Business units keep proposing use cases. Nobody has ranked them on value, feasibility and risk, or checked which would face the EU AI Act’s stricter rules if used in Europe.

  3. 03

    The programme is behind and the cause is unclear

    Status reports stay green, milestones keep moving, and the steering committee asks for an independent review.

  4. 04

    An RFP must go out and the requirements are not written

    The organisation knows its needs in business language but not how to express them so that vendors can respond on comparable terms.

02 Scope of work

Scope of the practice

  1. 01 Review of the present landscape

    A structured look at your applications, data, interfaces, infrastructure and vendor contracts. Technical debt becomes visible and is ranked in a risk register. We use ArchiMate and TOGAF where your architects already work with them.

    Scope of work

    • Interviews with architects, business owners and operations staff
    • Inventory of applications and interfaces
    • Assessment of technical debt and risk
    • Review of running costs and contracts

    Deliverables

    • Architecture of the present landscape
    • Risk register with named owners
    • Findings presented to the decision makers

  2. 02 AI readiness and a portfolio of use cases

    A ranked list of AI use cases, scored on value, feasibility and risk, with a first view of how each would be treated under the EU AI Act if used in Europe, its fit with the India AI Governance Guidelines, and whether to build, buy or partner.

    Scope of work

    • Collection of use cases from business units
    • Scoring on value, data readiness and risk
    • First EU AI Act classification for each use case
    • Analysis of build, buy or partner

    Deliverables

    • Prioritised portfolio of use cases
    • Three use cases ready to begin
    • Data and platform prerequisites

  3. 03 Target state and phased roadmap

    Platform choices across Salesforce, SAP, Odoo and custom applications, for the Indian parent and its European subsidiaries, ordered into phases with dependencies, lifetime cost and the organisational change each phase requires.

    Scope of work

    • Capability map and target principles
    • Options analysed domain by domain
    • Total cost of ownership over several financial years
    • Phase planning with dependencies

    Deliverables

    • Target architecture
    • Phased roadmap
    • Inputs to the business case for each phase

  4. 04 Cloud strategy and data location

    Analysis of dependence on vendors, decisions on where each class of data may be stored and processed, and exit plans, so cloud and SaaS commitments remain reversible where it counts.

    Scope of work

    • Analysis of dependencies and lock-in
    • Data classification and location options, including transfers from India and from the EU
    • Estimate of exit costs
    • Contract clauses for review with procurement

    Deliverables

    • Data location position for each class of data
    • Exit plans for critical services
    • Cloud strategy paper

  5. 05 RFP preparation and vendor evaluation

    Requirement analysis, specifications and evaluation criteria for a platform or implementation partner. We are transparent about conflicts of interest: if we help write an RFP, we agree in writing at the start whether we may respond to it.

    Scope of work

    • Requirement analysis and market soundings
    • Functional and non-functional specifications
    • Evaluation criteria and scoring models
    • Support with vendor clarifications

    Deliverables

    • RFP ready to issue
    • Evaluation framework
    • Written agreement on any later participation

  6. 06 Decision records and assurance during delivery

    Architecture decision records, a design authority and independent assurance reviews for programmes under way, so that every decision can be traced and risks come to light early.

    Scope of work

    • Decision record practice and templates
    • Setting up and chairing the design authority
    • Assurance reviews at fixed intervals
    • Health checks on programmes in difficulty

    Deliverables

    • Decision log in active use
    • Charter for the design authority
    • Assurance reports with recommendations

03 Architecture

How we arrive at a decision

Our advisory work follows a single line. It starts from your goals and the present landscape, compares options against criteria agreed in advance, produces decision records approved by your design authority, and ends in a target architecture and a phased roadmap.

Beneath every step lie the constraints: data location and exit, Indian and EU rules that apply to the use case, procurement rules and the capacity of your own teams.

Layers shown

Understand
Business goals, constraints, the present landscape and the risks within it.
Decide
Criteria, options, the design authority and the decision records.
Plan
Target architecture, the phased roadmap and assurance while delivery runs.
Illustrative example

  1. Understand

    • Business goals and constraints
    • Present landscape review
    • Risk register

  2. Decide

    • Criteria: value, risk, cost
    • Options
    • Design authority
    • Decision records

  3. Plan

    • Target architecture
    • Phased roadmap
    • Delivery assurance

  4. Constraints

    • Constraints: data location and exit, Indian and EU rules, procurement
Goals to roadmap by way of recorded decisions

An illustration of the method; not drawn from any client engagement.

Read the diagram as text

The primary path leads from business goals and constraints to a review of the present landscape, then to options, then to architecture decision records, then to the target architecture and lastly to a phased roadmap.

The review of the present landscape yields a risk register. Criteria agreed in advance on value, feasibility, risk and lifetime cost shape the options. The design authority, where your architects decide, approves the decision records. Assurance reviews accompany the roadmap.

A band of constraints at the base covers data location and exit, classification under Indian and EU rules, and procurement rules.

04 Trade-offs and limits

Trade-offs and limits

  • Independence

    How we address it

    We also build and operate systems, on Salesforce, SAP and Odoo among others. In advisory work the criteria are agreed with you before any vendor is considered, and we write down why each option scored as it did.

    Limits and prerequisites

    If you need advice from a firm that will not deliver afterwards, say so. We will commit to that at the start, or suggest that you appoint a purely advisory firm.

  • Law and regulation

    How we address it

    We bring practical knowledge of the DPDP Act, the CERT-In Directions, the EU AI Act, the GDPR and NIS2 to architecture decisions.

    Limits and prerequisites

    We do not give legal advice. Our classifications and readings are inputs for your legal advisers, who make the legal assessment.

  • Roadmaps meet reality

    How we address it

    Phases are ordered by dependency and available capacity, and the roadmap is reviewed when each phase closes.

    Limits and prerequisites

    Every roadmap changes. Its worth lies in the decisions it makes explicit, which is why we keep it current through assurance reviews instead of handing it over as a static document.

05 Delivery steps

Delivery steps

Brief, structured and based on evidence, with your own architects taking part throughout.

  1. 01

    Frame the question

    What must be decided, by whom and by when, and which criteria matter.

    OutcomeDecision brief

  2. 02

    Collect the evidence

    Interviews, documents, system data and cost figures, sufficient to support the decision and no more.

    OutcomeEvidence base and view of the present landscape

  3. 03

    Weigh the options

    Between two and four realistic options, scored against the agreed criteria, with their risks and costs.

    OutcomeOptions analysis

  4. 04

    Decide and document

    Your design authority takes the decision; we write the decision record and the roadmap that follows from it.

    OutcomeDecision records and roadmap

  5. 05

    Assure the delivery

    Regular reviews that check whether delivery still follows the decisions, and signal when one should be reopened.

    OutcomeAssurance reports

06 Approvals

Who takes the decision

Our role is to advise. Every decision remains with the person accountable for it.

  • Your design authority approves

    Each decision record is approved by your design authority or by the owner you appoint, never by FromNine on its own.

  • Criteria are fixed before options

    You approve the scoring criteria and their weights before any option is scored, so the result cannot be adjusted afterwards.

  • Disagreement is on record

    Where stakeholders differ, the decision record lists the alternatives and why each was set aside.

07 Scenario

Illustrative scenario

Illustrative example

An ERP direction for an Indian group with European subsidiaries

01Starting point
An Indian business group runs SAP at the parent, an ageing in-house ERP at two Indian units and separate systems at three European subsidiaries acquired over time. The board wants a single view of finance and supply, while GST e-invoicing in India and local rules in each EU country must keep working.
02What we would set up
An options analysis comparing one SAP S/4HANA template for all companies, a two-tier model with a group core and lighter systems for the subsidiaries, and integration only, each with costs, risks and a phased roadmap.
03Where an officer decides
The group design authority sets the criteria and takes the decision; the heads of each subsidiary review the effect on their operations before approval.
04How success would be measured
Total cost of ownership over the planning period, days to a consolidated monthly close, and the number of interfaces to maintain.

08 By industry

By industry

  • Government & Public Sector

    Target architectures for departments and urban local bodies building on Aadhaar-based authentication, DigiLocker and API Setu, designed to GIGW 3.0. See Government & public sector.

  • Banking & Financial Services

    Architecture decisions documented for RBI and SEBI scrutiny, with outsourcing risk and exit plans designed in, and DORA terms where you serve EU banks.

  • Manufacturing & Industry

    ERP and plant system landscapes rationalised across Indian and European sites, with a roadmap that respects production schedules and the financial year close.

India

One decision, Indian and European rules

An Indian parent with European subsidiaries tests each architecture decision against two sets of rules. At home, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 allows transfers outside India unless the Central Government restricts a country by notification (section 16(1)), and any sectoral law that sets stricter conditions on transfers still prevails (section 16(2)); the CERT-In Directions set six-hour incident reporting. In the EU, the EU AI Act, the GDPR and the national laws implementing NIS2 bind the subsidiaries and can reach the parent.

We turn these constraints into explicit criteria in every options analysis and record how each decision meets them, so that the same reasoning can be put before your board, an auditor or a regulator in India or in Europe.

FAQs on architecture and consulting

How long does a review of our landscape take?

That depends on its scope. A focused review of one domain or one decision takes a few weeks; a review of the full landscape takes longer. Scope, questions and timeline are fixed in a decision brief before we begin.

How can you stay independent if you also deliver?

By making our reasoning visible: criteria agreed before options are drawn up, every score documented, alternatives recorded. If you need complete separation between advice and delivery, we agree at the start not to compete for the delivery, or we advise you to engage another firm.

Do you prefer Salesforce, SAP or Odoo?

We are a partner of all three (Salesforce Summit Partner, SAP Gold Partner, Odoo Gold Partner) and also write custom software, so no single platform is ours to push. Each suits different circumstances, and the answer can combine them, for example SAP S/4HANA for the Indian parent and Odoo for smaller European subsidiaries.

Can you help us prepare an RFP and then respond to it?

Only if that is agreed at the start. We set out in writing whether helping to prepare the RFP excludes us from responding, and you decide. For European public tenders, Directive 2014/24/EU (Article 41) allows a contracting authority to admit an adviser who helped prepare a tender only where competition is not distorted; we apply the same discipline to private RFPs.

What is the right starting point for AI?

A portfolio rather than a single pilot: gather candidate use cases, score them on value, data readiness and risk, and begin with two or three that are worthwhile, feasible and low enough in risk to learn from. Our AI Engineering & GenAI practice then builds them with testing in place before the first release.

Which people would we work with?

Senior architects who have led delivery themselves, based in Antwerp, Ghent and Amsterdam. FromNine has 2,400+ people, and specialists in security, data, AI or a particular platform join when a question requires them.

Tell us the decision in front of you

We will suggest how to frame it, which evidence it needs and how long a sound answer would take.

Share your requirementsGovernment & public sector