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Knowledge and process

Applications and data

Customer and web

Browse by symptom instead

Twelve problems described the way clients describe them, with the causes behind each.

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The structure

Continuous ownership

Before you commit

Start with one problem

One process, or one focused conversation. You don't need a scope, a platform or a budget to get in touch.

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Established and growing businesses with complex operations, systems, teams or customer journeys. No rigid size limit.

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Proof

Nobody owns the application layer

MSPs own infrastructure. Vendors own their product. The space between has no name and no owner.

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AliveCommerce  /  How we deliver

Fixed budget. Scope controlled. No surprises.

Most project failures in this industry are commercial rather than technical. The structure punishes honesty, so problems surface late, when they're expensive. FBSC is our answer to that — and it's a method, not a slogan, so here it is in full.

What FBSC means.

Fixed Budget, Scope Controlled. The budget is settled at the start, and scope becomes the adjustable currency instead.

F

Fixed budget

The number is agreed before work starts and then taken off the table. Not an estimate, not a range that drifts upward through discovery, and not a figure that grows every time something is learned.

B

Backlog is the currency

New information doesn’t produce a bigger invoice. It reshapes what goes into this release and what moves down the list. Changes get scrutinised on merit rather than negotiated as a commercial dispute.

S

Scope stays visible

Priorities are written down and reviewed as we go, so you can always see what’s in, what’s out and what moved. Exclusions are as explicit as inclusions, because that’s where disputes actually start.

C

Controlled, not frozen

Requirements change; pretending otherwise is how fixed-price projects go wrong. And when we run ahead, that capacity goes into the things you wanted but didn’t expect to get.

How a project actually runs.

Five stages. You can stop after any of them, and some clients do.

01

Conversation

Twenty to ninety minutes, no charge, no deck. Often establishes that the problem isn't what the enquiry said it was.

02

Assessment

Fixed price, one to four weeks, written. What you have, what the options cost, and what we'd recommend. Yours to take elsewhere.

03

Scope and budget

Written scope with explicit exclusions and a fixed number. Nothing starts until you've agreed both.

04

Build

Regular demonstrations rather than status reports. Anything affecting budget or timeline is raised the week it appears, not the month.

05

Handover

Documentation, credentials, code and training. You should be able to continue without us, whether or not you choose to.

How we commit.

Four operating commitments, each specific enough to be checked. Engagement-level service levels, warranties and transition protections are agreed in writing where they apply.

No vendor pays us

No commission, referral fee, reseller margin or markup on anything we procure for you. Recommending you change nothing earns us exactly what recommending a rebuild does.

The budget doesn’t move

Under FBSC the number is set at the start. New information changes what we build and in what order — not what you pay.

You own everything

Code, documentation, credentials, accounts and data — yours throughout, not held as leverage. Handover is part of the work, not a negotiation at the end.

We’ll tell you not to

Sometimes the right decision is to wait. Sometimes it’s to simplify. Sometimes it’s to stop something altogether. We’re comfortable with all three.

Why not just work hourly?

Because of what each model rewards when nobody is watching.

Hourly

Rewards slowness

Nobody sets out to be slow, but under hourly billing efficiency reduces revenue. That's a quiet pressure in the wrong direction on every task.

Fixed price

Rewards silence

Traditional fixed price makes raising a problem costly for the supplier, so problems surface late. FBSC keeps the fixed number but makes surfacing changes the normal, expected step.

Retainer

Rewards coasting

Until renewal approaches. Useful for ongoing work with a real SLA behind it, which is what the continuous programs are — and poor for defined projects.

FBSC

Rewards finishing

We're paid an agreed amount for an agreed outcome. The fastest route to a working result is also the most profitable one, which is the alignment we're after.

Want to see a real scope?

We'll show you a redacted one from a comparable project — exclusions and all — before you commit to anything. It's the fastest way to judge whether this is how you want to work.

Ask for one