Frequently asked questions
About the work
What exactly does Mumford Advisory do? We examine support operations in growing software companies. We find the recurring patterns — repeated answers, undocumented process, broken handoffs, redundant tooling, escalations that never get counted — that quietly consume time and money, we price them with the arithmetic shown, and we hand you a prioritised plan for fixing the ones worth fixing.
Are you an AI consultancy? No. What we sell is the diagnosis. AI is one of the tools we use to produce it, and occasionally part of a recommendation. If a documentation fix beats an AI tool — and it often does — that's what goes in the report.
Do you implement the fixes? No. Deliverables are written so your team can execute them. This keeps our findings honest: we're not diagnosing our way into a bigger contract.
What size companies do you work with? Software companies with support teams of roughly eight people or more. Below that, the pattern is usually visible without us, and we will say so.
The engagement
What do you actually sell? One thing: the Support Operations Waste Assessment. A fixed-scope examination of your support operation that returns a priced, prioritised, decision-ready account of the waste.
How long does it take? Fifteen business days, counted from the day we have complete data — not from the day you sign.
What if our data isn't ready? We reserve your start date and ask for the data about five business days ahead of it. We check completeness promptly and tell you straight away if something is missing. If the gap can't be closed in time, the reserved start moves. We would rather move a date than hand you a number you can't defend.
What does it cost? A fixed fee, agreed in writing before anything starts. We scope it on the fit conversation once we know the size and shape of your operation. Nothing hourly, nothing variable.
How much of our team's time do you need? Roughly 6–8 hours from your support leadership, plus short conversations with a sample of the team.
Do you sign NDAs? Yes, routinely, before any data changes hands.
What data access do you need? The minimum that answers the question — typically read-only access to a help desk or project tool, or exports. Agreed explicitly up front.
After the readout
What happens when the engagement ends? You own everything: the findings, the costings, the prioritised plan. It is written for your own team to execute, because we do not implement.
What if we disagree with a finding? Good — the briefing is a working session, and disagreement is what it's for. Findings arrive with their evidence attached; if the evidence doesn't hold up under your challenge, the finding changes.
Before you buy anything
What does the calculator cost? Nothing. Your number appears on screen with no email required, and the arithmetic runs inside your own browser, so your figures never reach us. The working is printed alongside the result so you can share it internally and have it questioned.
What happens on the fit conversation? You describe your support operation, we ask the questions we always ask, and you leave with an honest read on whether an assessment is worth your money — plus the fixed fee if it is. Where it wouldn't be, we say so and point you at whatever would actually help.
Do you have case studies? Not yet — this is a new practice, and nothing on this site is presented as one. In their place there is a worked example: a full assessment on a fictional company with every calculation exposed, plus a calculator that prints its own arithmetic. Both are public and neither requires talking to us.