What we do
Most clients come to Sazed with a question, not a project. The system the business runs on cannot keep up. A vendor has quoted a rebuild and nobody can tell whether the number is fair. A buyer wants to know what the technology is worth. Someone has said AI could do half of a job, and nobody can tell whether that is true. Most briefs describe a symptom, so the first job is to understand the question properly. Sometimes that is a conversation. Sometimes it is a short discovery with a clear recommendation. Sometimes the decision is already made and the work is delivering it well.
No two engagements are shaped the same way. Some are a single conversation and a recommendation. Some are a year of ownership. Some are a build with no advisory work at all, because the decision was settled before Sazed arrived. Some are a new brand and the website that carries it. What follows is the range of work a business can draw on, in whatever combination its situation calls for, with the same person accountable for whichever parts it uses.
The decision
Most engagements start with a decision the stakeholders cannot evaluate alone: which system to buy, whether to rebuild, what a vendor's quote is worth. Sazed works through it with them and sets out the recommendation with the reasoning shown, so the business owns the answer and can act on it with anyone. What changes between engagements is how much ownership the business needs and how quickly: a standing commitment each month, a full-time stint when something cannot wait, or one defined assessment.
The judgement is Nicholas Maait's, and the recommendation carries his name. Sazed holds no software or licence of its own to sell, so nothing about the decision serves an interest but the client's.
Standing technology leadership
The technical decisions need senior ownership, but not enough of it to justify a full-time technology executive, and the IT provider cannot be the one making them.
A standing retainer, a set number of days each month: a technology plan reviewed each quarter, a person to call before signing anything, and the same person accountable for what follows.
Interim technology leadership
Technology leadership is needed now rather than in three months. Someone has left, an incident has exposed a gap, or a transaction timeline will not wait for a part-time arrangement.
Full-time ownership of the technology function for a defined period, and a hand-over at the end that leaves the business able to carry on without it.
Technical due diligence
A sale, an acquisition or an investment where the state of the technology affects the price, and the people at the table need a view from someone with no stake in the outcome.
An independent assessment of the systems, the risks and what they would cost to put right, written for the people making the decision rather than for engineers.
Architecture review
A system is slow, fragile or expensive, and nobody can say whether to fix it, replace it or leave it alone.
A review of the current system, the risks in plain language, and a ranked list of options with rough costs.
ICT strategy
The business has a three-year plan and no idea whether its systems can carry it.
A strategy tying systems, spend and staffing to the plan, with a sequence the business can fund one step at a time.
Business analysis and requirements
The business knows something has to change but cannot describe it well enough to brief a vendor or a developer.
A requirements document written in the business's own terms, precise enough to get comparable quotes.
Change management
A new system is coming and the people who will use it every day have not been asked.
A rollout plan covering who is affected, what changes for them, how they are trained, and what happens on day one.
Vendor selection
Two or three vendors have quoted and the proposals cannot be compared.
A comparison against the business's requirements, the questions to put back to each vendor, and a recommendation with the reasoning shown.
Build versus buy
An off-the-shelf product does most of the job, and the business is wondering whether the rest is worth building.
A recommendation with the costs, risks and ownership implications of each path over the life of the system, not just the first year.
AML/CTF technology readiness
New AML/CTF obligations apply from mid-2026, and the business does not yet know whether its systems, not just its policies, can meet them.
A gap assessment against the new obligations, a shortlist of the vendors that close it, and a plan to be ready before the deadline.
R&D technical narrative
The business has built new software and wants to claim the R&D Tax Incentive, but the technical case has to survive an AusIndustry review, not just look good in a spreadsheet.
A technical narrative of the eligible work, written to be defended, handed to the client's accountant to lodge.
What follows
Once a decision is made, the same accountability carries it through: designing a build, keeping a system running, or improving it over time. Nicholas Maait architects the work and remains accountable for it. Engineering, cloud and managed services are delivered by partners engaged for the job, under Sazed's standards, or handed to the client's own IT provider with documentation they can act on.
Sazed designs and directs every build. Partners are engaged project by project for engineering, cloud and managed services, always under Sazed's architecture and accountability, never to keep anyone busy. There is no bench kept warm between engagements: the right partner is engaged when the work calls for one.
Custom applications
The process at the centre of the business runs on spreadsheets, email and memory, and no product on the market matches it.
A working application, its source code and its documentation, all owned by the client, with a hand-over so someone else could maintain it.
Cloud platforms
Systems live on a server in a cupboard, or in accounts nobody can name, and the business has outgrown the way they are hosted.
A cloud environment sized for the business, with access, backups and costs documented and held under the client's own accounts.
AI integration
Staff spend hours a week reading documents, keying data from one system into another, or answering the same questions.
Document handling, workflow automation or decision support built into the systems the business already uses, with a clear account of what it does, what it must not do, and how its output is checked.
Managed infrastructure
A system is live and someone has to keep it patched, backed up and monitored.
Hosting and monitoring under an agreed service level, with the architecture documented so the arrangement can change hands.
Support
Something breaks and the business needs to know who to call and what happens next.
A named support contact, an agreed response time, and a record of every issue and its fix.
Ongoing improvement
The system works, but the business keeps changing and the system needs to keep up.
A short prioritised list of improvements reviewed each quarter, delivered as small fixed-scope pieces of work.
Brand and website
Sometimes the work is how the business presents itself: a brand that describes the business it used to be, or a website that cannot carry the one it has become. Sazed delivers the brand and the website as one engagement, so the identity and the site are designed as one system rather than briefed to two suppliers who never meet. One scope, one price, and one person accountable from the first workshop to the day the site goes live.
Brand strategy, identity and guidelines are led by Sazed's design partner. Sazed scopes the engagement, designs the website with the partner, builds it, and is accountable for all of it. The site is built to the same standard as any other system Sazed delivers: documented, held under the client's own accounts, and handed over so it can be run without Sazed.
Brand strategy and creative direction
The business has changed, and its name, logo and materials still describe what it used to be.
A review of the existing brand and the market around it, and a creative direction the business agrees before any design starts.
Visual identity and logo
The business needs a logo, colours and type that hold together everywhere it appears, from a business card to a website.
A logo with its primary and secondary versions and an icon, a colour palette and a type system, supplied as production-ready files in every format the business will need.
Brand guidelines
Different people produce material for the business, and no two pieces look as though they came from the same place.
A brand guide covering logo use, colour, type and imagery, with worked examples, so anyone producing material can keep it consistent.
Brand assets and collateral
The new identity has to reach the materials the business uses every day.
Business cards, email signatures, letterhead, and document, presentation and social media templates, ready to use.
Website design and development
The website no longer reflects the business, cannot be updated without help, or does not bring in enquiries.
A responsive website designed around the new identity and built by Sazed, with its source, hosting and accounts held by the client and a hand-over so anyone can maintain it.
How engagements are priced
Sazed prices the outcome, not the time it takes. Each engagement is a fixed price for a defined result: a recommendation the business can act on, a system built and handed over, a brand and website launched. The client knows the cost before work starts, and only a change of scope, agreed in writing, changes it. Larger engagements are paid in stages as each part is delivered. Where the result cannot be defined yet, a short fixed-fee discovery comes first, with an output the client can act on with or without Sazed.
Technology leadership is the exception, because what the business is buying there is senior ownership over time rather than a single result. A standing commitment is priced as a monthly retainer, and an interim engagement for the period it runs. Managed services are priced monthly with the partner who delivers them.
Not sure which of these you need?
That is usually the case. Describe the situation and Sazed will say which piece of work fits, or whether one is needed at all.