Most prospects begin with a single conversation about whether JMA is the right firm for the question they are working through. For executives who want a more structured entry point, we offer two. Both are designed to deliver something real before any commitment to a larger engagement.
An hour with a JMA principal, walking your leadership team through how we think about technology as capital.
Most consulting firms sell time. The first hour with them is a meeting to qualify the sale. The Methodology Briefing is different. It is an hour designed for you, not for us, where a JMA principal walks your leadership team through the firm's view of technology as capital, the chain we apply to every engagement, and DAAEG, the framework that governs the work. We then turn the conversation to your situation, applying the same lens, briefly.
What you receive: a structured walk-through of JMA's approach, calibrated to your business and the decisions in front of you. A conversation about how the discipline would apply to your situation. A written summary of the briefing, sent within forty-eight hours, that you can share with your team or your board.
What you bring: three to six members of your leadership team. The decision-makers you would want present for any serious conversation about technology and capital.
What it costs: the Methodology Briefing is at JMA's expense. There is no obligation, no follow-up sales pressure, and no condition on what happens next.
Who delivers it: a JMA principal, typically Harrison Lewis or another partner depending on the focus of the briefing.
A two-week, principal-led assessment of a specific technology decision in front of your leadership team or board.
Most technology decisions are made the way they have always been made: a vendor presents, an internal team forms a view, the budget gets approved, and the work begins. The discipline that any board would bring to a comparable financial decision, a defined return, a governed path to it, accountability for the result, is rarely brought to the technology decision.
The Capital Allocation Diagnostic is JMA's two-week, principal-led assessment of a specific technology decision in front of your leadership team or board. It applies the discipline we bring to every engagement, in compressed form, to the question you are working through right now.
What you bring: a defined decision. A platform investment under consideration, a transformation initiative being planned, a vendor renewal that should be scrutinized, a build-versus-integrate question, or a portfolio choice that needs a fresh look. We do the most useful work when the decision is concrete.
What we do: we apply the JMA chain to the decision. We define the outcome in business terms, identify the business capabilities the outcome requires, define the technology capabilities those capabilities need, and assess the technology question against the total cost of ownership and the benefits the decision is meant to deliver. We do the diligence the internal team has not had time to do, and we bring the operator-grade judgment that comes from having sat in the chair.
What you receive: a written assessment of approximately twenty to thirty pages, structured around the chain, with a clear recommendation grounded in the business case rather than in vendor narratives. A presentation of the assessment to your leadership team, included. Optional: a one-hour conversation with your board or audit committee if the decision warrants that level of governance.
What it costs: a fixed fee, set at the start of the engagement so there is no ambiguity. We do not bill against time.
Who delivers it: a JMA principal, supported by the firm's broader team where the work requires specific depth. Senior judgment runs through every page of the assessment.
What happens next: if you act on the recommendation, you can do it yourselves, with another firm, or with JMA. We do not condition the Diagnostic on follow-on work, and the recommendation will not push you toward us. We are paid by our clients, not by what comes next.
If you are not sure whether the Methodology Briefing or the Diagnostic is the right entry point, schedule the Briefing first. It is free, structured, and designed to clarify how the discipline applies to your situation. The Diagnostic follows naturally for those who decide the deeper assessment is warranted.