Service Architecture
Strategic Governance as a Service
Four tiers structured as a progression from initial assessment to deep, board-level governance partnership. Every engagement deploys the Adversarial Methodology, calibrated to the tier.
A Continuous, Cumulative Governance Partnership.
Traditional governance advisory is episodic. A firm engages a consultant, receives a report, and manages governance internally until the next incident triggers the next engagement. Institutional knowledge is lost between engagements.
SGaaS is structured as a continuous, principal-led function delivered on a retainer architecture. It complements internal audit, risk, and compliance, and provides the adversarial challenge the Three Lines Model was never designed to deliver.
The four tiers are designed as a progression. The Diagnostic builds the institutional knowledge that makes the Retained tier effective; the Retained tier creates the conditions under which Embedded becomes a natural evolution; the Pre-Exit tier turns governance maturity into a defended exit valuation.
The Methodology
The Adversarial Methodology
The Red Team Protocol, the Risk Simulation Lab, and the Pre-Mortem Diagnostic, deployed across every SGaaS tier on the cadence each tier supports.
For FTSE 350 Boards
Provision 29 Readiness
The first internal controls declarations are signed in 2027, on evidence built during 2026. A fixed-scope diagnostic that builds the evidence chain behind the signature, delivered through Tier 1.
Diagnostic SGaaS
Governance Architecture Assessment
A structured, adversarial assessment of the organisation's governance architecture, identifying structural defects, value gaps, and capability shortfalls. The low-risk entry point for boards that recognise the governance gap but want evidence before committing to ongoing engagement.
4–8 weeks
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Retained SGaaS
Continuous Adversarial Governance Challenge
Continuous, adversarial governance challenge delivered on an annual retainer across board cycles. Governance Pulse Reports, Board Challenge Memos delivered through the forced deliberation protocol, and Pre-Mortem Diagnostics and Risk Simulation Labs deployed at strategic inflections. The core SGaaS offering.
Annual retainer, ongoing
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Embedded SGaaS
Permanent Board-Level Challenge Function
The Embedded tier provides everything in the Retained tier, plus permanent board-level presence. The SGaaS principal attends board and committee meetings as a contracted Independent Board Observer (or Mandated Advisor to the Risk or Audit Committee) with contractual challenge authority. The principal does not vote and owes no fiduciary duties, a deliberate architectural choice that preserves the independence on which the challenge function depends.
Multi-year, ongoing
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Pre-Exit SGaaS
Exit-Aligned Governance
Pre-VDD governance remediation for PE portfolio companies in the 12–18 months before a sale, IPO, or other liquidity event. We remove the governance and capital-discipline gaps a buyer's diligence team would use to chip the price, before due diligence begins. The engagement delivers an MRMM-scored maturity diagnostic, prioritised remediation, a buyer-ready data room, and an internal Board Assurance Ledger, defending the headline price through exclusivity.
12–18 months pre-exit
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In Practice
Illustrative Engagements
Constructed scenarios showing how each tier operates in practice. Client engagements stay confidential, so we publish illustrations instead.
Diagnostic to Embedded SGaaS: an FCA-Regulated Insurer
Three legacy risk committees, a supervisory letter, and a 90-day window. A four-week Diagnostic maps the gaps; an Embedded rebuild produces an architecture the board can defend.
Read the illustration →Retained SGaaS: a Listed UK Mid-Cap
A new audit committee chair faces the Provision 29 declaration. A continuous retainer builds the year of minuted independent challenge the board signs against.
Read the illustration →Pre-Exit SGaaS: a PE-Backed Business Services Group
Twelve to eighteen months before a planned sale, the engagement removes the findings a buyer's diligence team would otherwise price against.
Read the illustration →Which tier applies to you?
Most engagements begin with a Diagnostic. Schedule a 30-minute confidential call and we'll identify the right entry point.
Schedule a Confidential CallQuick questions first? Read the Frequently Asked Questions.