V&F Consulting
Case stories

Four engagements, and what changed.

Client names are withheld unless the client has agreed to be named.

AI SaaS company

From idea to a production AI Employee in under 60 days.

SituationThe company sold AI Employees to customers but had no shared runtime, SDK or test harness to build them safely.

What we did
  • Designed and built the agent runtime, internal SDKs and a management console.
  • Replaced manual regression testing with an autonomous QA loop.
  • Took the platform through an external pen test and HIPAA readiness.
  • 100+ in production
  • < 60 days to deploy
  • Low-severity pen test only
Global enterprise · IBM, 2024

The monitoring bill was $100K a month. Now it's $7K.

SituationMonitoring tools had been added team by team for years, and nobody owned the total bill.

What we did
  • Inventoried every monitoring tool, data source and the teams that relied on each one.
  • Consolidated onto a smaller platform set with retention matched to how the data was actually used.
  • Put the remaining spend under one owner with a monthly review.
  • $1.1M saved per year
  • −93% monthly cost
  • Enterprise-wide scope
FinTech wealth platform · Deputy CTO

Enterprise deals were waiting on SOC 2. It took 90 days.

SituationProspects would not sign without a SOC 2 report, and the backend also had to support new products without slowing releases.

What we did
  • Mapped existing practices to SOC 2 controls in the first two weeks and fixed the gaps in priority order.
  • Built access reviews, logging and vendor management into tools the team already used.
  • Split services behind a dedicated API layer so web and mobile teams could ship independently.
  • SOC 2 in 90 days
  • Microservices + BFF
  • Deals unblocked
Global enterprise · IBM

50,000 people changed ticketing systems. Not one of them lost a working day.

SituationOne of the largest BMC Remedy instances in the world had to move to ServiceNow while the business kept running.

What we did
  • Planned the cutover in waves, with a full rehearsal and a rollback path for each.
  • Ran old and new systems in parallel until data and workflows matched.
  • Coordinated support teams so users had help on the day their group moved.
  • 50,000+ users
  • Zero downtime
  • Remedy → ServiceNow
Impact

What changed, and by how much.

Each chart has its own unit. Indexed charts set the starting value to 100. Hover or focus a bar for exact values.

  • Before
  • After V&F

Monitoring cost per month

$1.1M saved per year
−93%
Before$100K / month
After$7K / month
Global enterprise · IBM, 2024

Deployment time

4+ hours down to under 5 minutes
48× faster
Before4+ hours
After< 5 min
IBM cloud platform, 2022–2023

Open vulnerabilities, indexed

Across 1,500 repositories
−97%
Before100
After3
Before = 100 · IBM, 2024

AWS spend, indexed

Through re-architecture and consolidation
−70%
Before100
After30
Before = 100 · IBM, 2022–2023

Production incidents, indexed

After the OpenShift and microservices migration
−90%
Before100
After10
Before = 100 · IBM, 2022–2023

Time to SOC 2

Typical first audits take 6 to 12 months (industry estimate)
90 days
Typical6–12 months
V&F90 days
FinTech wealth platform
Selected engagements

The work, as a spec sheet.

ai-employee-platform
AI SaaS company
agents_in_production
100+
idea_to_deployed
< 60 days
pen_test
low severity only
compliance
HIPAA-ready
qa
autonomous regression loop
role
architect + builder

A production platform for customer-facing AI Employees, secured from the first design review.

monitoring-replatform
Global enterprise · IBM
monthly_cost
$100K → $7K
annual_savings
$1.1M
reduction
−93%
scope
enterprise monitoring stack
role
chief enterprise architect

The same visibility for a fraction of the bill, with one owner for the spend.

devsecops-remediation
Global enterprise · IBM
repositories
1,500
vulnerabilities
−97%
secrets_remediated
100k+
developers
200+
approach
pipeline-enforced

Credentials out of the code, and pipelines that keep them out.

itsm-migration
Global enterprise · IBM
users
50,000+
platform
BMC Remedy → ServiceNow
downtime
zero
instance
one of the world's largest Remedy installs
cutover
phased, rehearsed

A system of record replaced while the business kept working.

cloud-delivery
Global enterprise · IBM
aws_cost
−70%
prod_incidents
−90%
deploy_time
4h+ → < 5 min
platform
OpenShift microservices
developers
250+

Cheaper to run, faster to ship and calmer to operate.

fintech-soc2
FinTech wealth platform
soc2
in 90 days
role
deputy CTO
architecture
microservices + BFF
tenure
2023 – 2026
outcome
enterprise deals unblocked

Compliance that sales could point to, on an architecture that scales.

mortgage-servicer
Mortgage servicer · $50B+ portfolio
annual_savings
$800K+
deploy_time
−70%
tech_budget
$35M
arb
established
role
architecture + SRE lead

Vendor and cloud spend cut, with a review board to keep it that way.

accounting-firm
Powers Accounting
stack
NinjaOne RMM
network
rack + Wi-Fi redesigned
support
managed IT
endpoints
monitored + patched
owner
one accountable partner

Mike has been an invaluable asset to our small accounting firm. Justin Ferguson, Manager

Products & board service

Things we build, run and govern.

Product · consultos.sh

ConsultOS

A self-hosted operating system for independent consultants: CRM, deals, time, invoices and contracts. Your records also live as plain markdown files in a vault you control, and a read-only MCP server lets your own AI assistant search them.

Self-hostedMCP serverLocal AI option
Visit consultos.sh
Board seat · public safety

SmartProtect Predict Platform

Forecasts emergency call volume and recommends staffing, so agencies put the right number of people on each shift. Michael serves on the SmartProtect board and advises on the platform's architecture.

ForecastingStaffingCJIS-aware
Board service

Three boards

  • SmartProtect Public SafetyPublic-safety software company
  • Field & Fork NetworkBoard member
  • Cicero–Plank Road Chamber of CommerceLocal business chamber

“… remediating over 100k code secrets and leading complex migrations.”

Gary GiventalSenior Enterprise Architect

“It was refreshing to have his frank and honest evaluation of how the work was going, and how it could be improved.”

Sean McKellSoftware Engineer

“Michael led the charge to burn down years of technical coding debt … in months when others failed to unpack the volume of change needed.”

Robert HowertonHead of MSS Engineering and Operations

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