Sharp perspectives on the technology that&#x27;s reshaping your world.

Joe Treherne25 Mar 20266 min

The shadow IT problem isn't the IT, it's the shadow

Unsanctioned tools thrive where the sanctioned ones fail. Chasing the tooling misses the point, the real work is understanding why people reached for the shadows in the first place.

Matthew Buley24 Mar 20265 min

The bridge

When large IT outsourcing engagements move from procurement into delivery, the work that determines whether the relationship thrives or fractures happens in the spaces nobody owns. The bridge is most valuable when it is least noticed. That is precisely why it so often goes unfilled, and why that absence is costly.

The Lost Art of the Meeting Minute

AI note-takers promise to free us from the drudgery of minutes. But the discipline of deciding what mattered — and who owns it — was never really about transcription.

Jeremy Olsen18 Mar 20265 min

Matthew Buley10 Mar 20268 min

Twelve years on, what the Horizon replacement tender tells us

A generational replacement programme is finally out to tender. The way it has been shaped reveals how much and how little has been learned about large-scale public delivery.

Matthew Buley24 Feb 20266 min

The Police Database retreat

When a flagship data programme quietly steps back, the headlines fade fast. The lessons on scope, consent and delivery discipline should not.

Matt Shumer says the sky is on fire. What should you do about it?

Matt Shumer’s X post on the near-term implications of AI has more than 80M views and has attracted wide-spread press coverage. In this response Refractis’s own James Todd seeks to sift the hype from the reality.

James Todd13 Feb 20265 min

Stop the trAIn, I want to get off!

The artificial intelligence revolution has arrived with the subtlety of a freight train at full throttle. Across boardrooms and IT departments worldwide, there's a palpable sense of urgency to "do something with AI.” The fear of being left behind is real, the competitive pressures are mounting, and the promise of efficiency gains is tantalising. But in this headlong rush toward an AI-enabled future, are we moving too fast for our own good?

Jeremy Olsen12 Feb 20269 min

When the Machine Says No

Automated decisions are only as defensible as the governance behind them. As AI moves from advice to action, the right to a human answer becomes a design decision.

Jeremy Olsen12 Feb 20267 min

Mythos, Quantum, and the Cyber Challenge

Quantum is coming for today's cryptography — eventually. Separating the myth from the migration is the first step to a credible crypto-agility roadmap.

Jeremy Olsen28 Jan 20267 min

The AI Fire Drill

Boards want an AI answer yesterday. Treating it as a fire drill produces motion, not progress — the foundations of data, governance and infrastructure still come first.

Jeremy Olsen14 Jan 20265 min

Agent overload – the growing problem of agentic sprawl

Every team is spinning up agents. Without ownership, observability and guardrails, agentic sprawl becomes the shadow IT story of the next decade.

Jeremy Olsen16 Dec 20256 min

Andrew Button2 Dec 20257 min

Beyond Cloud First: The Rise of Sovereign and Hybrid Data Centres

The pendulum is swinging back. Sovereignty, cost and control are pushing organisations toward hybrid estates — and a more honest conversation about where workloads belong.

Hayley Carlton27 Feb 20253 min

VRPs – the one to watch in 2025

Variable Recurring Payments offer incremental improvements for businesses and consumers across the payment journey. Joe Treherne explores why VRPs are the payment method to watch.

Richard Wilcock1 Feb 20259 min

How Low Can You Go? A retrospective

Richard revisits his 2021 low-code platform directory to see which predictions held up and what has changed in the market.

Tom Mulledy15 Jan 20253 min

SaaS Project Management Tooling: Boosting Productivity or Adding Digital Noise?

Is the proliferation of SaaS project management tools genuinely boosting productivity, or just adding digital noise?

Richard Wilcock1 Jan 20253 min

A Case for Independent Technical Delivery Management

Why do tales from IT transformations often sound like survivor accounts from disaster zones? The case for independent technical delivery management.

2024: A Year in Review

Matt Buley reflects on his experience in 2024 and his first full year as a consultant at Refractis.

Matthew Buley15 Dec 20246 min

Matthew Buley15 Nov 20244 min

Are Your IT Suppliers Holding You Back?

What makes a strong IT partner, how they can support you through a transformation, and how to get a good deal.

M&A

Mergers & Acquisitions in IT Operations Management: A Strategic Approach

A holistic and strategic approach to M&A IT integration using standardised frameworks, strong project management, and clear communication.

Jonathan Sturtridge1 Nov 20244 min

IT transformation done right?

Why do tales from IT Transformations often sound like survivor accounts from disaster zones? How do you balance the risk of fixing security vulnerabilities against the requirement for an AI tool

Matthew Buley1 Oct 20245 min

Richard Wilcock11 Sept 20242 min

How to defend against Broadcom's VMware license price hikes

Now may be the time to review estate exposure to key technology vendors. We discuss the importance of analysing vendors to assess their track record and the impact to your business.

M&A

The value of contingency planning

If you are in the middle of an IT change programme or are about to initiate one, why not spend some time reviewing your risk management approach and contingency plans. Don’t be left without a river to swim in!

Jeremy Olsen12 Aug 20244 min

Delivering Business Value from Regulatory Change

How organisations can extract real business value from what is often seen as a purely compliance-driven activity.

Hayley Carlton1 Jun 20243 min

Tom Mulledy2 Feb 20244 min

Transformational Procurement

When seeking new, complex, business-critical technology services, it's about more than buying something or saving costs. This is where transformational procurement comes in.

Richard Wilcock20 Apr 20224 min

Multi-cloud: A complex strategy with new challenges

Many cloud service providers give the impression that multi-cloud is a simple way to spread risk. In reality, it's more complicated.

Jeremy Olsen26 Nov 20214 min

Good foundations – the CMDB challenge

A good CMDB is a foundational building block for high-quality service management. With many organisations struggling to implement them, is there a different way?

Ransomware

Ransomware is the latest scourge to hit businesses and their IT. It can shutter companies completely — so what steps can you take to protect yourself?

Jonathan Sturtridge22 Sept 20214 min

Richard Wilcock20 Aug 20213 min

How low can you go? Part 4

In the final part of his series, Richard draws conclusions on how to get the best value from low-code platforms and introduces the Refractis low-code directory.

How low can you go? Part 3

In the third part of this series we look at developing applications using low code and no code solutions and ask whether they can accelerate traditional development.

Richard Wilcock28 Jul 20214 min

How low can you go? Part 2

In the second part of this series we look at low code data platforms and their ability to supplant spreadsheets as the power user's productivity tool of choice.

Richard Wilcock12 Jul 20213 min

How low can you go?

The first in a series exploring how low-code platforms can address integration challenges and help enterprises connect disparate systems.

Richard Wilcock25 Jun 20213 min

AI: The only way is ethics

Rapid advances in machine learning technology have broadened the capability of AI systems. But how do we make sure that they are reaching fair conclusions?

Jeremy Olsen21 May 20214 min

Jonathan Sturtridge7 May 20213 min

VDI in the cloud era

Moving legacy, data-heavy applications to the cloud can cause performance issues. Can Virtual Desktop Infrastructure provide a solution by relocating user compute closer to application data?

Richard Wilcock21 Apr 20213 min

Virtualisation in the cloud era

Over two decades VMware moved from cool tech start-up to corporate mainstream, but what place does it have in a world dominated by cloud?

Jeremy Olsen9 Apr 20215 min

Refractis at one: IT trends for the year ahead

As Refractis celebrates its first birthday, we look back over the last 12 months and pick out some key trends that have the potential to challenge how IT is delivered.

Jonathan Sturtridge29 Mar 20213 min

Over-learning lessons

Staying agile is key to remaining competitive. Although, learning lessons from previous mistakes and triumphs can improve performance, it can sometimes lead to calcification of process, thus hampering agility. An operating model tune-up offers an alternative approach.

Richard Wilcock19 Mar 20212 min

The true cost of on-premise IT

Many companies are not measuring all aspects of on-premise IT spend. You can't manage what you can't measure — so what are you missing?