Work With Alex

Work directly
with the founder.

Brainwave Asset Intelligence is a boutique advisory founded and led by Alex Brain: 26 years in Enterprise Asset Management, SC-cleared, and formerly Operations Director of an 85-person, £22m consultancy practice serving Defence and Government. Every engagement is led personally.

Engagement Models

Six ways to work together.

01  ·  Foundation Readiness Assessment
Know where you stand before you commit budget.
A fixed-scope, four-week diagnostic of your asset data, governance and organisational readiness, delivered as a board-ready report with a costed, sequenced roadmap. From £24,500, with complex estates scoped individually. See what the four weeks cover.
02  ·  AI Strategy Playbook Session
Is it the right idea, and has it been thought through?
Two half-day sessions with a written playbook developed between them, testing whether your AI ambition is the right one and what would have to be true for it to work. £12,500. More on the playbook session.
03  ·  Board & Executive Advisory
The calls you cannot take alone.
Monthly counsel for founders, chief executives and boards growing a business rather than running a steady one. The hiring you cannot undo, the contract that changes the shape of the firm, the year you outgrow how you have always worked. Direct access, honest answers, and no seat to protect.
04  ·  Interim & Fractional Leadership
Senior capability, embedded for a defined period.
At function level: head of asset intelligence, data governance lead, or EAM programme director. At business level: fractional COO or operations director. Active SC clearance means no vetting queue on Defence and Government programmes.
05  ·  Growth & Operating Model Advisory
For the firms doing the delivering.
For consultancies and technical services businesses scaling into Defence and Government: operating model, delivery capacity, bid machine, and the senior hiring that has to come first. Built from taking one from four people to eighty five and £22m, including the parts that went wrong.
06  ·  Associate & Bid Support
Domain depth for consultancies and integrators.
Cleared, senior EAM and IWMS capability across IBM Maximo, TRIRIGA, Archibus, Planon and SAP PM for firms that need domain depth on Defence and Government pursuits and delivery.
Foundation Readiness Assessment

What the four weeks actually cover.

Scope agreed at kick off and fixed for the engagement, led personally by our founder. From £24,500.

Week 1
Kick off, workshop and first interviews.
Kick off with the sponsor to confirm the asset classes in scope and the reporting regime the assessment is tested against. You provide access to the asset data, either as an extract or read-only access to the backend, whichever your security posture allows. A one-day workshop walks the asset lifecycle end to end, how records are created, updated, validated and retired, with the people who do it in the room. Then up to five one-hour interviews.
Week 2
The people who actually hold the answers.
The first block almost always surfaces people who were not named at kick off. Week two is up to five further one-hour interviews with them.
Week 3
Analysis.
The data is tested for duplicate records, missing attributes, inconsistent condition classification and unvalidated metadata, and worked against what the workshop and interviews established about how the record is actually maintained rather than how the process says it should be.
Week 4
Findings, presented and challenged.
Findings presented to your board or programme leadership, with a maturity score you can be re-measured against, scored against the Asset Intelligence Framework across Governance, Data Maturity and AI Readiness, a gap map, and a costed and sequenced roadmap. Time is set aside for questions and challenge.
What we need from you
  • One sponsor, available at kick off and at the week four presentation
  • Asset data, as an extract or read-only backend access
  • Attendance at a one-day workshop
  • Up to ten hours of interview time, across a maximum of ten one-hour interviews
What it does not cover
  • It does not fix the data. This is the Assess stage. Remediation is scoped separately from the roadmap it produces.
  • It is bounded to your system of record: Maximo Application Suite, Maximo 7.6, Planon, TRIRIGA, SAP PM, or another EAM, IWMS, CMMS or CAFM platform. Asset data held outside that system is out of scope unless agreed at kick off.
  • It is not a cyber or penetration assessment, and not a platform selection or procurement exercise.
  • It does not cover frontline, clinical, citizen-facing or operational technology systems.
  • Estates without a single system of record, and estates whose scale exceeds what four weeks allows, are scoped on enquiry before any price is agreed.
  • All prices exclude VAT.
Request a Briefing
Track Record

The record behind the advice.

Delivered across a 26-year career in Enterprise Asset Management, prior to founding Brainwave Asset Intelligence:

  • Scaled a UK consultancy practice from 4 people to more than 85 and £22m in revenue across Defence, Government and regulated sectors.
  • Led the Defence Infrastructure Organisation portfolio: 900 sites, 96,000 buildings and more than 130,000 accommodation assets.
  • Grew a Ministry of Defence account from £1.8m to more than £7m a year at 99% SLAs, contributing to an industry award with DIO.
  • Played a key role in securing the £50m+ seven-year VIVO programme and a £21m DIO renewal.
  • TRIRIGA World Award 2024, Best Long Term Journey.
  • Delivered CMMS and data warehouse technology across 50 countries and 120 locations for global enterprise clients.

References available on request.

26
Years of Enterprise Asset Management experience behind every engagement
SC
Active SC clearance, useful from day one on Defence and Government programmes
MBA
MBA, plus the AI-Driven Business Transformation Executive Programme at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Common Questions

What clients ask about working with Alex

What is a fractional COO?

A fractional COO is a senior operations leader who works inside a business for part of each month rather than full time. They own the operating model, delivery capacity and operating rhythm, and they are accountable for results, without the cost or commitment of a full-time executive hire. Alex Brain takes fractional COO and operations director roles for consultancies and technical services businesses, particularly those scaling into Defence and Government.

Who is fractional COO support right for?

Founder-led consultancies and technical services firms that have outgrown how they have always worked. The usual signs: growth has outpaced delivery capacity, bids and delivery are competing for the same people, senior hires are overdue, or the founder is still the operating system. It suits firms that need senior operational leadership now but are not yet ready, or not yet sure, to hire a permanent COO.

What experience does Alex Brain bring to a fractional COO role?

Alex was Operations Director of a UK consultancy practice that grew from 4 people to more than 85 and £22m in revenue across Defence, Government and regulated sectors. That included growing a Ministry of Defence account from £1.8m to more than £7m a year at 99% SLAs, and a key role in securing the £50m+ seven-year VIVO programme. The advice comes from having built the operating model, the bid machine and the senior team, including the parts that went wrong.

How is a fractional or interim engagement structured?

Each engagement is scoped at the outset: the role, the time commitment each month, the outcomes it is accountable for, and a defined end point or review. Fractional roles run alongside the existing leadership team. Interim roles cover a gap, such as a departure or a programme that needs senior ownership now, and include handover to a permanent appointment. Fees are agreed per engagement, based on the role, the time commitment and the outcomes in scope.

What is the difference between fractional leadership and board advisory?

Board and Executive Advisory is monthly counsel with no operational seat: direct access and honest answers on the decisions that shape the firm. Fractional or interim leadership is embedded in the business and accountable for delivery. Many clients start with advisory and move to a fractional role once the scale of the operational work is clear.

Does SC clearance matter for fractional and interim roles?

On Defence and Government work, yes. Alex holds active SC clearance, so there is no vetting queue before starting on a cleared programme or bid.

Start the Conversation

A limited number of engagements
are taken on at any one time.

If the foundations question is live in your organisation, or you need cleared, senior asset management capability on a programme or a bid, start with a conversation.

Book an Introductory Call