Peace of mind
You know what you have, what to do and in what order. Someone on your side keeps the whole picture in view, and your decisions can be defended before the council, the board and auditors.
Digital change in an organisation. With an advisor who translates between the board, IT and vendors.
Krogis is the independent digitalisation advisory of Wojciech Kroczak: I advise the boards of public offices, municipal companies and firms on digital transformation, from an inventory of the current state, through defining the expected results, a roadmap of changes and projects, an assessment of readiness for change, risk mitigation, planning of standards, a digitalisation strategy and a user adoption strategy, to support in conversations about potential solutions and implementations. The board is responsible for digitalisation and the change management that comes with it. I translate strategy and needs into requirements and organisational procedures, help you lead conversations with vendors, and support the organisation on its way through the change. As a rule we start with an inventory of IT systems and of the organisation as a whole: 2–6 weeks, below the public-procurement threshold.
- I reply within 2 working days
- First call: 30 minutes, no charge
- Independent of vendors
- Public sector – local governmentan EZD-class system, integration of line-of-business systems, KSC, defending the budget before the council
- Public utility companiesKSeF, e-Doręczenia, ERP, document workflow, digital archive, electronic procurement proceedings, digital personnel files, e-signatures
- BusinessIT system rollouts, vendor meetings, digital management of board meetings, systems integration, process optimisation, agentic AI
What you get out of it.
Better results
Digitalisation serves the organisation’s goals and people adopt the new way of working, so the investment pays off in everyday work, not just in a presentation.
Fewer reefs and mistakes
You steer clear of the wrong technologies and vendors, and of the vendor lock-in trap. Requirements written down before purchase mean fewer fixes after go-live.
The cost of a mistake. An advisor usually costs less than a single badly chosen technology, a single wrong vendor or a single trap in a contract. See how I lead digital transformation.
Who is missing from the table when the vendor shows up.
The supplier comes with an offer, the integrator with a template, the IT department with the daily upkeep of systems. In most organisations, nobody has four things in their job description.
- An interpreter of needsThe organisation knows how it works, but describes it in the language of everyday work: “that’s how we’ve always done it”. A supplier needs requirements: scenarios, rules and acceptance criteria. Someone has to draw them out of you and write them down, otherwise the system gets whatever fits the template.
- An ongoing dialogue with the vendorWritten requirements have to be checked along the way, not at the end: ease of use, how processes run, integrations, speed and data volumes. Without that, the organisation learns about problems at acceptance or after go-live, when fixes cost the most.
- A point of referenceToday’s way of working is familiar and fitted to the people, flaws and all. Without measuring how things stand now (number of steps, operation time, volumes), it is hard to tell whether things are better after the change.
- Strategic safeguarding of continuityBuyers don’t usually ask about it and suppliers don’t volunteer it, so it only surfaces after go-live: dependence on a single manufacturer (vendor lock-in), response time and speed, total cost of ownership, the ability to change supplier, and user experience (UX). Someone has to ask before the start.
Check for yourselves. Can you describe to a supplier, in a verifiable way, what in the new system must work as well as it does today? Who on your side will say “this is not what we need” and justify it in the language of requirements? Who will check that the system can cope with your data volume before your users do? Who will ask the supplier about response time, total cost of ownership and the ability to change supplier before you sign the contract? If the answer is “we don’t know”, that is exactly this role. We start with the inventory, because it gives you a point of reference, and then move on to requirements and oversight of their delivery.
For more than 20 years, my job was translating stakeholders’ goals into the language of project delivery.
For two decades I worked on the vendor’s side, responsible for working out what the business really needed — even when it couldn’t put that clearly into words itself. Today I offer the same skill to boards from the other side of the table: the client’s.
- ~20 years
- of experience in requirements and implementation
- 2008–2026
- continuous work with local government
- 16
- documents and tools delivered by the inventory
The board and IT sometimes see the same things from different angles. I translate between the two, so that both sides work towards the organisation’s common goals.
This covers inventories, procurement and translating risk into the language of decisions — not security as such. The IT team usually has that knowledge; I help turn it into a board decision, and vice versa.
Five levels of responsibility. We start with a narrow scope and widen it as trust grows.
The same sequence has worked in the digitalisation of local governments and public utility companies: a narrow, concrete scope to begin with, extended to further processes as trust builds.
IT systems and process inventory
A register of applications with owner, contract, licence, cost and end-of-support date. A map of supported and unsupported processes, a map of integrations and manual re-keying. A risk register: single points of failure, vendor lock-in, compliance gaps against KRI (the National Interoperability Framework), NIS 2, e-Doręczenia (the national e-delivery service) and KSeF (the national e-invoicing system). A one-page summary for the board.
KSC / NIS 2 obligations and penalties for the organisation and the board
From the inventory: a systems register and a risk register — the starting point for the risk management required by the National Cybersecurity System Act (KSC). You can’t protect what isn’t on the list.
RIO and NIK inspections, audits can come at any time
From the inventory: a documented A/B/C/D categorisation and a justification for every purchasing decision, ready to show to inspectors.
Digitalisation strategy and target architecture
Layers of registers, processes and integrations. Standards adopted by the organisation: an organisational structure for the permissions model, user-interface standards, the role of data groups in the architecture, process-modelling standards, a 3-year roadmap delivering the agreed goals, guidelines for IT purchasing (e.g. documented APIs), and a structured breakdown of the budget items to be estimated, covering investment and maintenance (total cost of ownership) in line with applicable regulations (KSC, NIS 2, EZD).
Next year’s budget drafted in autumn
The inventory shows what you have, what you’re missing and what needs fixing, plus the total cost of ownership: one-off investment and the running costs you can’t avoid. This is the spending plan the council and the treasurer expect so they can plan future budgets.
KSeF, EZD, workflow, finance and accounting, digital personnel files these require an integrated process
From the inventory: an integration matrix with the finance and accounting system and a list of systems that must exchange data with it.
Change management
A change has to fit the culture of the organisation and the pace of the people who will go through it. I assess the organisational culture, the specifics of the users and the systems they work on today, and on that basis prepare an adoption strategy: who moves to the new way of working, at what pace, with what support and in what order.
It looks different for a department serving residents than for accounting or the technical team. I tailor the communication plan, training and metrics to each of these groups, not to a single, average user. The same applies to AI tools: their adoption depends on people’s trust and on clarity about who is responsible for what.
A pace the organisation is not ready for resistance and overload among people
From the assessment: a map of user groups, their current systems and habits, split into those who will switch quickly and those who need more time and support. One training session for everyone is rarely enough.
Requirements specification for the tender
Interviews, process maps, a data model, fields, views, notifications, integrations and test scenarios, written down before the tender is announced. Plus preparation for vendor conversations: the questions to ask, a purchasing matrix, and attending meetings as the client’s representative. Above all, though, an answer to what success for the rollout means: why we are doing this and what results we expect.
An EZD-class system an announced obligation, with the deadline pushed back to 2029 at the earliest
From the inventory: a document-flow and integration map, migration requirements, contract clauses. Without it, the migration simply carries the old workflow’s mistakes over into the new system. Plus a division of existing and potential functions between systems — for example, which system should handle bulk dispatch of correspondence through e-Doręczenia.
Digitalisation advisor
A monthly meeting with the office’s secretary or the company’s CEO, and the IT manager, a monthly operations-and-risk report, a quarterly digitalisation committee, a quarterly review of risks and critical contracts, and a mandatory advisory opinion before any major purchase.
Scope: IT governance and decision-making, a living systems register, process analysis and optimisation, procurement and vendor-lock-in risk, translating and reviewing risk between the board and IT, the project portfolio.
The first 90 days of a new engagement: an initial assessment and any urgent “red flags”, setting up the registers and a contract review, and a report for the board with a 12–24-month roadmap.
Every one of these obligations starts with the same question: what do we actually have?
The inventory isn’t a separate project alongside choosing an EZD-class (electronic document management) system, KSeF or KSC compliance. It’s the first step of each of them, done once rather than four times over, piece by piece.
Whatever the scope, the route is the same: from scattered, chaotic information to a single decision you can defend.
- ReconnaissanceInterviews, a review of documents and systems, a first picture of the situation, without preconceptions.
- A shared pictureOne consistent map of processes, costs, risks and dependencies — legible to both the board and IT.
- Decision optionsReal options with the consequences, cost and risk of each, with no favouritism towards any vendor.
- Oversight of deliveryPresent on the client’s side during selection, implementation and acceptance — not just at the concept stage.
- Measuring the outcomeChecking whether the decision delivered the expected result — and preparing for the next stage.
After 2–6 weeks the board gets four sets of documents, not a report destined for a drawer.
Built from scratch for your organisation, in an editable format, under a perpetual licence. Sixteen documents and tools in total, forming the foundation for digital transformation and for delivering a long-term IT strategy — among them a presentation and a session for the board, both included in the price.
Foundation · inventory2–6 weeks · below the public-procurement threshold · 16 documents and tools
Knowledge of the current state 4 documents
A one-page summary for the board, an inventory report you can present to the board, the Regional Audit Chamber (RIO) and the Supreme Audit Office (NIK), a spreadsheet with 35 attributes per system, and a matrix of integrations with central government systems. Knowing the “AS IS” state is essential for defining the “TO BE” state.
Strategy and standards for the future 4 documents
A 10-year digitalisation strategy, a catalogue of technical standards, 20 model contract clauses for tender specifications (SWZ), and a policy on the responsible use of AI.
Management tools for future projects 5 tools
A digital-initiative charter, an architecture-review scorecard, an inventory methodology you can repeat yourselves, a register of 20 risks with a heat map, and a change-management plan.
Communication and the board’s decision 3 items
Architecture diagrams, a glossary of around 150 terms and abbreviations, and a 12–15-slide presentation with a 60–90-minute session for the board, included in the price. The presentation covers the identified risks and how to mitigate them, including personal risks for board members.
Public sector – local government
An EZD-class system: an announced obligation, with the deadline pushed back to 2029 at the earliest. Before you choose a route, check what you already have.
The secretary and the treasurer don’t need to know IT architecture. They need a register of systems and contracts, KSC/NIS 2 risks, and a one-page summary they can put in front of the board and the council.
- Help choosing an EZD-class systemA document-flow and integration map, before the migration path is decided.
- Support during the EZD projectVendor conversations, integration discussions, and help organising training.
- Contracts integrated with CRU JSFP, the central register of public-sector contractsEZD seen through the lens of other projects: preparing and drafting contracts together with CRU JSFP integration.
- KSeF invoices and their workflowRetrieving invoices from KSeF, approval on the merits, formal and accounting verification, and transferring invoices to the finance and accounting system.
- Planning further projectsRecruitment and calls for applications, public consultations, digital management of board meetings, and planning, approving and settling business travel.
- KSC / NIS 2A systems and risk register — the starting point for the risk management the law requires.
- A budget you can defend before the councilSplitting IT spending into regulatory obligations and investment, with the cost of inaction.
Public utility companies
Document workflow (KSeF), e-Doręczenia, digital signatures, a digital archive of procurement proceedings, ERP replacement. It pays to bring all of this under one coherent strategy.
The CEO of a district-heating, water-utility or public-transport company gets one recommendation from their own department. A second, independent opinion before signing: what will actually integrate with the finance system, and what it really costs over five years.
- KSeF and invoice workflowAn integration matrix with the finance system, instead of yet another application silo.
- Integration with finance and ERP systemsAn integration requirement written into the specification from day one, not added through a contract amendment after signing.
- Digital personnel files and further modulesA/B/C/D categories and a rollout order, so every module plugs into what is already in place.
- Correspondence management (EZD)Correspondence workflow inside an EZD-class system.
- Digital signaturesChoosing the right type of electronic signature for each use case, to eliminate paper documents.
- Integration with e-DoręczeniaSending and receiving letters through e-Doręczenia without re-entering data between systems.
- Multi-channel correspondenceBuilding and running multi-channel intake and bulk dispatch of correspondence.
Business
You have a project to deliver, and your IT team has its hands full with maintenance. It helps to have someone on your side.
Choosing and rolling out a new ERP, complaint handling, a process-driven CRM, cost-document workflow under KSeF, contract management, employee onboarding and offboarding: I write the requirements with the board, talk to your IT team and to vendors, compare offers (for subsidiaries, against head-office purchasing guidelines), and oversee both the project and the organisational change it brings. You get a concept after a single conversation, in about 2 days.
- 15 minutes of conversation, a concept in 2 daysGathering detailed requirements and writing a specification can be tedious, and people don’t always see where it’s heading. Before that starts, you need a visual sketch of what the board has in mind — to judge the direction before anyone writes the first page of documentation.
- Offers compared against head-office guidelinesA criteria matrix: what matters, what matters less, who offers what, how each vendor answered, my recommendation. You make the decision; the administrative legwork that IT has no time for and the board has no one to assign to, I take on as part of the project’s own cost.
- Representing the board during implementationThe board only comes back to the topic when a decision is actually needed.
- A major head-office project, e.g. a shared ERPVendor meetings, integration discussions, and concise summaries for the board and IT to use in communicating with head office — so the board only returns to the topic for a real decision.
Relationships lasting 8 to 18 years, carried through successive waves of regulation.
KSeF, e-Doręczenia, e-archive, NIS 2, application platforms, process-modelling standards, HR and recruitment processes, financial processes, customer-service processes, building comprehensive application systems integrated with ERP-class systems, e-commerce, B2B marketplaces. The same problems in four very different settings: a local-government office, a municipal company, a port and an industrial corporation. Seeing them from so many angles has built up a wealth of advisory experience.
- 2008–2026Local government
18 years working with local governments on the strategy and architecture of a unified information-exchange platform that forms a genuine e-office. Over 40 modules designed and implemented, including EZD, e-archive, e-board, e-council, e-calls for applications, e-recruitment, public consultations, e-business travel, e-training, councillor support, 12 public registers and two web portals.
- 2019–2026Public utility companies: district heating, water utilities, public transport
Design, implementation and launch of a collaboration and business process management platform covering, among other things, a digital archive of procurement proceedings, digital workflow for cost documents, digital personnel files, correspondence management and legal support.
- 2017–2026An industrial subsidiary of a foreign group
Concept design and implementation of a complete procure-to-pay solution for an international industrial corporation operating in Poland. Acting as change-management lead towards the board, the CFO and the chief accountant. Now in the ninth year of developing a BPM (business process management) system. Further expansions covered processes such as complaints, contracts and amendments, issuing samples, warehouse discrepancies, quality management, powers of attorney, change-approval requests, correspondence management integrated with e-Doręczenia, and handling of payments and bank payment batches integrated with the banking system.
- 2018–2026A container terminal
A CRM system for the customer-service and sales teams, built on a process platform: contacts, website enquiries, offer calculation and preparation, complaints — still in use today. Identifying objectives, requirements analysis and concept design for a stakeholder-relationship-management system.
- 2006–2013A Polish group of manufacturing companies
Concept and objectives design, and implementation of a collaboration platform for 800 users. Requirements and objectives, business and process analysis, and implementation of a process-driven CRM system connecting data across all companies in the group.
And many others, including research institutes, credit unions, municipal offices, electrical-installation companies, energy utilities, residential developers and a nationwide radio station.
Want to know more about my experience? The full résumé on the About page
On the client’s side. In the board’s language, not technology jargon.
- Management and technology experience
- Over 20 years running analyses, gathering requirements, delivering implementations and managing service relationships directly with boards, CFOs and IT directors.
- Knowledge of local government, municipal companies and business
- Work with local governments, water utilities, district-heating companies, public-transport operators, the energy sector, manufacturing firms, container terminals, logistics companies, residential developers, banks and insurance companies.
- Turning business goals into technology, risk and final decisions
- Risk registers, three-year investment roadmaps and requirements documentation against which contracts and public registers are accepted. Real support for decision-making.
- Supporting boards through decisionsI understand the goals and concerns a board faces and guide it through the subject of digitalisation so it can have a meaningful conversation with its own IT team — not just accept ready-made recommendations.
- The client’s representative to vendorsI prepare vendor questions, a purchasing matrix to compare offers, and interoperability criteria for an informed decision — and for the audit that follows later.
- Prototyping intent: 15 minutes, a concept in ~2 daysA board can describe a problem in fifteen minutes, but has no time to write down requirements. I do — and I come back with a concept or a prototype before the project has incurred its first cost.
- The board’s representative on the delivery teamOnce a project is under way, I keep it aligned with the original intent in the day-to-day meetings — the board only returns to the topic when a decision is genuinely needed.
- Planning AI in the organisationAI doesn’t ask for permission – it’s turning the business models we know upside down. Today, every company is becoming a technology company, regardless of industry. Sales, marketing, operations, customer service, routine desk work: within a few years, the lion’s share of this work will be done by artificial intelligence. Adapting to this change is no longer an ambition or a trend. It is the only way to remain competitive.
Four principles every engagement is built on.
Set out plainly, because these are the questions secretaries, CEOs and IT managers ask before letting an outsider into their systems.
- Independence from vendorsI don’t sell systems, licences or implementations, and I don’t take commission from any vendor. My recommendation may well be “don’t buy” or “stay with what you have”.
- ConfidentialityA non-disclosure agreement before the first document. Information about your systems, contracts and costs never goes to other clients or into case studies without your consent.
- Ownership of the deliverablesThe registers, maps, standards and clauses are yours, in an editable format, with no time limit. You can keep maintaining them yourselves or with a different advisor.
- Personal dataThe inventory covers systems, contracts and processes, not residents’ or customers’ data. I don’t look into databases; if access is unavoidable, only on your own equipment and with formal authorisation.
Before you get in touch: answers to the most common questions.
How much does an IT systems inventory cost for a public office or a company?
Depending on the number of systems and departments, the price for 2–6 weeks of work stays below the public-procurement threshold, and you receive a full set of strategic documents at the end. Because it is below the threshold, the contract does not require a procedure under the Public Procurement Law. I confirm the exact price after a short conversation about the scale of your organisation.
We have a deadline for the rollout. Won’t the inventory delay it?
No. It takes 2–6 weeks and ends with requirements, contract clauses and an integration matrix — things you’d need to prepare before the tender anyway. It usually shortens tender preparation, because it replaces gathering vendor offers as the starting point.
We have our own IT department. Why do we need an outside advisor?
IT evaluates solutions technically. The board needs someone to evaluate them from its own perspective — risk, total cost, regulatory compliance, the organisation’s interests in dealings with the vendor — independently of IT’s recommendation, not instead of it. It’s a second, independent opinion, not competition for your own team.
What’s the difference between a digitalisation advisor and a fractional CIO?
It’s the same role known internationally as a “fractional CIO” — in Poland it simply goes by a Polish name. The difference lies in where the line is drawn: Krogis doesn’t take over the IT department or its budget, and doesn’t manage the technical staff. It represents the board — translating its intent into requirements, and helping IT put its needs into language the board will understand and accept. It’s an advisory, translating and representative role, not a managerial one over the technical team.
How do we prepare our organisation for a new IT system?
Start with what you already have: which systems, data, integrations and contracts the new system is meant to replace or work alongside. Appoint someone on your side who owns process decisions, and agree on how you’ll know the rollout succeeded. Write the requirements in the language of your processes, and only then talk to vendors. The inventory gives you that starting point in 2–6 weeks.
When should we replace a system, and when should we modernise it?
A system that supports the process well and still has vendor support is usually worth developing further. A system without support, with manual re-entry of data and rising maintenance cost, is a candidate for replacement. Compare the total cost over several years, not just the price of a new licence, and count how many integrations and how much data will need to move. The system categorisation from the inventory brings order to this decision for the whole organisation at once.
How does implementing a system differ from changing an organisation?
An implementation ends with acceptance: the system works. A change ends when people work the new way every day. The first is ordered from a vendor; the second requires an assessment of the culture and the users, and an adoption plan. More: change management.
Is it worth introducing AI in an office or a company?
It is, if there is a concrete goal, a described process and a named decision owner. Start by putting data and processes in order, by building a register of where AI is already in use, and by setting rules for its use. AI will not fix chaos, it will only speed it up. Legal obligations depend on how it is used, so it is worth checking them for specific use cases.
Let’s talk about the decision, before a vendor makes it for you.
Write to: wojciech.kroczak@krogis.pl
Call: +48 516 401 658
- I reply within 2 working days
- First call: 30 minutes, no charge
- Nothing to prepare beforehand