Secure Delivery Review – Insurance
Sector: Insurance
Role: Lead Consultant
Engagement: Structured assessment and strategic advisory
Type: Structured delivery and risk review
A global insurance mutual needed clarity. Delivery was functioning – but confidence was fading.
Architecture diagrams no longer matched reality. Guardrails were unclear. Critical roles were assumed, not owned.
They weren’t in crisis – but they knew they were flying blind.
The Challenge
- Business-critical cloud system with on-prem dependencies
- Blurred ownership across architecture, cyber, and delivery
- Fragile feedback loops between dev, ops, and product
- No documented risks – trust ran on gut feel, not shared evidence
The ask: Where are we exposed? And how do we move forward safely – without slowing delivery down?
What I Did
Designed a review built for trust – not theatre
- Created a Secure Delivery Review format tailored to regulated environments
- Grounded the approach in software delivery realities – not just cyber checklists
- Combined structured interviews, walkthroughs, and artefact reviews with lightweight automation to accelerate insight.
Ran a full-spectrum assessment of change flow
- Interviewed stakeholders across engineering, product, architecture, QA, and ops
- Assessed delivery maturity across 7 dimensions – from secure SDLC to operational resilience
- Used AI tools to accelerate analysis and surface signal from fragmented evidence
Delivered a board-ready roadmap
- Visual maturity snapshot and clear thematic findings
- Prioritised recommendations (Quick Wins + Strategic Enablers)
- Framed all guidance in business-first terms: risk, effort, value
What Changed
From Blind Spots to Shared Clarity
- Surfaced hidden risks in architecture, identity, and feedback loops
- Unified technical and non-technical teams with a shared view of delivery risk
From Gut Feel to Strategic Action
- Equipped leadership with a credible, prioritised action plan
- Enabled better decisions on sequencing, ownership, and investment
From Uncertainty to Trust
- Reframed the review as a reusable leadership tool – not a one-off audit
- Boosted trust in engineering by showing capability, not just gaps
Reflections
In regulated environments, ambiguity is a risk vector. This engagement proved that high-trust, delivery-grounded insight doesn’t just reduce risk – it builds confidence across teams.
When the review builds trust, not fear, change becomes not just safer – but faster.
Scaling past two teams – and delivery’s feeling risky?
I help scale-ups stabilise delivery, align leadership, and keep pace as systems grow more complex. Let’s make delivery predictable again.
Book a 20-minute discovery call