Management consulting engagements don’t necessarily end when the initial project goals are achieved. In some cases, companies continue working with their consulting partner to deepen the lessons learned during the engagement and apply them to additional areas. That follow-up phase runs for upwards of months. This week, we got a look at how such long-term management consulting partnerships work in practice from Abbie Mood, the marketing director of Velocity Advisory Group. We also took a brief tour through the Confluent and GitHub ecosystems with two of the software providers’ most important consulting partners. Plus, news from data center operator DartPoints, Cabin Consulting and Forvis Mazars.

Making corporate leadership teams more effective. Velocity Advisory Group and TMA Performance, two management consultancies that specialize in workforce optimization, have launched a new service called ExecEDGE. It’s designed to help executives find ways of collaborating with one another more effectively. The offering has two components. The first, ExecEDGE Comprehensive, produces a report that identifies areas for improvement in a leadership team’s work methods. The second component of the offering, ExecEDGE Pulse, kicks in six months later. It provides executives with information on how much progress they have made toward becoming more productive. Velocity Advisory Group’s Abbie Mood described it as “essentially a snapshot of how team dynamics, communication, and decision-making have evolved since the initial ExecEDGE assessment.”

“A Pulse survey enables executive teams to track progress and build on early wins in a tangible way,” Mood elaborated. “This process not only measures improvement but reinforces accountability and alignment around shared goals. It turns one-time insights into an ongoing development journey.”

Award-winning Apache Kafka clusters. Kafka is a core pillar of the enterprise software stack that is practically unknown outside corporate IT departments. It’s an open-source tool that can stream millions of data points per hour between two applications without skipping a single item or accidently sending something twice. That kind of fast, highly reliable communication is table-stakes for many workloads, but extremely difficult to implement. Kafka spares developers the hassle. 

Kafka’s creators have founded a Nasdaq-listed company called Confluent that sells commercial versions of the software. Last week, Confluent issued its annual Enablement Partner of the Year – AMER award to a Dallas-based consultancy called Improving. We reached out to the consultancy, which employs more than 2,500 people worldwide, to learn about professional services firms’ role in the Kafka ecosystem.

The paid versions of Kafka sold by Confluent automate many of the maintenance tasks that companies would otherwise entrust to a consultancy. Nevertheless, Improving says that there’s still a need for professional services.

Sarthak Routh, Improving’s partner marketing manager for Confluent, explained that “while Confluent Cloud does simplify many aspects of Kafka setup and maintenance, partnering with an external consultancy like Improving becomes essential when organizations need to go beyond out-of-the-box capabilities.” He added that outside expertise is particularly valuable “for enterprises dealing with complex data architectures, hybrid environments, or industry-specific compliance needs”

Kafka consulting contracts don’t focus solely on offloading the technical heavylifting to an outside services provider. In many cases, companies also take the opportunity to familiarize their internal IT teams with the software. Improving has “helped clients across healthcare, finance, and manufacturing unlock real-time data value through hands-on workshops, custom Kafka connectors, and AI-powered migration accelerators,” Routh said. “We don’t just implement—we empower internal teams to become Kafka champions, ensuring long-term success and self-sufficiency.”

Eficode wins a new partner accolade. Confluent is far from being the only software vendor that maintains a partner award program. Microsoft’s GitHub unit also has one. It recently issued its annual Security Services and Channel Partner of the Year award to Eficode, a Finnish consultancy that previously won the EMEA version of the accolade in 2024. The firm is fresh off the acquisition of a GitHub and Azure consultancy called Solidify.

There are certain parallels between the GitHub and Confluent partner programs. Both companies have automated some of the manual work involved in using their software, but rely on partners to help clients with more advanced tasks. 

“Turning on GitHub is easy; transforming it into a secure, automated, and value-driving development platform is not. That’s where specialized partners make the difference,” Eficode CEO Patrik Sallner told Boardroom Insight.

“Our experience across hundreds of enterprise implementations shows that success isn’t just about deployment—it’s about integration, governance, and cultural alignment,” Sallner said. “We’ve increased developer productivity using GitHub Copilot and CI/CD automation and made teams compliant with platform policies and advanced security practices.”

A new hyperconverged private cloud. Dallas-based DartPoints operates 11 data centers across 5 states. It also provides professional services that help customers manage the IT equipment they host in those data centers. The latest addition to the company’s solutions portfolio is a private cloud offering based on technology from Nutanix, a Nasdaq-listed IT vendor.

Nutanix sells hyperconverged infrastructure appliances, servers that come preconfigured with storage drives and management software. Having everything in one pre-integrated package, which is not how data center equipment was historically shipped, eases administrators’ work. Furthermore, IT teams can use Nutanix software to manage servers made by third-party vendors and public cloud infrastructure.

DartPoints’ new private cloud offering provides access to Nutanix-powered infrastructure hosted in its data centers. The offering uses the vendor’s Flow software to isolate resources from one another at the network level, which improves cybersecurity. On the professional services side, DartPoints engineers manage customers’ Nutanix infrastructure and help with tasks such as workload migration.

“Our partnership with Nutanix strengthens DartPoints’ ability to deliver tailored solutions across the managed infrastructure continuum,” DartPoints president and CEO Scott Willis told Boardroom Insight. “Private Cloud is the first offering we’re enhancing with the Nutanix platform, enabling us to deliver agile, high-performance environments that meet each customer’s unique requirements. Over time, we see Nutanix powering more solutions within our portfolio giving customers even greater choice and control as their needs evolve.”

Those additional offerings will start rolling out next year. DartPoints plans to introduce Nutanix-powered infrastructure optimized for generative AI applications and containerized workloads.

Cabin Consulting acquires Cloud Connects. Cabin is a North Carolina-based digital consultancy that companies build custom software such as AI applications. In addition to shipping code, the firm handles business-side details such as figuring out what new features are needed most by a company’s customers. It also has a user interface design practice. 

Cabin recently acquired Cloud Connects, a Salesforce consultancy with big-name clients such as Ford and Deel. Cloud Connects helps its customers set up Salesforce’s flagship customer relationship management platform. It can also deploy several of the cloud giant’s other products, including Service Cloud and Agentforce. The former offering helps companies manage their customer service departments, while Agentforce provides AI-powered task automation features. 

“Cabin Consulting acquired Cloud Connects to bring immediate, hands-on Salesforce expertise into our broader digital transformation offering,” Cabin Consulting head of marketing Brad Schmitt told us. “We chose acquisition over building organically because Cloud Connects brings an impressive client roster, proven technical leadership, and a cultural fit that closely aligns with Cabin’s core values.”

Schmitt said that Cloud Connects co-founder Gram Bischof will take over the helm of Cabin’s Salesforce and AI practice. The goal is “ensuring continuity for current clients as we scale our enterprise offerings,” he explained.

A Boardroom Insight exclusive: Consulting executive Nathan Reay was recently appointed as the UK TMT sector leader at Forvis Mazars, a professional services network with more than 40,000 employees and $5 billion in annual revenue. Reay briefed us on the current state of technology M&A. He also discussed how AI has changed the investment priorities of software vendors and internet providers.