Consulting
Advisory Retainer
Ongoing access to a senior network architect for design authority, vendor and carrier conversations, and planning, without a full-time hire and without handing over operations.
Every engagement starts with a free 30-minute scoping call.
When a retainer helps
- Your team is strong on operations and wants a senior architect alongside it on design decisions.
- Vendors and carriers are presenting proposals and you want an independent expert in the room.
- Projects across the organization keep touching the network and need a consistent point of review.
- Your MSP runs the network day to day and nobody on your side holds the design.
- You want continuity after an assessment or design engagement rather than starting over each time.
What the retainer covers
The work of a senior architect, delivered on a regular rhythm and available when a decision cannot wait, with room for ongoing responsibilities agreed at scoping.
Design authority
Review and approval of changes and designs against the agreed architecture and standards.
Planning support
Input into budgets, roadmaps, and project sequencing throughout the year.
Vendor & carrier conversations
Independent evaluation of proposals, contracts, and technical claims, and RFP support when a selection is due.
Second opinions & hands-on help
A senior perspective on decisions, incidents, and problems as they arise, and senior hands for the changes that need them, within the capacity you retain.
Standards & documentation
Architecture principles, standards, and diagrams kept current as the network changes.
Team development
Mentoring and working sessions that build your engineers’ design capability.
What is included
A retainer is a relationship with a named architect, not a bank of hours drawn down anonymously. Ongoing operational responsibilities can be scoped into it where they fit; a NOC, 24/7 monitoring, and first-line support cannot.
- Named architectA senior engineer who knows your environment and is accountable for the relationship.
- Agreed capacityA monthly allocation of time, with a clear process for requesting more when a project needs it.
- Regular reviewsA monthly architecture review and a quarterly roadmap session, each with written outcomes.
- Priority responseUrgent questions acknowledged the same business day and answered by the next. Design reviews returned within five business days.
- Continuous documentationArchitecture records and standards maintained as part of the service.
How the engagement runs
The same four-phase discipline as every Metis engagement, repeated on a monthly rhythm rather than run once.
How we workUnderstand
A retainer begins with a short onboarding period to build a picture of your environment, your standards, and the projects in motion.
Architect
From there the engagement follows a regular rhythm: a monthly architecture review, a quarterly roadmap session, and capacity held for the questions and changes that arise between them.
Enable
Documentation and standards are kept current as part of the service, and your engineers are involved in reviews and working sessions so the design capability grows on your side. Retainers run for a fixed term and are reviewed together at renewal.
Questions we are asked
The questions that come up on most scoping calls for a retainer.
Is the retainer a managed service?
Not in the NOC sense. Metis does not monitor your network around the clock or provide first-line support, and your team, or your MSP, keeps operating it. Within a retainer we can take on specific ongoing responsibilities, agreed with you during scoping rather than sold as a package, and our architect helps with the changes and escalations that need senior hands, within the capacity you retain.
What does the response commitment mean in practice?
Urgent questions are acknowledged the same business day and answered by the next. Design reviews come back within five business days. The monthly architecture review and the quarterly roadmap session are scheduled in advance, and each produces written outcomes.
What happens to capacity we do not use?
Capacity is agreed monthly. Quieter months go to documentation, standards, and reviews that always need doing. When a project needs more than the retained capacity, the agreement sets out how it is added.
We already have an MSP. Does a retainer still make sense?
Often that is exactly when it does. The MSP operates the network and Metis holds the design authority, reviews their changes against your standards, and gives you an independent read on their proposals and renewals.
How is the retainer priced?
As a flat monthly fee for the agreed capacity, over a fixed term that is reviewed together at renewal. Metis does not sell or resell hardware, software, or circuits, and takes no referral fees or commissions from anyone who does. A bill of materials from us is a recommendation, and you buy from whoever you choose.
Related services
Start with a 30-minute scoping call.
Tell us where you’re headed and what’s in the way. A senior engineer will call to understand your situation, not to pitch.
- We read your message and reply to arrange the call at a time that suits you.
- A senior engineer joins the call to understand your environment and what you are trying to achieve.
- If there is a fit, you receive a written proposal with scope, deliverables, and price. If there is not, we say so and point you in a better direction.