There are moments in a career where everything shifts — not because of a promotion, a course, or a new job title, but because of a project that forces you to grow faster than you thought possible. For me, that moment came during a complex global CRM implementation for a major telecoms provider, delivered shoulder-to-shoulder with Microsoft and split across multiple countries, time zones, and cultures.

On paper, it was exactly the kind of challenge I wanted. In reality, it was the project that tested me more than any other — and ultimately shaped both my management consultancy career and the idea that would become the basis of my software company years later.

Thrown Into the Deep End

The brief was simple: deliver a new enterprise CRM platform to unify customer service, sales operations, billing, and field teams across dozens of markets.

But anyone who has ever been near a telecoms transformation knows that “simple” doesn’t exist. Telecoms is complex by design — legacy estates, regulatory constraints, multiple product lines, and operational dependencies that look more like a spider’s web than a process map.

To complicate it further, Microsoft had embedded a specialist product team on-site, and I would be working side-by-side with them. It was an exciting opportunity, but it came with weight: the client expected Microsoft-level expertise, and Microsoft expected seamless partnership. There was no room to hide.

The days were long. The meetings were intense. And the pressure was constant.

The Day the Wheels Nearly Came Off

At one point, we hit a wall. A serious one.

A specific integration — central to the entire customer experience flow — simply wouldn’t behave. Every workaround created another issue. Every fix caused another break. The Microsoft team were brilliant, but even they were digging deep to get ahead of it.

Meanwhile, the client’s leadership team wanted answers. Deadlines loomed. And the project room felt like a pressure cooker.

It was the closest I’ve ever come to a project spiralling.

And yet, something changed in that moment. Instead of retreating into defensive postures or technical jargon, the team — client, Microsoft, and consultants — finally stopped working in parallel and started working as one.

We moved from reporting problems to owning solutions. From escalation to collaboration. From blame to genuine partnership.

That shift didn’t just save the project — it redefined how I approached delivery forever.

What That Project Taught Me

1. True transformation only happens when the walls come down

Working on-site with Microsoft taught me that real progress happens when everyone stops guarding their territory. Once we merged into a single, cross-functional delivery engine, problems that looked immovable started to fall.

2. Complexity isn’t the enemy — unclear ownership is

The system wasn’t the problem. The lack of clarity around who owned what was. Once ownership was defined and distributed properly, delivery accelerated.

3. Paint-by-numbers consulting doesn’t work in the real world

The playbooks were useful — but the real breakthroughs came from:

• improvisation,

• instinct,

• and the confidence to challenge “the way things are done.”

That experience taught me the difference between a consultant who delivers outputs and a consultant who drives outcomes.

4. Enterprise CRM isn’t really about CRM

It’s about people, processes, behaviours, and alignment. The technology is the vehicle. The organisation is the passenger. And the driver — always — is culture.

This insight became the foundation of how I’ve approached every CRM, billing, and operational design programme since.

5. Behind every ‘global platform’ is a thousand local realities

Rolling out to multiple countries taught me that a system is only as successful as the adoption on the ground. Adoption doesn’t come from documentation — it comes from empathy, communication, and design that respects local nuance.

6. Innovation is born in the gaps between what a client needs and what the market offers

This was the lesson that changed everything.

The Spark That Became a Software Company

While working through the complexities of this global programme, I started seeing patterns — recurring CRM gaps that no vendor solved well:

• fragmented customer journeys

• billing logic tied together with duct tape

• operational processes that tools didn’t understand

• the lack of industry-specific nuance

• the constant need to “customise the life out of” platforms just to meet basic functional realities

And it hit me:

The world didn’t need another CRM system.
It needed industry-intelligent CRM ecosystems.

Platforms built for the sector, with the sector, solving real-world operational problems without heavy customisation.

That idea sat with me for years, shaping my consulting approach, my operating model designs, and eventually becoming the conceptual seed for the software business I would later found — building solutions tailored for utilities, water retail, rail operations, and beyond.

That global telecoms CRM project wasn’t just a delivery.
It was the beginning of a philosophy.

Looking Back

It was one of the hardest projects of my career. It stretched me, challenged me, and exhausted me. But it changed the trajectory of my professional life in a way nothing else has.

It taught me how to lead under pressure.
It taught me how to collaborate at the highest level.
It taught me how to design solutions that fit the organisation, not force the organisation to fit the solution.

And most importantly, it sparked the idea that would lead me to build a software company — and to carve my own path as a management consultant focused on meaningful digital transformation.

Sometimes the projects that push you to your limits are the ones that define you.