Why FOIL is #BuiltDifferent – and why that is driving our success with clients

FOIL News

27 Oct

Most data and AI consultancies follow the same playbook: sell the solution, deliver the project, maintain the dependency. We never did.

From day one, FOIL has operated differently. Not because being different is trendy, but because the traditional consulting model is fundamentally broken. With hard work and pride, over the next few weeks, we're launching #BuiltDifferent – a campaign celebrating what happens when you challenge industry norms and build a consultancy around what clients actually need.

What Makes FOIL #BuiltDifferent?

We deliver with clients, not to them.

As our Head of Strategy Mish Naik explains it: "Typical consultancies will always deliver to a client. They'll take the problem, deliver, solve it, hand it back. For me it's about delivering with the client – embedded in their team, coaching them, helping them upskill and reskill."

We start with strategy, always.

"There's no point in building something that's not solving a problem," says Molly Bland, lead Data Engineer our Amey partnership. While other consultancies rush to deploy technology, we begin by understanding the real challenge. AI and agents are just tools – the core value comes from knowledge and data.

We build for independence, not dependence.

Through our Talent Program, we place skilled data professionals directly into client organisations, with ongoing FOIL support developing that talent. As Beth Whelan from Reassured describes: "We get all the benefit of FOIL support in developing that talent and growing that talent, so as we grow as an organisation, they continue to grow their skills alongside us."

We stay at the cutting edge.

Rob Curley from Amey captures this perfectly: "One of the brilliant things about working with FOIL was that their finger was on the pulse with the changing technology. There were problems we encountered early days – we'd wait a couple of weeks and suddenly FOIL would go, 'Hey, guess what? They've just released a beta version of that tool, and we're going to apply it now and that problem's gone away.'"

Real Partnerships, Real Results

Our different approach creates different outcomes.

With Amey, we built Genni – an intelligent knowledge engine powered by generative AI that transforms how they approach enterprise knowledge and client bids. But more importantly, we involved their entire team from day one. Bid writers, development teams, everyone was on board. The result isn't just technology; it's organisational capability that continues growing long after we're involved.

At Kantata, we're recognised not as consultants but as partners. Sarah Edwards, their Chief Product Officer, puts it clearly: "I don't see them as a consultancy or consulting partner, I see them as not only a client, but as a friend, a partner – someone we can have those conversations with who can really help us deliver real value."

With Reassured, we embedded capability directly into their team, helping them leverage their biggest asset – their data – to understand and serve customers better. The focus? Keeping people at the heart of what they do while using AI to elevate the customer experience.

Video of our clients, celebrating the launch of the #BuiltDifferent Campaign.

Why This Momentum Matters

FOIL has carved out unique positioning in a crowded market. While large consultancies emphasise long-term dependencies, we focus on those who want to build sustainable, internal capability. Our CEO James Cawthorne is clear about what drives us: "The need to differentiate as a consulting organisation is absolutely imperative. We bring experience, knowledge, and expertise – but how do we package that up differently? How do we deliver that differently? That's why the passion in all of the people that work here is so important."

This passion translates into partnerships with forward-thinking organizations like Microsoft and Databricks, giving our clients access to cutting-edge capabilities while maintaining our independent, client-centric approach.

The #BuiltDifferent Campaign: Celebrating What's Working

Over the coming weeks, we'll be sharing the stories behind our success. You'll hear directly from the partners and clients who've experienced what happens when a consultancy truly puts capability-building first.

We'll explore:

How being strategy-led creates better outcomes
Why embedding with client teams accelerates transformation
What happens when you prioritise end-user value above everything else
How our anti-consultancy ethos translates into measurable results

And we'll reveal something bigger – our vision for where enterprise intelligence is heading, and FOIL's role in shaping that future.

Built to Challenge, Built to Last

The consulting industry needed disrupting. Traditional models create dependencies that stifle innovation and lock clients into endless engagements. We built FOIL differently. We built it around a simple truth: the best consultancies make themselves unnecessary by building capability that lasts.

The momentum we're experiencing – from Amey to Kantata to Reassured and beyond – proves this approach works. Innovation is incremental, it's long-term, and as Molly Bland notes, "that's part of FOIL's philosophy – involving the client and our partners in the process, so that when we leave, the thing we've built continues to grow."

Follow the Journey

#BuiltDifferent is the story of why challenging convention creates better outcomes for everyone. Follow along over the coming weeks as we celebrate the partnerships, people, and principles that make FOIL unique in the data and AI consultancy space.

Because when you're genuinely #BuiltDifferent, success looks different too.

FOIL is a data and AI consultancy built on an anti-consultancy ethos. We partner with CTOs, CIOs, and CDOs at mid-size to large enterprises, building sustainable data capability rather than long-term dependencies. Learn more about our approach to enterprise data transformation and AI implementation.

Josie West