Our Approach
Plan
The foundation of every Localmost strategy is understanding your organisation. One-size-fits-all approaches rarely work for complex environments. We invest time in learning about your unique workflows, systems and needs.
What We Do
We map your current IT infrastructure: systems, data flows and external dependencies such as SAAS services, cloud providers and third-party integrations. We study your documentation, including quality manuals (ie for regulated sectors), and talk to your teams to understand how work is actually done.
A Risk-Based Plan
The result is a plan that maps out where your systems are vulnerable to unwanted third-party influence. Which services are critical to your operations? What happens if a service disappears, or changes its terms or pricing? Where do GDPR or other legal requirements lead to risks?
We are pragmatic. Not every risk needs to be eliminated. Our approach helps you prioritise high-impact risks, identify easy wins, and understand your alternatives before you need them.
The plan is yours. You can implement it yourself, ask us for help, or simply use it to better understand your position.
Execute
Once you have reviewed and approved the plan, we move on to implementation. This phase is about putting into practice the improvements that make sense for your organisation, focused on the risks you have decided to address.
Do it yourself or work with us
The plan is comprehensive and actionable. You can implement it with your internal IT teams. This gives you full control and builds in-house expertise. If you prefer to work together, we handle the implementation, directly, with your team or with trusted partners who share our commitment to sovereign, open-source solutions. We bring years of experience with sovereign systems like GitLab and Nextcloud, knowledge of sovereign alternatives to widely used SaaS services, and expertise in data protection and GDPR compliance. We use advanced storage technologies like ZFS to achieve the same data resilience and disaster recovery that the major cloud providers promise you, but under your own control.
How we implement
We prioritise based on your risk assessment, tackling high-impact items first while minimising disruption. Where possible, we recommend proven open-source solutions, eliminating vendor lock-in and giving you real ownership. Optionally, we guide you in engaging with open-source communities, contributing upstream, or structuring funding arrangements to get your specific needs addressed.
Before going live, we test new systems thoroughly, migrate data safely, and make sure your team feels comfortable with any changes. We document everything: system architecture, configuration details, recovery procedures. Your sovereignty includes the knowledge to maintain your own systems.
When you work with us, we handle the technical implementation, keep you informed throughout the process, train your team on new systems, and prepare the ownership handover.
Own
The goal of Localmost is not to replace one dependency with another, but to give you ownership and control. This phase ensures you have everything you need to operate and maintain your systems independently.
What ownership means
You have admin credentials, root access and full control over your infrastructure. There are no artificial restrictions or proprietary lock-ins. We document everything and train your team, so you understand how your systems work, not just how to use them. Your data resides where you choose, under your control, subject only to the laws under which you have chosen to operate.
Documentation means autonomy
Every system, every configuration and integration is thoroughly documented: architecture diagrams, configuration details, backup and recovery procedures, troubleshooting guidelines and maintenance procedures. We train your IT team on the new systems and securely hand over all administrative credentials, API keys and access controls, setting up dedicated systems for this where needed. For any custom development you receive the full source code and build/deploy instructions.
Optional: Managed Services
Ownership does not mean you are on your own. You can retain us for ongoing support: monitoring, routine updates and security patches, on-call support, or strategic guidance as your organisation evolves.
The relationship we aim for
You own your systems fully. No lock-in, no dependency on us. You could replace us tomorrow if needed. Clients may keep us on because we know their systems, respond quickly, and share their values around sovereignty. That’s a choice, not a necessity. With traditional SaaS or managed services, you’re a customer. Price hikes, discontinued features, a provider going under: these become your problem. With real ownership, they don’t. We work for you, not the other way around.
Ready to get started?
Whether you need planning, implementation, or ongoing support for existing systems, we are here to help. Get in touch to discuss how we can help you.