Independent data & technology consultancy
I analyse messy data and complex software estates, expose risks and dependencies, and turn the findings into practical tools and plans.
When the question is...
Where did this number come from?
What breaks if we change this?
Should we update, rewrite or replace it?
Can this safely move to the cloud?
What I do
I work where data, software and business decisions collide—making the real situation visible before you spend heavily fixing the wrong thing.
Profile, reconcile and reshape difficult datasets so that teams can trust what they are seeing and build on solid foundations.
Trace where data comes from, how it changes, what consumes it and what is at risk when something moves.
Look across architecture, code, data, integrations and operations to find structural risk—not just the loudest symptom.
Turn the assessment into a credible route forward, balancing ambition with cost, risk and the realities of the existing system.
Applied AI for business
The advantage is not access to AI. It is decades of experience knowing how to direct it, challenge it and turn its speed into dependable business outcomes.
AI is extraordinarily powerful, but it does not replace judgement. Grease Monkey Labs uses it as a force multiplier across analysis, engineering, testing and documentation—while experienced human judgement stays in control. The result is the full, rigorous job delivered in a fraction of the conventional time and team cost.
The target is radical efficiency. The actual gain depends on the problem, data and controls required.
How I work
No transformation theatre. I get close to the data and systems, test assumptions and leave you with artefacts that are useful after the engagement ends.
Talk through an assessmentUnderstand the business question, inspect the estate and identify where the evidence lives.
Map data movement, system dependencies, ownership gaps and hidden coupling.
Separate material risks from background noise and test the realistic options.
Deliver a prioritised plan, working prototype or hands-on implementation.
What you leave with
Experience
Experience across government, finance, telecoms, gaming and startups—working from board-level questions down to individual fields and lines of code.
Previous local-government work identified and delivered a saving worth £30,000 each year.
Disparate sources brought together into a dependable golden-record dataset and reusable framework.
Systems engineered to support bursts of 500 new customer acquisitions per minute.
Who you work with
Grease Monkey Labs is an independent consultancy led by Malcolm Slater.
Since forming his first internet consultancy in 1996, Malcolm has helped organisations understand complex technology, solve difficult data problems and turn uncertain modernisation projects into practical plans and working systems.
Got a horrible data or systems problem?
Send me the awkward question, the unreliable dataset or the system nobody wants to touch.