Businesses deserve straight answers about technology.
Steelwise is a technology advisory practice based in Sheffield. We help businesses make smart decisions about security, infrastructure, and AI, backed by over two decades of doing the work, not just advising on it.
Come for a coffee and tell us what's going on with your techServices
You know what your business needs to do. You don't always know what's technically possible, which technology fits, or who's best placed to deliver and maintain it. That's what we're here for.
Security advisory
Honest assessment of where you stand, what actually matters, and what to do next. Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, posture reviews, incident preparedness, all prioritised by real risk, not fear. We tell you what's enough, not sell you the maximum.
Web and infrastructure advisory
Architecture decisions, platform choices, hosting strategy, reliability, performance. We don't sell hosting or software. We help you choose what's right, whether you're building something new or making sense of what you've already got.
AI advisory
Practical guidance on where AI fits in your business, and where it doesn't. Readiness assessments, risk and governance, separating genuine value from hype. Not every business needs AI right now, and we'll say so.
Coordinated delivery
When you need more than advice, we coordinate delivery through a network of specialists, not tied to any vendor or product. One relationship, one person accountable, and someone joining up security, infrastructure, and AI so you don't have to manage it all yourself.
How we work
We don't start with a sales pitch. We start with a conversation.
A coffee and a conversation
Free, face to face, no strings. Tell us what's going on with your tech, what's keeping you up at night, or what you're trying to figure out. If we can help, we'll say so. If we can't, we'll point you to someone who can.
A first piece of work
A defined engagement: a security review, an architecture assessment, a clear deliverable. Scoped to what you actually need, priced fairly, no surprises. Designed to demonstrate value before asking for commitment.
An ongoing relationship
For most clients, the real value is having someone to call. We become your technology person, across security, infrastructure, and AI. When you need deeper specialist work, we coordinate it through our network. One relationship, no vendor lock-in, and someone who knows your business.
Recent filings
Practical thinking on security, infrastructure, and AI. No thought leadership for the sake of it.
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What Lloyds Bank actually does when it deploys an AI agent
· AI Security
Lloyds Banking Group's security director shared at Infosecurity Europe how the bank actually deploys agentic AI in production. Eleven 'AI bets', a twelfth dedicated to security. Signed tools the agents cannot create. An internal agent marketplace. The world's first production red-team environment using OWASP Top 10 for agentic AI. They saw agent hijack.
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Attackers are using Claude as the bait
· Security AI
Microsoft's threat intelligence team has tracked phishing campaigns built around ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, and Copilot. A South African ChatGPT-themed wave hit 100,000 mailboxes a day. A Claude-themed wave reached 2,000 organisations across the US, UK, and India. The brand is the lure, the payload is the same old stealer.
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The FBI counted $20 billion of internet crime. Look where it actually was.
· Security Commentary
The FBI's 2025 internet crime report logged $20.9 billion of reported losses, a 26% rise on 2024. Investment fraud is the largest category at $8.6 billion. Business email compromise is the largest enterprise threat at $3 billion. Ransomware, by reported loss, is smaller than either. The shape of the numbers is the story.
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68% of UK firms will spend more on cyber. Fewer than 30% feel ready.
· Security Commentary
Barclays surveyed 1,000 UK business leaders in April. Sixty-eight per cent plan to spend more on cyber security in the next year. Twenty-six per cent say AI brings new risks they cannot answer. Average spend hits £505,000, but a micro business spends £15,000 and a large one spends £1.3 million. The numbers underneath the headline are the more useful ones.
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Zero-copy data, and the bank spending €2 million a year on moving data around
· Infrastructure Commentary
BNP Paribas spent up to €2 million a year on data copying, transformation, and reconciliation across 64 countries. Adding a new data source took more than a year. The fix, announced this month, was to stop copying the data and let consumers query it where it lives. The principle scales down to any SME with more than one system.
About
Steelwise exists because most businesses can't get a straight answer about technology. The security industry defaults to jargon and fear. MSPs want to sell you a contract. Consultancies send juniors. What's missing is a practice that's experienced, broad, honest, and genuinely interested in your specific problem.
We're built on a partnership model: a small, trusted team backed by a network of specialists. You always get senior people who've actually done the work. No juniors, no handoffs, no learning on your time.
Our founder, Carl, has spent over 22 years working across security, web infrastructure, data, and AI. He's served as CTO, CISO, and DPO for a web hosting company in regulated sectors including fintech, edtech, healthcare, and SaaS. He built Steelwise because he kept seeing the same problem: businesses getting complexity instead of clarity.
That breadth is unusual. Most advisors specialise in one lane. We deal with all of it, because that's what running a real technology business actually requires.
We're not tied to any product or vendor. We don't take commissions, and everything we deliver is yours. If you need a second opinion on what your IT provider is telling you, that's exactly the kind of conversation we're here for.