Enterprise application and platform selection, without a vendor agenda.
Lightbridge Cloud is an independent, vendor-neutral advisory practice for enterprise application, cloud infrastructure, and data platform selection. We guide organizations through choosing the right CRM, CPQ, marketing automation, revenue, cloud, or BI platform, then carry program management and technical leadership through delivery. Salesforce, integration, and custom development run in-house; everything else runs through vetted partners under our leadership.
What enterprise application and platform selection means at Lightbridge Cloud.
Lightbridge Cloud treats platform selection as the advisory head above delivery, mirroring how Lightbridge ERP leads with ERP selection. The engagement produces the decisions: which CRM, which CPQ, which cloud provider, which data warehouse, and which architecture. Delivery then happens in the practice built for it, in-house or through a vetted partner, under one accountable team. That separation keeps the recommendation honest, because the people scoring the shortlist are not selling a seat on any platform being scored.
The differentiator is the same real commitment Lightbridge ERP makes: no vendor kickbacks, no reseller quotas, no partner-tier incentives on any platform, from Salesforce to Snowflake. A recommendation a vendor cannot tilt is the difference between a defensible decision and an expensive one.
What a Lightbridge Cloud consultant does.
A Lightbridge Cloud consultant assesses the estate, defines requirements, scores the platform landscape, and stays accountable through delivery. The engagement moves through four phases.
Assess
Lightbridge Cloud audits the current estate: applications, infrastructure, data platforms, spend, and operational maturity across every category in play. The output is a fact base, not a sales pitch.
Strategize
We define requirements and evaluation criteria for the decision at hand, whether that is a CRM, a CPQ platform, a data warehouse, or a cloud provider, and map them to business outcomes, risk tolerance, and existing skills.
Architect
We score the shortlist, design the reference architecture or integration model, and document the recommendation before a contract is signed. Decisions are evidence-based and defensible.
Route to delivery
The recommendation routes to the team that builds it: our in-house practice for Salesforce, integration and iPaaS, and custom application development, or a vetted partner under our program management and technical leadership for every other category, from CPQ to BI platforms to cloud infrastructure.
Delivered in-house.
Three practices run hands-on, start to finish, inside Lightbridge Cloud. Everywhere else in the catalog, selection and architecture advisory stay in-house while a vetted partner delivers the build under our program management.
Salesforce
Our in-house CRM flagship: Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Experience Cloud, and ongoing administration. Delivered hands-on, not brokered through a reseller.
Integration and iPaaS
MuleSoft, Boomi, Workato, Celigo, and custom API work, delivered end to end by our own integration architects and engineers.
Custom application development
Purpose-built applications and extensions delivered by the same in-house integration and development practice, never handed to a partner.
Cloud infrastructure: selection and architecture, partner-delivered build.
AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud selection and reference architecture stay in-house. The hands-on build runs through a vetted delivery partner under Lightbridge program management and technical leadership, not an in-house infrastructure-build bench.
AWS selection and architecture
Fit assessment and reference architecture for Amazon Web Services. Selection and architecture advisory run in-house; the hands-on build runs through a vetted delivery partner under our program management.
Azure selection and architecture
Fit assessment and landing zone design for Microsoft Azure. Selection and architecture advisory run in-house; the hands-on build runs through a vetted delivery partner.
Google Cloud selection and architecture
Fit assessment and reference architecture for Google Cloud. Selection and architecture advisory run in-house; the hands-on build runs through a vetted delivery partner.
Revenue systems and business applications, partner-delivered.
Each category below gets its own vendor-neutral selection engagement. A rigorously vetted partner delivers the implementation under Lightbridge program management and technical leadership. CPQ and commissions selection here cross-link to Lightbridge ERP, which owns the quote-to-cash and commission-accounting concept layer.
CRM selection (non-Salesforce)
Selection advisory for HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Zoho, scored on fit and delivered through a vetted partner under our leadership.
Customer support platform selection
Selection advisory for Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, and ServiceNow CSM.
CPQ selection
Selection advisory for Salesforce CPQ, Conga, DealHub, PandaDoc, and Experlogix. The quote-to-cash and ASC 606 concept layer stays with Lightbridge ERP.
Commissions and ICM/SPM selection
Selection advisory for Xactly, CaptivateIQ, Spiff, and Varicent. Commission accounting under ASC 340-40 stays with Lightbridge ERP.
Marketing automation selection
Selection advisory for HubSpot, Marketo, Braze, and Klaviyo.
CLM and document generation selection
Selection advisory for Ironclad, DocuSign CLM, ContractPodAi, Conga, and PandaDoc.
Other revenue systems
Selection advisory for billing and subscription platforms (Zuora, Chargebee), customer success platforms (Gainsight, Totango), and sales engagement tools (Outreach, Salesloft).
Data, analytics, and reporting, partner-delivered.
Selection advisory for the platforms that turn data into decisions, and for the tooling that reports on search and AI-search visibility. SEO/GEO/AI marketing analytics is a marketing-optimization and reporting service, not AI strategy consulting, which stays with Lightbridge's umbrella practice.
BI and data platform selection
Selection advisory for Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, Microsoft Fabric, and Redshift, plus the BI layer: Power BI, Tableau, and Looker.
SEO/GEO/AI marketing analytics selection
Tooling and reporting selection for organic-search and AI-search visibility. A marketing-optimization and reporting service, not AI strategy consulting.
When to engage Lightbridge Cloud.
Engage Lightbridge Cloud at the decision point, before money is committed to a platform that is expensive to reverse. The clearest triggers: evaluating a new CRM, CPQ, or marketing automation system, standing up a data warehouse or BI layer, a major cloud migration, adopting a second cloud provider, or an internal team without the platform depth to run an unbiased evaluation. Lightbridge Cloud is most useful before the contract is signed, not after the bill arrives.
The 6 Rs: how Lightbridge Cloud scopes a migration inside cloud infrastructure selection.
When a workload actually moves, it gets mapped to one of six migration strategies during the assessment phase of a cloud infrastructure selection engagement. The 6 Rs framework keeps effort proportional to value: rehost what should move fast, refactor only what earns the rewrite, and retire what no one should pay to carry. Assigning the strategy is advisory work, done in-house. Executing the move routes to a vetted delivery partner under Lightbridge program management and technical leadership, the same hybrid delivery model that covers every partner-delivered category.
Rehost
Lift-and-shift. Move a workload to the cloud with minimal change. The fastest path off data center hardware and the common starting point for a time-boxed exit.
Replatform
Lift-and-optimize. Move a workload while adopting managed services, such as a self-managed database swapped for a managed one. Some optimization, low rewrite risk.
Repurchase
Move to a different product, typically a SaaS replacement. Retire a custom or self-hosted application in favor of a subscription platform that covers the same function.
Refactor
Re-architect the application to be cloud-native: containers, serverless, and decoupled services. The highest effort, reserved for workloads where scale or agility justifies the rewrite.
Retire
Decommission workloads no longer in use. Migration discovery routinely surfaces 10 to 20% of an estate that can simply be shut down, removing cost and attack surface before a single workload moves.
Retain
Keep a workload where it is, for now. Some applications stay on-premise because of latency, compliance, or amortization timing. Retain is a deliberate decision, not a default.
Frequently asked questions.
What is cloud consulting at Lightbridge Cloud?
Cloud consulting at Lightbridge Cloud is the advisory layer above enterprise application, cloud, and data platform delivery. It covers vendor-neutral selection: assessing the current estate, defining requirements, scoring the platform landscape across categories such as CRM, CPQ, marketing automation, cloud infrastructure, and BI and data platforms, and then carrying program management and technical leadership through delivery.
What platforms does Lightbridge Cloud help select?
Lightbridge Cloud runs selection advisory across CRM (Salesforce and non-Salesforce), customer support, CPQ, sales commissions and incentive compensation platforms, marketing automation, contract lifecycle management and document generation, other revenue systems such as billing and customer success platforms, cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud), and BI and data platforms. Salesforce, integration, and custom application development are delivered in-house. Every other category is delivered through a vetted partner under Lightbridge program management.
Is Lightbridge Cloud tied to a specific platform or cloud provider?
No. Lightbridge Cloud is vendor-neutral across every category it evaluates. The firm holds no reseller quotas, referral fees, or partner-tier incentives with any software or cloud vendor, so a recommendation follows the requirements, not a commission.
Does Lightbridge Cloud implement every platform it selects?
Lightbridge Cloud delivers hands-on in-house for Salesforce, integration and iPaaS (MuleSoft, Boomi, Workato, Celigo, and custom API work), and custom application development. For every other category, from CPQ to cloud infrastructure to BI platforms, a rigorously vetted partner executes the build under Lightbridge program management and technical leadership. Lightbridge stays the one accountable owner either way.
When should a company engage Lightbridge Cloud?
Engage Lightbridge Cloud before committing to a platform that is expensive to reverse: evaluating a new CRM, CPQ, or marketing automation system; standing up a data warehouse or BI layer; planning a cloud migration; adopting a second cloud provider; or when an internal team lacks the platform depth to run an unbiased evaluation.
What is the difference between single-cloud and multi-cloud advisory?
Single-cloud standardization simplifies operations, deepens platform expertise, and strengthens volume pricing. Multi-cloud spreads workloads across providers to avoid lock-in, meet data residency rules, or match each workload to the platform that runs it best. Lightbridge Cloud is vendor-neutral within cloud infrastructure selection just as it is across every other category: the recommendation follows the workload, not a referral incentive.
Does cloud consulting at Lightbridge Cloud cover ERP or NetSuite decisions?
No. ERP advisory, selection, and implementation, including NetSuite, are handled by Lightbridge ERP, an independent vendor-neutral ERP advisory firm. Lightbridge Cloud coordinates with Lightbridge ERP when a selection touches both practices, such as CPQ and commissions platforms, where the platform layer sits with Cloud and the accounting concept (ASC 606, ASC 340-40) sits with ERP.
Does Lightbridge Cloud operate a platform after the engagement ends?
No. Lightbridge Cloud delivers selection, architecture, and implementation leadership as project-based engagements, then hands off a documented, production-ready platform to your team or the delivery partner you choose. Lightbridge Cloud does not offer ongoing managed operations for infrastructure or any other platform category.
Start with a platform selection assessment.
We audit your estate, define requirements, and deliver a scored recommendation and roadmap before any contract is signed.