About Stradiax | Team, Advisory Board and Principal Advisor

Who's behind it

Advisory Board, Business Partners and Principal Advisor

Advisory Board

People who add value.

Jorge Román

Senior Advisor · Advisory Board

More than twenty years in technology, from systems administration to general management. He started by running the web platform and the systems team of large European media groups, and in 2008 co-founded his first company, a consultancy for high-performance web environments on open source software.

In 2014 he co-founded the first Spanish content delivery network, on a thesis very close to Stradiax's: a technology reserved for large companies, made available to mid-sized ones with real support. In 2021 he merged three companies (systems, CDN and cybersecurity) into an edge computing firm he leads as CEO, with a regular voice in the business press on European technological sovereignty. He has extensive experience implementing AI-based systems on production infrastructure and cybersecurity, where a badly integrated model shows up in availability and on the invoice.

Board advisor to several companies and to a business school, and MBA lecturer in Information Systems.

PDG at IESE Business School High-availability web infrastructure, CDN and edge, cybersecurity, cloud, AI-based systems Co-founder of the first Spanish CDN

Alejandro Kim

Senior Advisor · Advisory Board

More than twenty years of professional experience, ten of them leading large-scale urban services operations for the public sector. Today he is responsible for the end-to-end delivery of one of the largest maintenance and cleaning contracts in the city of Madrid, active 365 days a year.

What he brings to Stradiax is an unusual combination: high-complexity public procurement (tenders, specifications, compliance and technical defence before the municipal client), operational leadership in the field, and digital transformation built from the inside, with in-house traceability and dashboard tools that replace manual tracking with data-driven decisions. Extensive experience implementing AI-based systems in daily operations, where value is measured in hours no longer lost and incidents that never happen.

Before that he ran operations and purchasing at a services company and, in hospitality, three restaurants and a cocktail bar in Madrid. Different sectors, same principle: operations work when the person running them understands every layer of the business.

PDG at IESE Business School Large-scale urban services operations, public procurement, AI-based systems in operations Based in Madrid

Business Partners

The people who stay with every client in the business relationship.

Juanma Rodríguez

Business Partner · Business Advisor · Advisory Board

More than twenty-five years in technology, more than twenty of them in the SAP ecosystem. He started in 1997 as a programmer on a large systems project, moved into process and ERP security audits at one of the big audit and consulting firms, and worked as an SAP consultant and project manager before co-founding a Spanish SAP solutions and services company, where he ran operations, the portfolio and the service strategy.

He then led the SAP go-to-market strategy, SAP operations in Iberia and the SAP practice for Europe at large international technology services companies and, until 2026, was Senior Director with full P&L ownership of sales and delivery for manufacturing, energy, retail and healthcare across Europe and Latin America, as well as Vice President of SAP Services. He knows the big integrators from the inside and now puts that experience on the side of whoever signs.

At Stradiax he is Business Partner: he works directly with clients' leadership teams and, as a member of the Advisory Board, strengthens the analysis and the recommendation behind every mandate. He is also a board member, strategic advisor and investor in other companies.

PDG at IESE Business School (2025) and Bachelor in Information Technology, BTech SAP ecosystem, digital transformation, consultative selling and leading business units with P&L ownership Retail, consumer goods, energy and utilities, telecoms, manufacturing and healthcare, across Europe and Latin America

César López

Business Partner · Business Advisor · Advisory Board

More than twenty-five years in technology, since 1999. Seventeen of them at a European integration software multinational: from middleware support for Europe, the Middle East and Africa to legacy modernisation (from mainframe to open systems), defining the services portfolio of a new line of business and business process and digital enterprise strategy, where he went on to lead emerging technologies for Iberia.

He then moved into operations: technical lead for the integration platforms of a large retail and pharmacy group in the UK and, for more than six years, Head of Delivery for the UK global accounts of a multinational technology services company, accountable for end-to-end delivery, governance, risk and profitability of complex international programmes, leading multidisciplinary, distributed teams. Until 2026 he led strategic accounts in healthcare, manufacturing, retail, energy and utilities, aligning technology investment with measurable business outcomes in front of executive committees, with a focus on AI, cybersecurity, data and digital platforms.

At Stradiax he is Business Partner: he works directly with clients' leadership teams and, as a member of the Advisory Board, strengthens the analysis and the recommendation behind every mandate, with particular weight on project and service governance and team leadership.

MBAi at IEBS Business School and Postgraduate Expert in Security and E-commerce at UNED (School of Industrial Engineering) Technology strategy, running technology services operations and projects, delivery governance and team leadership Healthcare, manufacturing, retail, energy and utilities, in Spain and the UK

Principal Advisor

Who sets the standard the firm works to.

Manuel Lucena

Founder · Principal Advisor · Business Partner

More than twenty-six years of international experience in technology strategy: artificial intelligence, SAP technology, cybersecurity, operational resilience and cloud. From systems administration and SAP consulting to heading, until 2026, the SAP practice for Europe and Latin America and the global SAP cloud centre of excellence at a technology services multinational: he knows the large integrators from the inside and today devotes that experience to Stradiax, on the side of whoever signs.

In artificial intelligence he does not stop at paper: he has designed and built the AI-based systems Stradiax runs on, which improve its own P&L and operational efficiency, and has developed AI systems and integrations for clients across very different industries inside strategic mandates.

He founded Stradiax in 2007 and ran it as his own firm alongside his executive career, until he devoted himself to it full-time in 2026. His thesis, which the mandates keep confirming: mid-market companies hold the structural advantage and still leave growth on the table by treating technology as a cost. As Principal Advisor he sets the firm's standard and leads its highest-stakes mandates, with the Advisory Board and MCouncil behind him. His philosophy fits in four words: people, strategy, decision, action.

General Management Program (PDG) at IESE Business School and AI for business at MIT Sloan Led the SAP practice for Europe and Latin America and the global SAP cloud centre of excellence Based in Madrid, mandates across three continents and more than forty companies and institutions in very different sectors AI and automation, SAP technology, cybersecurity, operational resilience and cloud

Stradiax in 30 seconds

What you need to know, no fluff.

What we areA boutique Strategic Technology Advisory firm for leadership teams of mid-sized companies, which also implements AI-based systems and builds its own products. Since 2007, 100% Spanish-owned, based in Madrid and working globally.
Who we work withC-level leaders, Directors, Founders, councils and boards of SMBs.
What we doWe sit at the strategy table. A strategic technology mandate covers whatever the decision requires: technology strategy and roadmap tied to the P&L, business cases and investment prioritisation, IT operating model and organisation, evaluating and negotiating vendor and integrator proposals, governance of programmes, projects and services, and support for the executive committee and the board, across AI, automation, SAP, cybersecurity, operational resilience and cloud. We also implement AI-based systems (agents included) with the business case closed before we build, take on fractional technology leadership (CIO, CTO, CISO), reframe executive mindset and give a Second Opinion on a single decision.
How we deliverAI + people. Every mandate is in the hands of a Senior Advisor, with proprietary instruments we use inside all our services: MCouncil, cross-disciplinary strategic analysis with more than 18 base disciplines on anonymised data; SLVD, SAP feature use and quick wins without touching the system; and ServiceIQ, the project framed by best practice, with market profiles and rates, set against the vendor's proposal. The judgement is always human and senior.
How we engageStrategic mandates, fractional leadership on a monthly fee, fixed-price AI projects, advisory board seats, executive programs and a Second Opinion from €2,900 + VAT. Never billable hours.
Contractable productsNeuralPitch: AI sales coach, EU AI Act compliant. SmartHunt: market intelligence, from signal to qualified opportunity.
Why StradiaxConfidentiality: we sign confidentiality before we start, analyse on anonymised client data and never publish client cases.
Judgement: senior and independent of third parties; what we review, we do not deploy. The recommendation is ours. The decision is always yours.
Team: Principal Advisor, Advisory Board and, on the highest-stakes decisions, an external peer panel.
Results: every mandate is tied to an outcome and, if the ROI does not add up, we say so on day one.

The Boutique Difference

Why "boutique" isn't a marketing word here.

Six things make Stradiax structurally different by design. None of them are accidental.

Independent perspective

No vendor partnerships, no reseller agreements, no license quotas to hit at quarter-end. Your decision being right is our only incentive, and that's why a recommendation from us holds up in a boardroom.

Two pillars, one rule

In the advisory we sit at the decision table, independent from third parties. And when an AI system has to be built, we deploy it ourselves with the business case closed first. What we review we do not deploy: that rule is what lets us tell you the truth.

Built for SMBs

Every method is calibrated for a company of one hundred to one thousand people, where a wrong decision shows up in next quarter's P&L.

Senior-only engagements

The person who signs the mandate is the person doing the work: senior judgment start to finish, no delegated slide decks.

Outcome-driven

Success is measured in decisions made with confidence and margin that actually moves. Any other metric is noise.

Direct access, no layers

You talk to the person who decides, has seen a hundred cases like yours and stays with you from the first conversation to the last. That continuity is already half the battle.

Our Philosophy

The unfair advantage SMBs have when they get this right.

The Hidden Truth

Technology strategy matters more for SMBs than for enterprise.

An enterprise has scale, distribution, and inertia on its side. A bad technology decision hurts but rarely kills. An SMB has none of those buffers. The same decision either compounds into structural advantage or quietly drains the company over five years. The stakes are higher. The leverage is higher. And almost nobody in advisory is paying attention.

That's the entire premise of Stradiax. SMBs don't need less strategic technology thinking than the Fortune 500. They need more. And they need it from people who actually understand how SMBs run.

The Opportunity

You move faster than they ever can.

An SMB can decide in a week what a multinational decides in a year. Fewer layers, fewer politics, shorter distance between intent and action. When an SMB leadership team gets the strategic technology question right, the speed of execution turns into compounding margin growth, defensible market position, and a balance sheet that looks nothing like the average competitor in the same vertical.

We've seen it happen. Repeatedly. Across continents. The pattern is always the same: someone in the room reframes how technology is talked about, and within twelve months the company looks different. That's the work we exist to do.

The Standard

One firm. One posture. Zero shortcuts.

Stradiax is boutique by design, not by size. What walks through the door is what gets delivered at the table: senior, independent, and the same Advisor from start to finish.

+20 years in technology strategy

3 continents of engagements

0 billable hours

100% under mutual NDA

Editorial Board

Stradiax Editorial Board

Shared editorial identity used to sign Stradiax's published content. The collective signature lets advisors keep their focus on client mandates and keeps the editorial voice consistent regardless of who writes a given piece. Every piece is reviewed at senior level before publication, and that final review is signed off by Manuel Lucena as Principal Advisor.

FAQ

Questions before we talk

The questions executives ask before working with Stradiax. Honest answers, no marketing fluff.

What's Stradiax's working model?

We don't sell hours. In advisory we sell strategic posture: a senior advisor who challenges the brief, sharpens the question and gives you a position your board can defend, with full independence from third parties. In AI implementation we sell the system in production, at a fixed price, with the business case closed before building. What we review in advisory we do not deploy ourselves.

Do you work with companies under €50M revenue?

Yes. Our sweet spot is mid-market companies between €10M and €200M. The smaller you are, the more disproportionate the value of having technology decisions made strategically. And the harder it is to find honest advisors who'll talk to you like an adult.

What does a typical advisory engagement look like?

A few working sessions to map your context, an independent diagnosis, and an ongoing strategic mandate where we challenge decisions and support your thinking. No long deliverables. No timesheets. The output is the clarity, not the deck.

Do you implement technology projects?

Yes, in one specific case: AI systems (Service 02), with the business case closed before we build and a fixed price per project. And with one rule, no exceptions: what we review in a Second Opinion, for an executive committee or in a peer review, we never implement ourselves. Every other project (ERP, cloud, cybersecurity) is delivered by your team or the provider you choose; we help you decide and govern it.

How much does a Stradiax engagement cost?

The cost of a Stradiax engagement is not published as a price list. It's informed through an honest conversation between both sides, once the client's context, the engagement scope, duration and expected outcome are clear. We don't bill by the hour. We have engagements.

Can you join my advisory board or council?

Selectively, yes. We accept a small number of non-executive board roles per year where the strategic question is interesting and the leadership team is serious about acting on advice.

What technologies do you cover?

AI and automation, SAP technology, cybersecurity, operational resilience, and cloud strategy. Always framed as business levers, not as IT projects.

Where are you based and do you travel?

We're based in Madrid, Spain, and work globally. Most strategic sessions can run virtually; for board meetings and executive programs we travel.

How fast can we start?

A first conversation usually within a week. Strategic mandates can typically begin within 2-3 weeks once scope is clear. We don't take engagements we can't dedicate proper attention to.

Will you sign an NDA?

Always. Every engagement starts with mutual confidentiality. Your strategic conversations stay between you and us.

Now you know the why. See the how.

Got a technology proposal on the table? Start with a Second Opinion. For anything else, see the seven services.

Start with a Second Opinion See the seven services

Different careers, one standard.