About Delfen
A technology advisory. Built on a conviction.
Why Delfen exists.
Regulated and capital-intensive organizations do not lack leadership. What they lack during a transition is a judgment that spans governance, technology, data and architecture and defends none of them. In financial services, pensions, insurance, energy, industry and infrastructure, a technology decision carries regulatory weight — and it keeps working for ten years.
So the decisions that matter most get taken one domain at a time, by people who each have a budget to protect. That is not a failure of the people. It is a gap in the org chart.
Delfen was founded in 2026 to close that gap.
Who built Delfen.
Jacques Domenie started his technology career as an infrastructure engineer. He worked his way through enterprise architecture to IT Director in DNB-regulated financial services, and to Chief Enterprise Architect beyond it.
30 years. From infrastructure engineering to technology estates at companies with €1–4 billion in revenue. From technical design to regulatory compliance at NIBC Bank.
That career isn’t the product Delfen sells. It’s the foundation of the Delfen methodology — the standard every engagement is held to, and the practical experience embedded in every assessment.
Background
- TOGAF 9 Certified
- ArchiMate 3 Certified
- SAFe 5.1 (Scaled Agile Framework)
- MSc — TU Delft
- Experience in DNB-regulated financial services (NIBC Bank)
What kind of company Delfen is.
Delfen is an independent technology advisory. In practice, that means three things:
Independent judgment.
The advice Delfen gives you is never bought. No vendor pays to steer a recommendation. Where a commercial interest does exist, it is disclosed up front, in writing. The judgment is always the judgment.
At CxO level.
Every engagement is led by a Delfen principal — not a project manager coordinating, or a junior consultant learning. What’s promised is delivered by the person who assessed it.
With ownership of the result.
Delfen doesn’t deliver reports and leave. Delfen leads — present, accountable, embedded — and closes every engagement with a Capability Transfer. When Delfen leaves, the organization continues independently.
What “Delfen” means.
The name has three layers.
Delven — Dutch for “to dig, to delve.” Deeper than the surface. Not settling for the first answer. The decisions that actually matter lie beneath the layer that’s visible.
Delphi — the oracle that doesn’t make predictions, but asks the right questions. Technology leadership isn’t delivering answers. It’s asking the questions the organization hasn’t asked itself yet.
Delft — the founder’s origin. TU Delft as the foundation: technical, precise, pragmatic.
Working with Delfen — the practical side
Enterprise procurement asks the same questions of every supplier, and a one-person firm has to answer them before the conversation about the work can start. So they are answered here.
- Legal entity and registration
- Delfen is a trade name of Life Surfing, registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under 27348456. A private limited company (B.V.) takes over the practice on 1 January 2027; existing engagements transfer with it.
- One person, and why that is the mechanism
- There is no bench and no junior layer. That is not a limitation to be managed around — it is the reason the judgment stays consistent across four domains. What it does require is an honest answer on continuity, below.
- Continuity and key-person risk
- Notice period and handover terms are set per engagement. Decisions, rationale and open conditions are documented as the work proceeds rather than at the end, so the record survives an absence. Where an engagement is business-critical, a named associate arrangement can be agreed before it starts.
- Insurance
- Professional indemnity and general liability cover are in place, with insurer and limits stated in the engagement documentation. Cover is reviewed at the B.V. transition.
- Screening
- A current VOG (Dutch certificate of conduct) is available, and pre-employment screening — including integrity screening under a client's own regime — is accepted as standard for roles touching a controlled function.
- Information security and data
- Client material is handled on encrypted, managed equipment under a documented handling standard. Most engagements are non-processor under the GDPR; where a processing role does arise, a data processing agreement is signed before work starts.
- DORA and third-party risk
- An engagement that qualifies as an ICT service can be entered into the client's Register of Information, with the contractual terms Article 30 requires, an exit strategy, and a substitutability assessment. Sub-contracting: none, unless agreed in writing in advance.
- Self-employment status (Wet DBA)
- Engagements are structured as assignments with a defined result and no obligation of personal performance, with substitution permitted. Contracting through a client's mandated MSP or inhuurdesk is available where the client's framework requires it.
- Terms
- General terms and conditions apply and are provided with every proposal. Client purchase terms are read and negotiated rather than refused.
Delfen.ai — the knowledge platform.
Alongside the advisory, Delfen publishes practitioner articles on delfen.ai. They include two series: “M&A Technical Due Diligence” and “How architecture delivers value.”
Delfen works for you, on your own decisions. On delfen.ai, anyone facing similar choices can read how Delfen reasons about them.
Read on delfen.ai