Microsoft Data, AI and Power BI Consultancy & Training
We put your people at the heart of the platforms, advice, and training we deliver. Helping IT leaders and their teams build better data platforms, Power BI estates, AI capability, and reporting solutions, with a human-first approach.
Trusted Microsoft Data & AI expertise
How We Help IT Leaders and Their Teams
Four ways to work with us, depending on where you are. From open-cohort training to senior advisory retainers, all engagements are fixed-price and MVP and MCT-led.
Power BI & Microsoft Fabric Training
The complete pathway for analysts, engineers, and leaders. PL-300, DP-600, governance, and the Strategic Fabric Briefing for senior decision-makers. From £895 per delegate.
See training pathwaysMicrosoft Fabric & SQL Server Consulting
Architecture, capacity planning, migration and governance from a named MVP and MCT, with published pricing. Fixed-price migration assessments cover Fabric and Azure destinations in one plan.
See Fabric consultingData Platform & Analytics Accelerator
A short, structured engagement to assess your current data estate, define a target state, and build a prioritised 90-day roadmap. Six to eight weeks, senior-level guidance, no consultancy theatre.
See the AcceleratorAI Enablement Programme
A structured engagement to assess your AI readiness, build a roadmap, and enable your teams to use Copilot, Power Platform, and Azure AI services with confidence. Practical, role-based, and grounded in real Microsoft tooling.
See the AI Enablement ProgrammeRunning business-critical SQL Server without an in-house DBA? Our fractional DBA service gives you a named senior expert from £1,250 a month, on rolling terms.
See Fractional DBA ServicesWhat Clients Say
Gethyn was brought in by the Royal College of Nursing during an upgrade to Microsoft CRM. There were serious performance issues across the application, batch processing, and reporting. Gethyn's knowledge and experience resolved these issues, made batch processing more reliable, and left the RCN in a far better position than when he joined. He brought technical know-how, knowledge sharing, and best practice guidance.
Gethyn is a rare breed. Skilful and down to earth with a great understanding of the client's needs and a master's knowledge at his fingertips. We worked together to virtualise the SQL estate onto vSphere and learnt a great deal from each other. Highly recommended indeed.
The five day-one tenant settings alone justified the cost. We left, configured them on the Monday morning, and immediately stopped three categories of risk we did not know we had. The Purview session was the most useful training I have attended in years.
What gethynellis.com does
gethynellis.com is the Microsoft data platform and AI consultancy of Gethyn Ellis, a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Microsoft Certified Trainer with 25 years in SQL Server, Azure, Power BI and Microsoft Fabric. Through GRE Solutions Limited, trading for 20 years, he delivers fixed-price consulting, fractional DBA cover and MCT-led training to UK organisations.
Everything on this site is delivered by the same named expert: no handover to a delivery team after the sale, and no junior consultants learning on your estate. That covers SQL Server consulting, Microsoft Fabric consulting, fractional DBA services, Power BI and Fabric training and the AI Enablement Programme.
Why a named MVP and MCT rather than a delivery team
Most Microsoft partners sell a company badge and staff the work afterwards. Here the credentials belong to the person doing the work, and you can check them on Microsoft’s own MVP and MCT directories before the first call.
| What you are buying | Named MVP and MCT (this site) | Large consultancy delivery team |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | The person you spoke to on the discovery call | A team assigned after the contract is signed |
| Credentials | Microsoft MVP and MCT held by the individual, publicly verifiable | Partner designation held by the company |
| Pricing | Day rate and fixed-price scopes published on this site | Quoted per engagement, rarely published |
| Knowledge transfer | Built in. MCT-delivered training sits inside the engagement | Usually a separate line item, delivered by a different team |
| Continuity | Same person from discovery through delivery and support | Changes with resourcing and staff turnover |
The trade-off is honest: one expert does not scale to a 40-person programme. For an estate that needs senior judgement more than headcount, that is the point.
How we work
Every engagement follows the same five steps. There is no sales process separate from the technical one, so what is promised on the call is what is delivered.
1. Discovery call
Thirty minutes, free, with Gethyn. You describe the estate and the problem; you leave with a view on whether this is a fit and what the next step costs.
2. Assessment
A fixed-price, time-boxed review of the platform, the data or the team, with written findings you own whether or not you proceed. Migration assessments cover both Azure and Fabric destinations in one plan.
3. Fixed-price proposal
Scope, deliverables, timeline and price in writing. Day-rate work is quoted at £1,250 a day; most engagements are scoped to a fixed figure so there is nothing to reconcile at the end.
4. Delivery
Gethyn does the work, on your systems, with weekly written progress. Changes are tested before they reach production and documented as they are made.
5. Skills transfer and handover
The engagement ends with your team able to run what was built. Where it helps, that is a formal MCT-delivered course; where it does not, it is a working session and a runbook.
Pricing we publish
Nobody else in this market puts numbers on the home page. These are the starting points; fixed-price scopes are confirmed after the discovery call. All prices exclude VAT.
| Service | Price | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| SQL Server and Fabric consulting | £1,250 | Per day, or fixed price per scope |
| Fractional DBA | From £1,250 | Per month, rolling terms, named senior expert |
| Power BI and Fabric training | From £895 | Per delegate, open cohort. Private cohorts quoted per course |
| Data Platform and Analytics Accelerator | Fixed price | Six to eight weeks, quoted after discovery |
| Fractional AI Advisory | From £1,950 | Per month |
| AI Workshops | From £1,500 | Per session, not per delegate |
Trusted in regulated and public sector environments
GRE Solutions Limited is a Crown Commercial Service supplier, which means the paperwork a public body needs to engage us already exists. Clients include UK government departments, the Royal College of Nursing, local government, healthcare organisations, universities, financial services firms, retailers and manufacturers.
For regulated organisations the practical differences are these: a named individual with a verifiable security track record (CIS Benchmark and SQL Server hardening sessions at SQLBits), fixed-price engagements that pass procurement without a framework call-off, and governance built into Power BI and Fabric delivery rather than added at audit time.
Your AI plans start with the SQL Server estate you already run
Copilot, Fabric Data Agents and Azure AI only work on data that is current, governed and reachable. For most UK organisations that data sits in SQL Server, often on versions that are out of support, with reporting bolted on afterwards. The route to usable AI runs through the platform first.
That is the sequence this practice is built around: stabilise and secure SQL Server, move the right workloads to Microsoft Fabric or Azure, put governance on the Power BI estate, then run the AI Enablement Programme on a foundation that will hold. Each step is available on its own; together they are the only credible path from a legacy estate to a working AI capability.
SQL Server end of support. SQL Server 2014 and 2016 are out of extended support. SQL Server 2017 leaves extended support in October 2027 and SQL Server 2019 in January 2030. An unsupported instance is an audit finding, a cyber insurance question and a blocker for Fabric mirroring. See the migration assessment.
Training and consulting from the same person
Training companies do not run your migration. Consultancies do not teach your analysts PL-300 or DP-600. This practice does both, which changes the economics: a Fabric migration can include the DP-600 cohort that lets your team own it, and a Power BI governance engagement can end with the administrators certified rather than dependent.
Over 10,000 professionals have been trained worldwide through Microsoft-accredited courses, and the same material is cut down into the working sessions that close a consulting engagement. See training pathways and Fabric consulting, or ask for the two to be scoped together on the discovery call.
Latest insights
Practical writing on SQL Server, Fabric, Power BI and AI, from someone who still does the work. New posts most weeks.
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Questions
What does a Microsoft data consultancy do?
A Microsoft data consultancy designs, builds, secures and supports the parts of the Microsoft stack that hold and report on business data: SQL Server, Azure SQL, Microsoft Fabric and Power BI. This practice adds training and AI enablement so the people who own the platform can run it and build on it.
How much does a SQL Server consultant cost in the UK?
Contract rates for SQL Server consultants in the UK typically run between £500 and £750 a day. The rate here is £1,250 a day because the work is done by a Microsoft MVP and MCT with 25 years of SQL Server experience, and most engagements are fixed price, so the day rate is a ceiling rather than a running meter.
What is a fractional DBA?
A fractional DBA is a senior database administrator retained part time on a monthly fee instead of hired full time. Here it means a named expert covering monitoring, patching, backups, performance and incident response for your SQL Server estate from £1,250 a month on rolling terms, with no agency margin and no rotating staff.
Should we migrate SQL Server to Azure or to Microsoft Fabric?
It depends on the workload. Transactional applications usually belong on Azure SQL Managed Instance or SQL Server on Azure VMs. Reporting and analytics workloads belong in Microsoft Fabric, often through mirroring rather than migration. A single fixed-price assessment here covers both destinations and recommends a split rather than forcing one answer.
What is the difference between a Microsoft MVP and a Microsoft partner?
A Microsoft partner is a company that has met Microsoft’s commercial and certification requirements. A Microsoft MVP is an individual recognised by Microsoft for technical expertise and community contribution, renewed annually. GRE Solutions is a partner; Gethyn Ellis is the MVP and MCT. You are buying the individual, with the company behind him.
Can training and consulting be bought together?
Yes, and it is usually cheaper than buying them separately. A Fabric or Power BI engagement can be scoped to include the PL-300, DP-600 or governance course your team needs to take ownership at the end. Ask for a combined scope on the discovery call and it will be priced as one fixed figure.
Do you work with public sector organisations?
Yes. GRE Solutions Limited is a Crown Commercial Service supplier and has delivered for UK government departments, the Royal College of Nursing, local government and higher education. Fixed-price engagements and published rates mean most public bodies can procure directly without a framework call-off.
Start with a thirty-minute discovery call
You will speak to Gethyn, not a sales team. If the fit is wrong you will be told on the call.