A consultancy built to be told the truth by.
Associated Konsultants was founded in August 1983 and has been based in Tucson since 1993. It advises small and mid-size businesses across the United States on security, risk and technology.
What kind of firm this is
Associated Konsultants is one senior person, plus specialists brought in when the work calls for them. That is a structural decision, not a stage the business is trying to grow out of.
Firms with staff have to keep those staff busy. It shapes what they recommend, how long engagements run, and how often you hear from them. A practice with no bench to feed can end an engagement when the objectives are met and say so out loud — which is what happened on a two-year engagement described in our case studies.
The specialists have worked alongside Associated Konsultants for ten to twenty years. They are not contractors found for a job. On a recent assessment, the physical security work was led by Matt Tank, a retired FBI agent with more than twenty years in the field — and if your engagement needs a specialist, they join our first video call, so nobody unfamiliar arrives at your door on the day.
How working with us actually goes
- Virtual meet and greet 15–20 minutes · no cost
- Onsite questions and walkthrough Up to an hour, at your premises · no cost
- Proposal Fixed hours, fixed cost, a date — in writing, signed by both parties
- Security, Risk & Business Needs Assessment The paid engagement. Findings, scorecards, and a prioritized out-brief with costs — which belongs to you
- Implementation Optional, priced in the out-brief. Us, your existing provider, or in-house
- Ongoing managed services For retained clients
Two conversations happen before anything costs you a thing, and the second one is on your premises. No managed services provider sends a senior person out on an unpaid site visit, because their model can’t absorb it. Ours can, because what comes out of that hour is a proposal we can actually stand behind rather than a guess with a contingency built in.
Nothing gets a number until step three, and that number is fixed. Every engagement has a not-to-exceed figure for hours and cost, agreed in writing before any work starts.
Step four is the only way in. Implementation, managed services, awareness training and executive footprint work are all available afterwards, and none of them is available before. That is not a sales rule — I don’t recommend work on a business I haven’t examined.
Why we’re structured this way
Nearly everyone who will assess your security has a reason to find something.
That is not an accusation of dishonesty. It is arithmetic. A managed services provider’s assessment exists to produce a managed contract. A reseller is paid by the vendor whose product they just recommended. In both cases the recommendation and the revenue point in the same direction, and neither person in the room gets paid for telling you that you’re fine.
Associated Konsultants is built so that those two things point in different directions.
The out-brief is yours. Hire us to carry out the recommendations, hand it to the IT provider you already have, or do it in-house. The advice reads the same either way, because it was never written to lead anywhere in particular.
We don’t make money on what we recommend you buy. No margin on hardware, none on software. Several of the products your environment may need aren’t sold to end users at all, so we procure them on your behalf at the price you’d pay if you could buy them yourself, and that work isn’t billed to you.
One exception, named on purpose. Microsoft 365 and Azure licensing: we buy through a distributor and our clients pay less than Microsoft’s own direct price. We keep the difference. Buy direct from Microsoft instead and nothing changes — you’re still a client, and the advice is identical.
Where we work
Tucson, Arizona. Clients across the United States.
Onsite work is scheduled and travel is quoted in the proposal, so you see it before you agree to it. Assessment discovery has to happen in your facilities — that is the half of this work a remote review cannot do. Everything after it is largely remote.
Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, which matters more than it sounds like it should when you are booking calls with someone two time zones away. Our scheduling page shows times in your zone, not ours.
The short version
- Founded
- August 1983
- In Tucson since
- 1993
- Structure
- One senior consultant, plus long-standing specialists
- Certification
- CISSP — verify on Credly (opens in a new tab)
- Standing
- BBB accredited, A+ (opens in a new tab) · Dun & Bradstreet verified (opens in a new tab)
- Clients
- Small and mid-size businesses, nationwide
- The way in
- Security, Risk & Business Needs Assessment
- How we’re paid
- Time and judgment. One disclosed exception, above.
Twenty minutes.
No cost, no presentation. We work out whether there’s a fit — and if there isn’t, I’ll say so and point you somewhere better.
(520) 585-4746 · ClientServices@akonsultants.com · Tucson-based — clients nationwide