Second Opinion
Before you commit, get an independent call.
About to sign for an ERP, CRM, or other major system, or stuck in an implementation that keeps getting more expensive? In 5 business days, I’ll review the proposal, the business need, and the alternatives, and give you a clear decision: proceed, proceed with changes, or stop. I take no vendor commissions, referral fees, or resale margins.
From $2,500, fixed quote5 business days
Schedule Our First ChatFree 30-minute conversation. Scope agreed before paid work begins.
What you get
- The decision
- Proceed, proceed with changes, or stop, stated plainly with the reasons behind it.
- The evidence
- What I reviewed, what the proposal assumes, where it fits the business, and where it doesn’t.
- The alternatives
- If the answer is to change course, the most viable, least complicated options still open to you.
The details
How the engagement works
- Kickoff. We agree the decision at stake, and I collect the proposal, contract, requirements, change orders, and anything else on the table.
- Review. I read the documents and test the proposal against how the business actually makes money and gets work done.
- Talk to the people. Short conversations with the people who will live with the decision, and with the vendor if useful.
- The call. We meet to walk through the decision and the reasons, and I answer the hard questions from your team.
The 5 business days start once the agreed documents and conversations are available. One decision per engagement. If the situation needs a larger review, like a full implementation rescue, I’ll say so and quote it separately before any additional work.
No software purchase, implementation contract, or continuing engagement is required.
When this is a good fit
- You’re about to sign for a major system, or you’re partway through implementing one.
- The cost is large enough that being wrong would hurt.
- You want someone with no stake in the outcome to look at it.
- Someone has the authority to act on the answer, including stopping.
When something else would help more
- You’ve already decided and want the purchase validated.
- You need an implementation partner rather than an independent view.
- The decision is small enough to reverse cheaply.
- The documents and people involved can’t be made available.
Related work: the ERP decision
At a PE-backed distributor, the ERP being implemented couldn’t represent the commercial relationships at the center of the business.
The five-year license was contracted at $1.25M. Implementation was estimated at $600K, then at least $1.2M with custom code. I recommended stopping. The CEO canceled the implementation, and I designed an alternative around systems the company already had.
About $350K had been paid when implementation stopped. These are projected costs and a design estimate, not a claim of realized savings.
Worth the fee, or your money back
Complete the review and walk through the decision with me. If you don’t believe it’s worth the fee, tell me within seven calendar days of that meeting. I’ll refund the full fee, and you keep the findings.
Do you receive vendor commissions?
No. I have no vendor compensation or affiliations. I do not receive commissions, referral fees, or resale margins for recommending a product or provider.
Can you review an implementation already underway?
Yes. The question becomes whether the remaining work still serves the business result. I look at requirements, gaps, change orders, workarounds, and the cost of continuing versus changing course.
What if the answer is to proceed?
Then you proceed with confidence, usually with a short list of changes to the contract, scope, or plan that make success more likely.
Can the work end without a build?
Yes. Keeping the current tools, changing the process, renegotiating, or stopping can be the whole result. If you want help with what comes next, that’s separate.
What happens in the first call?
It’s a free 30-minute introduction. We talk through the decision, what’s on the table, and whether a Second Opinion would help. No preparation is required.