A supplier's quote, advice from an external consultant, or an internal recommendation that calls for a big investment. Within one to two weeks we give you a second reading: what holds up, what's missing, and which questions you should still ask before you decide.
Three of the moments when companies call us for a second reading. If one of them sounds familiar, you're in the right place.
The supplier says the scope is right and the price is reasonable. Your gut makes you doubt it. We read the document, talk briefly with you and possibly with the supplier, and hand you one memo. It sets out what is well argued, what you still need to check, and what price is realistic for what they're offering.
Before rolling the report out internally, you want to know whether the conclusions hold. We read it, spot where standard frameworks or generic advice were applied, and tell you which recommendations really apply to your situation and which you can safely set aside.
Before signing up for extra hours or a bigger scope, you want an independent judgement. Within one to two weeks we tell you whether this plan is a real fix or an expensive sticking plaster. We also look back: which questions could you have asked before the project went off the rails?
We have no stake in which way it goes. Within one to two weeks you get one of these three answers: clear, substantiated, and with the reasons attached.
Sometimes a project is healthier than you think and what you mostly need is confirmation. Then we say so, and we name the two things you'd still do well to keep an eye on.
The most common outcome. The project can be saved, but scope, steering or agreements with a partner are off. We name exactly what, in which order, and what it costs you to put it right.
Rarely, but it happens. If carrying on costs more than starting again, we say so, with the honest story behind it. That way you can make the call before another year goes into it.
The hardest part isn't starting. The hardest part is daring to stop in time. That's why you bring in an independent partner: someone with no interest in another year of carrying on, but every interest in the right decision for your company.
Reading documents, asking targeted questions and answering your question. No project, no follow-up assignment if one isn't needed.
We want to understand exactly what you want to know. Not 'give us your opinion', but 'three concrete questions we will answer for you'. The sharper the question, the more useful our answer.
We read what's on the table (quote, report, project plan, contract). Where useful, we talk briefly with the supplier or consultant themselves, with their prior consent. We look for gaps, over-optimistic assumptions and standard frameworks that don't fit your situation.
We write a memo (2 to 4 pages, not 30) that answers your three questions directly, plus anything else we notice. Then 90 minutes with you to go through the memo, answer your follow-up questions and, where relevant, suggest what else you could ask the party who produced the original.
We don't want vendor lock-in. The memo is yours. If you then decide you'd like support with delivery after all, that's possible (see programme management). But it's not an unspoken condition.
Missing one? Call or email. We answer without a sales pitch.
Another question? Call us for half an hour
Yes. A second opinion is deliberately a light engagement: one to two weeks of work, at a fixed price depending on the complexity of the document. For an ordinary quote check, expect something in the order of 1,500 to 6,000 euros. For more complex material or several documents it goes up, but we tell you that in advance.
Then it's there in black and white in our memo. You pay for independent reading, not for disagreeing to prove our added value. A 'largely correct' is also a valuable answer, because it removes the doubt that made you ask for a second opinion in the first place.
Only with your consent and theirs. Sometimes it's valuable (clarifying scope, technical details). Sometimes it isn't needed (if we get enough from the document). We won't force that conversation without you knowing what we're asking.
Then we say so up front. If there's an earlier working relationship that could call our independence into question, it's better not to hire us for the second opinion. Walter and Jan know the Belgian IT world well, and sometimes paths cross. Honesty before the start is in everyone's interest. The principle goes wider: that's how independent digitalisation guidance works with us.
An audit looks at your own IT landscape (current state + scenarios). A second opinion looks at a document someone else produced (review + advice). The audit faces inwards, the second opinion outwards. Sometimes they turn out to be related, and then we say so.
Digital, as a PDF, no years-old templates, including a working session where we go through it together and explain everything point by point. A printed version for your board meeting on request, but that's the exception.
