• We can analyze proposals from ERP SIs and provide pros and cons for each and a recommendation.
• We have a lot of experience in analyzing SIs and in ERP systems. And clients receive 100% independence as we maintain no relationships with vendors, consulting companies, or any participants we evaluate.

Important Topic #1: Advisory Firms That Fake Independence

Some well-known advisers claim independence but have partnerships that severely skew their advice. The term “independent” is just a marketing phrase for these firms. Very few companies can be truly independent because there is a cost to being independent. For example, Gartner, which has the most financial conflicts of any firm we have tracked in the IT space, claims to be independent.

As an example, it is impossible for us to have relationships with software firms because a software vendor intends to capture any IT analysis firm, and all of their interactions with us are designed to capture us. This is why we stopped having relationships with software vendors, as shown in the following article. Why Brightwork Research & Analysis Has No Relationships With Vendors

We found out about two companies like this on previous projects. We can’t show you the “receipts,” but we can tell from the information they provided to our clients that they have partnerships they are protecting and modifying their information.

What About Consulting Firms?

• Any software vendor of any size has consulting partners. Consulting companies are curious. They pretend to be trusted advisors, but in reality, they only focus on maximizing their profits. They will say anything their selected software vendor partners say is accurate and function as parrots.
• Consulting firms are not fiduciaries, as is covered in the article How Consulting and Advisory Firms Sell Out The Interests of Their Clients.
• Consulting companies follow no research rules, have people with fake research titles, as is covered in the article Why PWC Research Fellows Are Fake and Pretend to be Academic, and are promoters globally of large amounts of false information published.

For example, SAP and SAP consulting firms hide important information from prospects and sell applications and implementations based upon their revenue needs rather than customer needs. This explains why there is so much waste in the SAP market.

We perform all types of research, which illuminates things that very few people know. But to do so means following the evidence rather than working from the hypothesis and then trying to find information to support it.

Important Topic #2: Keeping Our Advice a Secret

We usually recommend that the client not tell the SIs they are receiving assistance from anyone for the selection. The reason is that we have exposed a lot of unflattering information about how consulting companies operate.

Secondly, we want the system integrators to provide information as if they think our clients don’t have anyone independently verifying what they are saying. If we take the example of presentations from the system integrators, most of my clients record the sessions, and I then review them after not participating.

After the selection is made, the environment becomes less sensitive. I can also provide support after a selection to ensure that promises during the sales or selection phase are being adhered to. Usually, much of a project like this is verifying the presented information from the SIs.

Important Topic #3: Typical False Claims Made During the ERP System Integrator Selection

One SI told our client they could implement software — but it was software for which I learned had almost no qualified resources. Our client would have essentially been paying for the consulting firm to train its resources on the software, and the experience level would have been hidden by what I assume would have been falsified resumes. Furthermore, the vendor told my client that this was the best possible SI for them. This is considered completely ethical in the consulting and vendor space. They usually feel justified in doing this and much more because they have quotas that are difficult to match, and they think everyone is doing it.

Important Topic #4: Documentation Orientation

Any recommendation would come with a document explaining the research. A typical title of one such document might be “An Analysis of SI #1, #2, and #3 In the Area of Their Proposed Approach.” Any dimension being analyzed (projected costs, skills, philosophy of the SI, other implementations, etc..) would become a separate document.

Important Topic #5: Research Orientation of the Analysis and Advice

Brightwork Research has performed the highest integrity and most detailed research in the IT space. This body of work supports the analysis that clients receive. Here are some examples of our work.

• We developed the most accurate set of predictions over 12 years on the software vendor SAP, which you can see in the following article. Study on SAP’s Accuracy
• Extensive TCO calculators.
• The most realistic and unbiased research into why software projects fail, and what to do about it.

The upshot is that information from software vendors is unreliable. But what about consulting firms? Is the information from consulting companies a reason to be optimistic?

Important Topic #6: The Resource Type Clients Can Expect

We only use experienced and moderate-level experience resources. BR&A is not based on the standard consulting model where partners and many subordinates do most of the work.  This means that billed hours are targeted toward the objective, not just on getting partners rich and making a high margin on less experienced resources.

Important Topic #7: Time On-Site & Remote

We will typically mix some time remote work with on-site time. It can be advantageous to be on-site for some things, but for others, like doing the analysis, there is no advantage to being on-site, and the expense goes up.

Being on-site typically means 8 hours per day is billed. However, in many cases, there are days where the work to do is much less than 8 hours.

So, clients that contract with Brightwork Research can expect us to be at their site whenever necessary.

Important Topic #8: Billed Hour Recording

We provide our clients with a spreadsheet, either every two weeks or whenever they ask, that shows the hours per day that were billed/worked, what was worked on that day, and the running total.

If you have any other questions about this or other topics, reach out to us through the chat widget in the lower right hand corner of this website.

Hiring Us

As you can see, if you have made it this far, it is challenging to obtain accurate information from the entities listed above.

• Virtually all of the research, consulting, and advice that can be purchased is aligned with established interests.
• If you have purchased research or consulting information, we can be hired to evaluate and provide our analysis. We can provide a number of different types of analyses of the material that will enhance your decision-making abilities and help moderate the influence of the types of poor quality information that we have profiled in this article.
• We can also be hired to investigate topics and perform original research on technology topics.

Contacting Us

You can contact us at support@brightworkresearch.com