How we decide how deep to go, and how we protect what we find.

Why two levels, not one audit for everyone

Most audits sold in the market are Level 1 in substance, sold at Level 2 prices: a list of software, with commentary. That is useful, but it stops at the stack. Pseudo-consulting stops at the stack. The real cost of an underperforming organisation rarely lives only in tool choice — it lives in how work moves between people.

So we split the offer honestly instead of folding one into the other:

Level 2 is never forced. Many clients get everything they need from Level 1 — a smaller company running four SaaS tools does not need an organisational value-chain study. Level 2 earns its price when the organisation is dense enough that process friction outweighs the software bill.

The NDA trigger, explained

We are precise about when confidentiality escalates, because it should not be a blanket clause that makes every engagement feel heavier than it is.

• Level 1 touches software licences, subscription costs, and technical configuration — information a vendor invoice or an admin panel already shows. A lighter confidentiality clause in the quote covers this, unless you ask for more.
• Level 2 touches how your organisation actually operates — internal processes, management data, sometimes financial elements tied to margin or headcount. That is materially more sensitive, so a signed NDA always precedes any Level 2 access, no exceptions, before a single interview or document review begins.

If you start at Level 1 and later decide to extend to Level 2, the NDA is signed at that point — you are never asked to sign it upfront for work you have not yet committed to.

How the three-year TCO figure is built

The Total Cost of Ownership projection is the number most clients actually forward to their CFO, so it is worth explaining what goes into it rather than leaving it as a black box:

• Current-state cost: every subscription, licence, and per-seat fee at today's rate, projected forward assuming no changes — including typical vendor price increases where a pattern exists.
• Hidden cost: integration maintenance, workarounds, and the operational cost of vendor lock-in when a tool becomes harder to leave than to keep.
• Alternative-state cost: what a self-hosted or owned equivalent would cost to build and maintain over the same three years, including our own estimate for the work involved — not a marketing number.

The comparison is indicative and built per client during the audit itself, from your actual invoices and tool list — never a generic industry average dressed up as your number.

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