Service 07 · Second Opinion
Before you sign that ERP, that AI pilot or that contract, have it read by someone who gains nothing if you sign.
Every vendor recommends its own product, and a badly taken technology decision eats a year of margin. A Senior Advisor tells you what the proposal leaves out, what it will cost that is not in the budget, and whether to sign: go, go with conditions, or no.
Illustrative. In on Monday, out on Friday.
Go, go with conditions, or no The recommendation is ours. The decision is always yours.
- DAY 1
60-minute intake with the people involved.
- DAYS 2-4
Analysis with Stradiax's own instruments.
- DAY 5
Position paper and debrief with the recommendation.
- AFTER
If it leads to an advisory project within 90 days, credited in full.
One decision. Five days. A paper you can defend in the boardroom.
It is not a company diagnosis and it is not a roadmap. It is the review of one decision already on your table: a vendor proposal, an ERP budget, an AI pilot, a cybersecurity investment. In on Monday, out on Friday.
One decision
With a name, an amount and a signing date. If the decision does not exist yet, this is not the service; we will tell you so before we start.
Five business days
We sell the deadline, not the effort. Intake to debrief takes five business days because MCouncil does in hours the cross-analysis that used to take weeks.
A paper for the board
Written for the person who signs, in P&L language. With a reasoned recommendation: go, go with conditions, or no.
What you get.
Three deliverables. None of them is a PDF that gets filed the following Monday.
Intake, 60 minutes
With the people involved in the decision, not only the signer or the CFO. We pin down the decision and collect the proposal and the numbers. If we need more information or want to contrast points of view, we schedule additional meetings with people in your organisation.
Position paper, 6 to 10 pages
The core deliverable. What the proposal does not say. What it will cost that is not in the budget. The three questions to ask the vendor before you sign. And the reasoned recommendation.
Debrief, 45 minutes
A results presentation with questions and answers. The Advisor presents the recommendation and the reasoning behind it, answers what the paper opens up and prepares with you how it gets taken to the board or the vendor.
- WHAT THE PROPOSAL DOES NOT SAY
You sign knowing what the vendor has not told you.
- WHAT IT WILL COST THAT IS NOT IN THE BUDGET
You know the total cost before approving it, not on the third invoice.
- THE THREE QUESTIONS FOR THE VENDOR
You walk into the negotiation with the initiative, not on the back foot.
- THE RECOMMENDATION
A recommendation you can defend in the boardroom: go, go with conditions or no.
How it is done.
We bring the instrument your decision needs. We do not throw four systems at you.
MCouncil, always
Our proprietary AI for cross-strategic analysis reads the decision through more than 18 baseline disciplines (finance, operations, risk, people, technology and the rest) on anonymized data: analysis from many angles in minutes, consolidated decision methods and patterns that are hard to see. The Advisor calibrates the output against your reality. Meet MCouncil.
ServiceIQ, when there is a vendor proposal
It frames the project or service according to best practice, adapted to your case, and compares it with what you have been offered: scope, phases, team profiles and real rates by role, seniority and country. It is the edge against the integrator. Meet ServiceIQ.
SLVD, only if SAP is involved
If the decision touches SAP, the Advisor activates SLVD, which assesses whether you are using the functionality you already have and identifies quick wins that make economic or strategic sense, before approving more licences or modules. It does not go into your system. Meet SLVD.
Zero conflict of interest
Yes, we also build AI systems. That is why the rule has no exceptions: what we review, we never implement. No agreements or commissions with vendors, integrators or cloud providers. There are excellent integrators out there; the problem is not their quality, it is that they recommend what they implement.
Senior, start to finish
One Stradiax Senior Advisor leads the intake, writes the paper and presents the results in the debrief. Senior judgment at every step.
Who it is for. And who it is not for.
We would rather say no in the 30-minute call than deliver something you do not need.
It is for you if
You have a proposal, a budget or a contract on the table and a signing date. The amount sits between 200,000 and 2 million euros. You are the person who signs, or the one who has to defend the signature to the board, a partner or the CFO. And you suspect the vendor is telling you half the story.
It is not for you if
You want someone to execute the project we review: the Second Opinion does not include implementation, and what we review we do not deploy ourselves. You do not have a concrete decision yet, only a general concern about technology: that is a Strategic Advisory project, not a Second Opinion. Or you want someone to sign for you: the recommendation is ours, the decision is always yours.
The 100% credit
A Second Opinion can lead to a Strategic Advisory project. If you sign one within the following 90 days, its cost is credited in full: the review has cost you nothing.Second Opinion credit
Price.
Paid as a fraction of the decision under review, not as anyone's hours.
A fraction of the decision
A typical proposal we review runs from 200,000 to 2 million euros. The review costs a tiny fraction of that amount, and a single badly bounded assumption in the budget is worth more. From €2,900 + VAT; we confirm the fixed amount in the qualification call.
What is included
A 60-minute intake with the people involved in the decision (plus additional meetings if needed), a 6 to 10 page position paper and a 45-minute debrief where the results are presented and questions answered. One Senior Advisor start to finish, with MCouncil and, depending on the case, ServiceIQ and SLVD.
How you buy it
You tell us about the decision in the form or book 30 minutes with a Senior Advisor. If the decision qualifies, we schedule the intake, sign the confidentiality agreement and invoice the closed amount. The five business days start with the intake.
At most, four Second Opinions a month. One per week, each in the hands of a Senior Advisor start to finish. It is not a feature of the service: it is the limit of what we deliver at this depth. If the week is already taken, we tell you in the qualification call and book the next one.
What we get asked before the proposal lands in our inbox
What happens if the recommendation is "no"?
You have just saved the entire investment for a tiny fraction of its value. The paper explains why not, what would have to change for it to become a yes and, where relevant, which alternative is worth looking at. A reasoned "no" is the most profitable outcome this service can give you.
How is confidentiality handled? Do you sign an NDA?
Yes. We sign your NDA or ours before receiving a single document. The proposal, the budget and the data you share are used for this review only. When MCouncil is activated, the case enters fully anonymized: no names, identifiers or sensitive figures. We have no vendor partnerships and take no third-party commissions, so nobody else sees what you send us.
What do you need from me to start?
Three things: the decision written in one sentence, the documents behind it (vendor proposal, budget, scope, draft contract if there is one) and a 60-minute intake with the people involved in the decision: the person who signs, the one who will defend it and anyone who has something to say about it. If, during the intake, we need more information or want to contrast points of view, we schedule additional meetings with people in your organisation. That starts the five business days. If anything is missing, we tell you in the qualification call, before anything is invoiced.
Is it useful if the proposal is already signed?
It is, but the goal changes. Before signing, the Second Opinion helps you decide whether to sign and on what terms. After signing, it becomes a read of risks and negotiation points for the next phases, scope changes and renewals. We say so plainly in the qualification call and, if the timing is no longer right, we do not take the review.
Who does the work?
A Stradiax Senior Advisor with more than twenty years of experience, start to finish: the intake, any additional meetings, the paper and the debrief. Senior judgment start to finish, no intermediate team. Supported by MCouncil and, when the decision calls for it, by ServiceIQ and SLVD. The standard the work is held to is set by the Principal Advisor.
How does the 100% credit work?
A Second Opinion can lead to a Strategic Advisory project. If you sign one within 90 days of delivery, the full amount is deducted from the project fee. It is not a partial discount or a voucher: it is the whole fee. So if the decision opens up a bigger piece of work, the review has cost you nothing.
Why only four a month?
Because that is the most we deliver with a Senior Advisor start to finish in five business days: one per week. It is not a feature of the service, it is a capacity limit. In the 30-minute call we decide together whether your decision qualifies and which week it gets.
Is there a proposal on your table?
Tell us about the decision. If it qualifies, by Friday of next week you will have a recommendation you can take to the board. If you would rather talk first, book 30 minutes with a Senior Advisor.
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