Factero's commitment to neutral advice without conflict of interest.
In an increasingly complex technological ecosystem, the value of advice is not measured by the tool recommended, but by the quality of judgment, the clarity of the process, and the neutrality of the analysis. Factero is committed to protecting its clients' interests by explicitly distinguishing between diagnosis, recommendation, and execution, in order to reduce real or perceived conflicts of interest and make every decision defensible.
Every recommendation is dictated exclusively by the client's business, financial, operational, and legal objectives. Factero prioritizes the most relevant, sustainable, and profitable solution for the organization, even if it is not part of our habits, internal tools, or partners.
Factero maintains a strict separation between the decision-making and execution phases. This separation can be organizational when multiple stakeholders are involved, or methodological when a single consultant carries out the mandate. In all cases, the goal is the same: to preserve healthy governance and produce clear, traceable, and defensible decisions.
Factero systematically distinguishes two phases, each with its own rules and deliverables:
To reduce bias and ensure objectivity:
Factero acts as a trusted third party. No recommendation should be influenced by a financial interest related to a specific technology, manufacturer, or specific supplier.
Factero discloses, in an understandable manner, any relevant commercial relationship with suppliers or partners (SaaS, ERP, cloud, managed services, integrators), as well as any advantage, discount, commission, referral, or incentive likely to influence - or appear to influence - a recommendation.
To make this transparency verifiable, Factero publishes a dedicated document declaring its business links, agreements, and incentive mechanisms, with an update history:
Transparency Register - Business Links and Partnerships:Document available upon request during engagement.
This transparency allows the client to evaluate the objectivity of the analysis with full knowledge. It applies before the recommendation or, at the latest, before any irreversible commitment. Factero commits to explicitly notifying the client of any relevant situation concerning the current mandate, even if it already appears in the register.
Each IT governance file is reviewed from several angles before delivery, in order to align the decision with the organization's reality:
Factero is not tied to any manufacturer exclusively. Selection is based on an objective evaluation grid (scorecard) shared with the client, including criteria, weighting, and scores. The client can thus understand exactly why one option is recommended over other market solutions.
Factero has the obligation to clearly signal when a technology, project, or approach should not be deployed, according to our professional judgment, because the risk, cost, complexity, or maturity of the organization does not justify the investment at that time.
This position is explained and documented: expected benefits, assumptions, limitations, risks, operational impacts, alternatives, and minimum conditions to make the approach acceptable (e.g., governance prerequisites, security controls, internal capacity, recurring budget).
The final decision belongs to the client. Our responsibility is to make this decision informed, traceable, and defensible.
Factero treats client information as confidential by default. This confidentiality applies to everything seen, heard, received, or produced during a mandate, including exchanges, documents, configurations, access, findings, deliverables, as well as the very existence of the mandate.
Confidentiality management is based on simple principles:
Factero never names a client, publishes no logo, and distributes no testimonial, case study, or identifiable reference without the client's explicit and prior agreement. Any exception (e.g., legal obligation) is reported to the client as soon as it is known, to the extent permitted.
Factero documents findings, assumptions, trade-offs, and key decisions. This documentation aims for continuity, accountability, and the ability to justify a decision over time. Deliverables are provided to the client and designed to be usable by management, a committee, or an audit, depending on the context.
Any significant change (architecture, suppliers, access, data, security, processes) must be evaluated before execution. Factero formalizes impacts, dependencies, risks, prerequisites, and success conditions. High-impact changes are presented with options, scenarios, and a realistic mitigation plan.
Factero clarifies responsibilities between parties (client, suppliers, integrators, managed services) to avoid gray areas. Roles, commitments, limitations, acceptance criteria, and escalation mechanisms are explicit. The goal is simple: to know who does what, when, and how quality is verified.
Factero has the obligation to alert when a project drifts or when risks become unacceptable (budget, security, compliance, schedule, internal capacity). The alert is formulated clearly, based on observable facts, with probable impacts and corrective recommendations. Clarity takes precedence over comfort.
Factero commits to intervening within the scope of its competencies and to explicitly naming its limits when an issue requires specialized expertise (legal, tax, forensic, etc.). If a third party is recommended, the final choice belongs to the client, and the selection logic remains aligned with independence, quality, and real need.
