Switching IT Providers in Quebec & Ontario — Switch, Stay, or Fix?
We evaluate your options from your side — not your vendor's.
IT vendor management is an independent engagement to evaluate, oversee, or renegotiate your relationships with technology providers. Factero steps in when the relationship isn't working — or before it derails — to analyze contracts, service levels, and costs, then recommend the best course: switch, stay, or fix. 100% neutral, with no ties to any reseller or MSP.
Who is it for?
Organizations approaching an important IT decision — renewal, transition, or restructuring — and wanting an independent perspective.
CEOs or CFOs receiving proposals who want an independent technical perspective before deciding.
Internal IT directors who want external, independent support to navigate a strategic provider decision.
IT directors who want external validation to support an internal recommendation to their management.
When does it help?
If you recognize yourself in any of these situations, this service is designed for you.
- Your IT contract is coming up for renewal and you want an independent assessment before making a decision.
- You're going through a period where your provider relationship deserves to be clarified and you want a neutral perspective.
- You're receiving proposals and want an independent comparison framework to decide with confidence.
- You're considering a provider change and want the transition to happen in a structured way — without impact on your ongoing operations.
- You're an IT provider and want to offer your clients independent validation as added value — let's talk.
What will you receive?
Comparative analysis of proposals or the current relationship.
Clear recommendation: stay, repair, or change — with justification.
Structured support whatever the decision: renegotiation, relationship restructuring, or transition to a new provider.
If a transition is decided: orderly transfer of accesses, documentation, and responsibilities — with a clear continuity plan for each step.
Not a good fit?
- This service works best upstream of a decision — before a renewal, before signing, or when a situation deserves to be clarified. It's less useful if a decision has just been made and the context leaves no room for analysis.
How does the process work?
A rigorous and transparent approach, step by step.
Assessment and documentation
First, we make sure your environment is well documented: accesses, configurations, inventories, responsibilities. Whether the final decision is to stay, renegotiate, or change — a clear and well-documented foundation is useful in all cases.
Comparative analysis
We help you compare options by evaluating alternatives on factual criteria — what is proposed and what actually fits your real needs. If your current provider is the best option, the analysis confirms it. The evaluation draws on COBIT for governance and vendor management components, and NIST-CSF for security and continuity — a structured framework covering governance, security, continuity, and real value — not just the listed price.
Recommendation and support
Stay, repair, or change — with factual justification. In most cases, our analysis maintains the relationship with the current provider. IT relationships naturally accumulate complexity over time — we put clear words on what was already working well, and address what deserved to be clarified, so both parties move forward on a documented and formalized basis.
We don't recommend changing providers lightly — and honestly, we rarely do. We bring facts and an independent perspective. The client always makes the final decision. When a change is being considered, it's generally because the client was already thinking about it — we then help structure the transition in an orderly way without disruption for everyone involved.
Our presence adds a technical resource on the client side who understands the issues and facilitates exchanges — someone who speaks the same language as the provider and accelerates decisions by facilitating technical exchanges directly.
In our experience, providers see this process as an asset: it clarifies expectations, documents what's working well, and gives them a solid foundation to continue the relationship on clear terms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the questions our clients ask before reaching out.
What does your final recommendation look like?
The recommendation takes one of three forms: stay, repair, or change. Factero analyzes the provider relationship from every angle — contracts, actual SLAs, costs, service quality, documented incidents — and delivers a clear, fact-based recommendation. In most engagements, the conclusion is to maintain the relationship by clarifying mutual expectations, or to repair it by renegotiating specific elements. A full provider change is only recommended when facts clearly justify it — chronically underperforming service, lack of transparency, or unresolved security concerns. The evaluation draws on COBIT for vendor governance and NIST-CSF for security and continuity components. Our charter of independence guarantees no commercial ties to any provider whatsoever. The client always makes the final decision — our role is to provide the factual basis to decide with confidence.
What happens if we decide to stay with our current provider?
Factero helps you renegotiate terms, clarify SLAs, and structure the relationship so it works better on both sides. In many engagements, what's perceived as a provider problem is actually a communication or documentation issue — expectations were never put in writing and each side interprets things differently. Factero can serve as a neutral facilitator for a clarifying conversation between you and your provider, which often unblocks situations that have been stalled for months. The concrete deliverable includes documentation of roles and responsibilities, formalized SLAs with measurable indicators, and a governance framework for periodic reviews. The evaluation draws on COBIT for vendor relationship structure and contractual management best practices. The goal is for both parties to leave with aligned expectations and a clear escalation mechanism for future disagreements.
What does a transition actually look like if we decide to change?
The transition starts with complete documentation of your environment: access credentials, configurations, inventories, responsibilities, and active contracts. That's the foundation of an orderly transfer that protects your operations. Factero then coordinates the process in three phases: structured selection of the new provider (independent comparison matrix, reference validation), transfer planning with both parties to minimize interruptions, and support through the transition period until stabilization. The continuity plan covers every critical step — data migration, access transfer, service reconfiguration, and validation that everything works in the new environment. Selection support is part of the service only if a change is decided — it's never the starting objective. Our charter of independence ensures that the new provider recommendation is based on your needs, not a commercial relationship.
What do we get if the recommendation is to maintain the relationship?
An independent validation that your provider relationship is healthy — and that's just as useful a conclusion as a change. You leave with a documented factual basis: analysis of actual versus promised SLAs, service quality evaluation, cost comparison with the market, and improvement points identified even in a well-functioning relationship. This documentation has concrete value: it can serve as leverage to renegotiate specific contract elements, clarify expectations with your provider, or simply reassure your leadership and board. Factero's analysis draws on COBIT for vendor governance and contractual best practices. An analysis that concludes 'stay' is no less valuable than one that recommends switching — the goal is for you to make the decision with a solid factual basis and renewed confidence in your choice.
How long does the analysis take?
The analysis typically takes 1 to 3 weeks for an existing relationship or an upcoming renewal. For comparing multiple bids, the process can be slightly faster if documentation is already available. Factero gives you a precise estimate upfront — during the free 20-minute discovery call — and sticks to it. The timeline depends primarily on three factors: the complexity of the relationship (a single provider versus several interconnected vendors), the availability of contractual and technical documentation, and the number of stakeholders to consult. The evaluation draws on COBIT for vendor governance and NIST-CSF for security and continuity components. Impact on your daily operations is minimal — interviews take between 30 and 60 minutes per person and are conducted at your location or by video conference.
On what basis do you evaluate a provider relationship?
Factero evaluates provider relationships based on verifiable facts, not impressions. The analysis covers five dimensions: clarity of roles and responsibilities (on paper and in practice), actual performance versus contractual SLAs, documented incidents and their handling, costs compared to market rates, and the trajectory of the relationship over time — is it improving or deteriorating? The evaluation draws on COBIT for governance and vendor relationship management, and NIST-CSF for security and business continuity components. The principal associate holds the CISA certification (Certified Information Systems Auditor) from ISACA. In practice, every finding is anchored in concrete evidence — actual deliverables, support ticket history, correspondence, and contractual documentation — so the final recommendation rests on an indisputable basis.
Need to move forward on this?
Let's discuss your specific situation. No commitment, just expert advice.