SME Offer — Clarify an IT decision, without launching a large mandate
A structured opinion on a specific IT issue — observation, analysis, recommendations. No corrective action included. One price: $399 for up to 2h. Free discovery call.
The SME Offer is a structured IT diagnostic designed for small and medium-sized businesses that need a clear answer to one or two specific questions — without launching a full engagement. Factero structures the session, analyzes your situation, and delivers a concrete opinion in under 2 hours. One price: $399.
Important: this service is an opinion, not an intervention. The only technical actions are observations — reading a configuration, analyzing an environment, evaluating a quote. No corrective action is included. You leave with a clear opinion to inform your decision, not with a technician who modified your systems.
Your issue is already well-defined? Write to us directly — no preliminary call needed to get started.
Who is it for?
SMEs with a specific IT problem to solve — a quote to evaluate, a decision to make, a situation to untangle — without needing a full mandate.
Organizations without an IT director that need a structured opinion on a concrete issue, not a general overview.
Management teams that want to validate an imminent IT decision — purchase, contract, change — before committing.
When does it help?
If you recognize yourself in any of these situations, this service is designed for you.
- You've received a quote or proposal and don't know if it's reasonable.
- You're facing a specific IT problem and want an outside opinion before acting.
- You need to make an IT decision quickly and don't have the expertise to call it alone.
- Your provider is recommending something and you want an independent second opinion.
- Something feels off — a bill that seems too high, a supplier who's less responsive, a system that's slowing down — but you haven't pinpointed the exact problem yet. The free discovery call is exactly for that: framing the question before the meeting.
What will you receive?
Format 1 — 2h remote: documents analyzed live with you, structured verbal assessment, key points summarized in writing at the end.
Format 2 — 2h on-site: same content, in person. Useful when the situation requires physical observations — infrastructure, server room, observable network. Travel costs extra.
Format 3 — 2h + full deliverable: meeting (remote or on-site), detailed written report, PowerPoint presentation of findings and recommendations, results presentation meeting included.
In all cases: an answer to your specific question — not a general overview, not a list of topics to dig into later.
Not a good fit?
- Your situation requires a comprehensive analysis of multiple dimensions — governance, security, costs, suppliers, infrastructure. The SME offer targets one specific problem, not an overall picture. An IT audit will be more appropriate.
- You're looking for ongoing support — someone who knows your environment, participates in your IT decisions over time, and provides continuous follow-up. The SME offer is by nature a one-time engagement. A vCIO mandate or interim IT leadership will be more appropriate.
- Your situation involves ongoing litigation, a formal complaint, or a legal proceeding where the IT opinion will serve as evidence. You need an expert IT witness, not a PME diagnostic.
- Your situation goes beyond one or two questions — it requires in-depth analysis, several days of work, or a formal deliverable for a third party (management, board, partner). A counter-expertise mandate or an ad hoc mandate will be more appropriate. The free discovery call will help frame the right format.
- You need someone to intervene on your systems — reconfigure equipment, fix an outage, deploy a solution, modify a configuration. The SME offer includes no corrective action: the only technical interventions are observations. For active intervention, your IT team or provider is the right contact.
How does the process work?
A rigorous and transparent approach, step by step.
Targeted problem
We start from your concrete problem — not a general questionnaire. You describe the situation, identify the decision or question that's blocking you, and we work on that. No IT maturity assessment, no overall picture. One problem, one answer.
Contextual Analysis
Documents you share — quotes, invoices, contracts, configurations — are read and analyzed live with you during the meeting. We ask questions as we go, add context, and formulate the assessment in real time. Format 1 (remote) or Format 2 (on-site, for physical observations). Format 3 if you need a written report and presentation for your management. In most cases, a single meeting is enough. If topics need to be explored further or accesses aren't available on the day, a second meeting may be needed — this is generally identified during the discovery call, but every situation is unique and some things surface along the way.
Concrete answer
At the end of the meeting, you leave with a clear answer to your question — not leads to explore or topics to dig into later. Formats 1 and 2: structured verbal assessment, key points summarized in writing. Format 3: written report, PowerPoint presentation, and presentation meeting included. In all cases: what you need to make your decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the questions our clients ask before reaching out.
How do I choose between the three formats?
The format is determined during the free 20-minute discovery call, based on the nature of your question and how the results will be used. Format 1 (remote) works when your problem is documented and key elements — quotes, invoices, configurations — can be shared on screen. This is the most common format. Format 2 (on-site) is relevant when the situation requires physical observations — server room, network infrastructure, equipment to inspect. Travel costs are extra. Format 3 adds a written report and PowerPoint presentation when conclusions need to be presented to someone not in the meeting — management, board, partners. In all three cases, Factero guarantees up to 2 hours of structured work. The format and cost are confirmed before starting — or in writing if your situation is already well-defined. One price: $399.
What happens with the documents we share?
Documents are analyzed live with you during the meeting, not beforehand in a silo. Factero reads, questions, and contextualizes in real time — quotes, invoices, contracts, configurations, screenshots. You can correct a misreading, add context, or clarify a situation as we go, which avoids conclusions based on a partial reading or misunderstanding. That's something a report sent after the fact cannot do. If you have documents to share, send them before the meeting — it maximizes useful time during the guaranteed 2 hours. The analysis focuses on what the documents contain: amounts, clauses, configurations, inconsistencies. All shared documents are treated confidentially, in accordance with our privacy policy. No documents are retained after the engagement unless otherwise agreed in writing.
What's the difference from an IT audit?
The SME Offer and the IT audit are two distinct tools, designed for different situations. An IT audit produces a complete picture of your environment — governance, security, costs, providers, infrastructure. It's a multi-week mandate with a formal report, led by a CISA-certified consultant using NIST-CSF, COBIT, and ISO 27001 frameworks. The SME Offer is different: you come in with a specific problem — a quote to evaluate, a decision to make, a situation to untangle — we work on it for 2 hours, and you leave with a concrete opinion. It's not a reduced version of the audit — it's a targeted format for imminent decisions or well-defined problems. Not sure which side you fall on? The free 20-minute discovery call with Factero will confirm and point you to the right format.
What should we bring or prepare?
The useful minimum: being able to describe the problem in a few sentences and identify the decision or question that's blocking you. If you have relevant documents — quote, invoice, contract, configuration, screenshot — share them before the meeting by email. They'll be analyzed with you during the session — sending them ahead of time lets you use the guaranteed 2 hours on analysis, not preliminary reading. No need to prepare a full file: Factero works with what you have. If you're not sure what's relevant, the free 20-minute discovery call is exactly for framing the question and identifying useful elements. In cases where access to a system is needed — admin console, provider portal, management interface — we confirm it before the meeting to avoid losing time on the day. The goal: arrive at the meeting with everything needed to maximize the 2 hours.
Can this lead to a larger mandate?
Yes — if that's what the situation calls for, but it's never the starting objective. The SME Offer is designed to be useful on its own — you leave with a concrete opinion, whether or not you follow up. If Factero identifies during the meeting that a full audit, a vCIO mandate, or another service would be relevant, we tell you clearly with an indicative estimate. It's information, not a sales pitch — our charter of independence guarantees we have no financial interest in steering you toward a larger mandate. If the situation calls for a few extra hours without justifying a full engagement, we can extend on an hourly basis — the rate is confirmed before continuing. In all cases, the current meeting concludes normally, with a complete opinion on the initial question. The decision to continue or not is entirely yours.
We don't have an IT director. Can we still use this service?
That's exactly what this service is for. You don't need internal IT expertise to benefit from the SME Offer — that's precisely the expertise Factero brings. You come with your problem in business language — quote, invoice, situation, decision to make — we handle the technical translation and deliver an opinion you can understand, use, and show to the right people. This is in fact the majority of our clientele for this service: SME leaders without an IT department who need a structured external perspective on a specific question. The free 20-minute discovery call is for framing your question — not for testing your technical knowledge. Our principal associate, CISA-certified (ISACA), has supported over 50 organizations in similar situations. You leave with a clear opinion to inform your decision, not with jargon to decipher.
Is a single meeting always enough?
A single meeting is enough in the vast majority of cases. The session lasts up to 2 hours — we stop when the problem is resolved, not when the clock runs out. Factero anticipates needs during the free discovery call: system access, documentation to prepare, people to involve. Some situations call for a second meeting: if access — admin console, provider portal, contractual documentation — isn't available on the day, or if a topic identified during the meeting warrants separate exploration. When that happens, we say so clearly before ending the first session — we agree on next steps together, without open-ended commitment and without changing the cost of the current meeting. For situations that go beyond 2 hours without justifying a full mandate, hourly extension is possible — the rate is confirmed before continuing.
What types of IT problems do you typically handle?
The most frequent situations handled by Factero's SME Offer:
— Evaluating a quote or proposal from an IT provider (MSP, host, integrator).
— Second opinion on a hosting, managed services, or software contract.
— Validating a migration (Microsoft 365, cloud, ERP or CRM change).
— Comparing vendors before a purchase decision.
— Diagnosing a performance, security, or reliability issue.
— Reviewing an IT invoice that seems too high or poorly justified.
— Evaluating a recommendation from your current provider.
The common thread: you have a specific question, you don't have the internal expertise to answer it alone, and you don't want to launch a large engagement for it. Factero is 100% independent — no ties to the providers being evaluated, which guarantees a neutral opinion. If your situation doesn't match any of these examples, the free discovery call will confirm whether the SME Offer is the right tool.
Can you intervene on our systems during the meeting?
No — and that's intentional. Factero's SME Offer is an advisory service, not an intervention. The only technical actions taken during the meeting are observations: reading a configuration, analyzing an environment, evaluating equipment or a quote. No modifications are made to your systems — no files moved, no settings changed, no software installed. This limit protects both parties: you retain full control of your environment, and the opinion remains 100% independent — Factero has no stake in the solution chosen, no ties to the providers evaluated, and no commission on recommended products. That's what our charter of independence guarantees. If an intervention is needed following the meeting, you leave with a structured opinion to mandate the right resource — your current provider, a new one, or your internal team — with full information.
Need to move forward on this?
Let's discuss your specific situation. No commitment, just expert advice.