An independent, principal-level operator between your executive sponsor and your system integrator. I stand up and run program governance, hold the SI accountable to the SOW, and protect the value thesis — answering to no one but you.
The Problem
Enterprise programs rarely fail because of technology. They fail because of structure.
Your system integrator’s incentive is the SOW — expand it, staff it, renew it
Your internal team’s incentive is survival — minimize change, keep operations running
Your incentive as sponsor is the value thesis — time to value, working capital, EBITDA
Three rational incentives pointing in three directions — and the two-party model has no mechanism to resolve it
The Engagement
An independent, principal-level operator who reports to you, holds PMO authority, and operates with structural independence from both the integrator and internal IT. The role owns governance architecture (stood up and operated, not documented), SI accountability against the SOW, translation between configuration decisions and business impact, data migration discipline, and decision forcing.
Four insertion points: before SOW signature (highest leverage), Day 1, the first yellow dashboard, or a compressed-timeline integration.
Proof
PE-backed carve-out (Deloitte TMO): 20+ workstreams, 5 new entities, 100+ applications stood up; risk mitigations saved the PE client millions in additional fees
$250M platform program, public specialty insurer: No production code in 12 months; reorganized the 25-person team, re-engineered delivery, recruited the permanent leader
National pipe distributor (250K SKUs, 18 DCs): Third consulting firm on the second ERP attempt; realigned team and sponsor, redesigned master data, architected the planning framework that made the platform work
The Sovereign Third™
The independent operator between your executive sponsor and your system integrator.
