We’ve come a long way in enterprise tech.

Innovation moves fast. Software ships in hours, not months. Infrastructure scales on demand. AI is rewriting the rules. Business expectations are sky-high.

But when it comes to deploying, integrating, and realizing value from that software, we're still using the same bloated consulting models we leaned decades ago.

And IT leaders are paying the price.

This isn’t just a delivery problem. It’s a strategic risk. And if you’re responsible for bringing SaaS platforms to life across your organization, turning promises into outcomes, you’ve likely felt the pressure firsthand.

The Modern Software Stack Is Built for Speed. Services Aren’t.

SaaS has completely changed how we buy and use software. What used to be a multi-year CapEx purchase is now a swipe-and-go subscription with daily usage metrics.

Every dollar spent is expected to generate ROI — fast. But the services that bring that software to life haven’t kept up.

They’re bloated. They’re slow. And they’re misaligned with outcome-based objectives IT leaders need now.

The old default options are all flawed:

• Internal PS teams are maxed out, often reserved for only the highest-priority projects.
• GSIs promise scale but deliver with delays, bait-and-switch handoffs, and premium rates on armies of junior consultants who are learning on your dime.
• Channel partners are built to transact products. But their services models are inconsistent, and their people are unevenly trained and stretched across too many products and tools.

For IT leaders, that means projects that drag, roadmaps that slip, and a painful mismatch between software capability and operational reality.

Let’s Call It What It Is: Big Consulting Bloat.

You’re not paying for outcomes. You’re paying for overhead. You’re paying for the partner pyramid program. You’re paying for someone’s retirement package.

You’re paying premium rates not for performance, but for lots of junior consultants on your project, for as long as possible, with a complex, black box business model that holds you hostage.

The reality: layers of management, slow onboarding cycles, resource churn, and knowledge drain.

Here's how it works:

• Senior consultants open the project. Junior consultants staff it.
• Timelines stretch. Stakeholders lose trust.
• Institutional knowledge evaporates with every bait-n-switch handoff.

How do I know this? Because years ago I worked for a GSI.

It’s not that external services are bad. It’s that the traditional GSI delivery model is fundamentally misaligned with what SaaS-era organizations need: agility, precision, speed, accountability, and, most of all, outcomes.

The Cost Isn’t Just Money. It’s Trust, Time, and Value.

Enterprise SaaS initiatives aren’t “IT projects” anymore — they’re strategic revenue-enabling systems that impact customer experience, operational efficiency, and competitive position.

When SaaS deployments stall, it doesn’t just waste time. It erodes confidence, slows adoption, and leaves business units skeptical of IT’s ability to deliver.

Every delay affects:

• Time-to-value
• User satisfaction
• Expansion opportunities
• ARR and renewals

Meanwhile, boardrooms and investors expect digital transformation to run like an agile product team: fast, iterative, and customer-focused.

Old-school GSI consulting models are a bad fit for that reality.

IT Leaders Don’t Need More Consultants. They Want Outcomes.

If we started from scratch, knowing what we know about SaaS, AI, Cloud, automation, etc., we wouldn’t rebuild a better GSI. We’d build something very different.

Today’s IT leaders want:

• Speed to value — short scoping cycles, rapid onboarding, rapid deployment, not six-month timelines, and no SOW gymnastics
• Aligned expertise — professionals who know the software, understand business use cases, and aren’t learning as they go in your stack
• Flexibility — the ability to scale up and down without bureaucratic bottlenecks
• Consistency — standardized delivery that doesn't depend on which partner shows up
• Transparency – No black box. Full visibility and accountability from kickoff to outcome

Ultimately, the goal isn’t just to hire more consultants. It’s to drive predictable, scalable outcomes that don’t break budgets or internal teams.

A Different Model for a Different Era.

You don’t need another GSI logo on your vendor list. What you need is a new playbook — one built for speed, flexibility, and outcomes in a SaaS-driven world.

That means:

• Visibility you can trust — even when partners are in the mix
• Breaking free from vendor lock — unbundle services from legacy contracts and rebuild around what actually works for your business
• Services that act like products — clearly scoped, outcome-based, with real feedback loops
• The right talent mix — your strategy in-house, execution on demand, no armies of juniors learning on your dime

The goal isn’t to eliminate partners. It’s to stop leaning on them in ways that slow you down. It’s time to embrace a model that’s iterative, transparent, and built to match the pace of your software stack.

You’ve Optimized Code, Cloud, and Cost. Now It’s Time to Fix Services.

You’ve transformed your infrastructure. You’ve embraced agile. You’ve automated everything from provisioning to patching.

But services are still the bottleneck. We believe that the GSI era is over. It’s time for a change.

The next wave of IT leadership will be defined by how fast, how cleanly, and how confidently your organization can deploy, scale, and optimize your enterprise software stack.

For organizations that want to realize the full value of your SaaS investment—faster, cheaper, and with a lot less friction—it’s time to rethink Big Consulting Bloat.

For those who have the courage to take back control of your enterprise stack, the rewards will speak for themselves. Organizations will see faster adoption, happier users, and greater enterprise value realized from software investments.

I’ve been in this industry long enough to know the old model is broken. Maybe you see it too.

This won’t change overnight. But it starts with one decision: we have to stop accepting the way it’s always been done.

If this hit a nerve — or you’re already working to fix this — I’d love to hear how you’re thinking about it.

Drop me a note. Let’s compare notes. Let’s build something better.