Before we ask anyone to spend serious money, we conduct a structured Information Health Check-Up of your current records, document, and data situation — at no cost to you. The check-up produces a clear scope of work and a proposal. Before any deposit is requested, we deliver a proof of concept tailored to your engagement, so you can see exactly what you're approving. No proposal, no commitment, no payment until we've already shown you the work.
Most managed services ask you to pick a tier from a menu before they've ever looked at your operation. We don't work that way. Records and document situations are too varied, and the differences between organizations are too consequential, for off-the-shelf pricing to be honest.
So we start with a check-up. We come in, look at what you actually have, talk to your team, and develop a clear picture of the current state. From that picture, we can give you a real proposal — not a guess based on your headcount or your industry, but an actual scope of work grounded in your actual situation.
The setup investment is also scoped from the check-up — typically starting in the Essentials range, with additional planned phases recommended when the check-up identifies them. As the relationship matures and the work earns expansion, the engagement grows. Some clients move to Professional within the first year. Some stay at Essentials indefinitely. Some eventually reach Enterprise scope. The pace is yours to set.
Most managed service relationships ask the client to write a substantial check before any real work has been done — based on a sales conversation, a proposal, and a leap of faith. We've structured ours differently.
By the time we ask for the first deposit, you've already seen what you're approving — not a slide deck, not a promise, but actual work configured for your environment. If the proof of concept doesn't earn your confidence, we don't have an engagement, and you've spent nothing.
Free. Two to four weeks. No commitment.
Two to four weeks from agreement to delivered proposal. The work happens in parallel with your normal operations — we don't disrupt your day-to-day.
Every engagement begins in the Essentials monthly range. Most clients stay at Essentials for at least the first year — long enough for the foundation work to land and the relationship to mature. Expansion happens when the work earns it: additional departments, additional systems, deeper integrations, broader scope. The progression is yours to set, and we'll discuss it openly when we think the relationship has grown to need it.
For most clients, your Health Check-Up will recommend Essentials. From there, the relationship grows when the work earns it — not before.
Scoped from your Health Check-Up. Sized to the actual work.
The foundation phase. Focused scope, quick wins, manageable monthly investment.
The expansion phase. Multi-department coverage, deeper integrations, comprehensive program scope.
The full-scope phase. Multi-location, multi-entity, or high-volume program management.
We won't push expansion that isn't earned. The conversation about moving from Essentials to Professional happens when the check-up forecast suggests it should — and when the actual work is producing the results that justify it. We'll surface that conversation openly, and we'll respect your answer either way.
The same applies to Enterprise. Some operations grow into Enterprise scope. Many don't, and that's fine. The tier exists when it's needed. It doesn't exist as an upsell path you're being herded toward.
When expansion does happen, the prior setup investment credits forward against the new tier's setup. We're not in the business of penalizing clients for the natural progression of a relationship that's working.
A part-time records or office administrator in most US markets costs $25,000 to $45,000 a year fully loaded — wages, benefits, payroll taxes, workspace, equipment, training, and management overhead. That person works one job, in one department, when they're not on vacation, sick, or in training. They have no specialized records management expertise. And when they leave — and they will leave, eventually — their institutional knowledge leaves with them.
Our managed service, even at the Professional tier, often costs less than that fully-loaded employee on an annual basis. And it covers every department. It includes a senior Fractional Director rather than an entry-level admin. It includes a team rather than a single person. It includes the platform, all updates, all ongoing improvements, and the Maintain discipline that keeps everything aligned over time. It doesn't take vacations, get sick, or quit.
In most engagements, our analysis identifies hundreds of staff hours and thousands of dollars per month that the organization is currently spending on records and document handling — money that's either eliminated outright or redirected to higher-value work once the right systems are in place.
The math is straightforward. The fee is flat. The value compounds the longer we work together.
We've structured the relationship to be easy to start, easy to maintain, and easy to leave if it ever stops working. Long-term clients stay because they want to, not because they're locked in.
Yes. The check-up is how we earn the engagement. It takes us real time and effort to perform — but we believe a careful, honest assessment is the right foundation for any decision about an ongoing managed service relationship. We'd rather invest the time upfront than give you a guess based on incomplete information.
The proof of concept is tailored to your engagement based on what the check-up identifies as the most consequential proof point for your situation. For some clients, that means seeing the document management platform configured with their actual records taxonomy and sample documents. For others, it means watching live document processing on a representative sample of their actual records. For others still, it means a defined pilot of one specific workflow, end-to-end. The proposal will specify exactly what we will demonstrate, on what timeline, and what approval looks like — so you know precisely what you're being asked to approve before any deposit is requested.
The setup fee is paid in stages. Fifty percent is due upon proof of concept approval, which lets us begin the Organize work immediately. The balance is paid in installments tied to defined milestones — the specific milestones, dates, and amounts are laid out in the proposal you accept. We've structured it this way because it's fair to both sides: you're not paying for work before it's been delivered, and we have clear accountability for the milestones we've committed to. Most of our clients are familiar with milestone-based billing from their relationships with their accountants, attorneys, architects, or contractors. The structure works the same way here.
No. We don't use long-term contracts. The relationship is month-to-month, and you can right-size or cancel at any time with thirty days' notice. Long-term clients stay because the work is producing real value — not because they're contractually obligated to. We've structured it this way deliberately. It puts the pressure on us to keep earning your business every month, which is exactly where we think the pressure should be.
Then we tell you that. We've structured the check-up to produce honest answers, and "you don't need this" is one of the answers it sometimes produces. You keep the assessment as a useful artifact, and we part on good terms. We'd rather walk away from an engagement that isn't right than take on a client who shouldn't be one.
We'll still start the monthly engagement in the Essentials range, but the setup phase may include additional planned components that the check-up identifies. The Organize work has to happen regardless of where the engagement is heading — there's no shortcut to delivering Professional or Enterprise value without it. The check-up will lay out the full picture, including the timeline for any planned expansion.
No. Some clients stay at Essentials for years because Essentials is genuinely what their operation needs. Others expand within months. We'll surface expansion conversations when the work earns them — and we'll respect your answer either way.
No. Prior setup investment credits forward when you move to a higher tier. There may be additional setup work required for the expanded scope — new departments, new integrations, new systems — and that incremental work is reflected in the new tier's setup. The exact terms are discussed at the time of expansion.
Our service includes a document management platform that works for most clients. If you have an existing platform that's working well, we can often integrate with it rather than replace it. The check-up will surface which approach makes sense for your situation.
Yes. The monthly fee is the monthly fee. It doesn't go up because you added users, processed more documents, or asked us more questions. The only time the monthly fee changes is during a tier review driven by meaningful scope change, and any change is discussed with you in advance.
Then we help you transition. Our job is to build a strong records program, not to hold it hostage. If you eventually want to staff the function internally, we'll help you make that happen — and we'll be available as a consultant or resource if you need us. Most of our clients don't end up doing this because the math doesn't work in their favor, but the option is always yours.
Typically two to four weeks from contract signature to engagement start. The Organize phase begins within the first thirty days. The Improve phase begins as Organize work surfaces specific opportunities — usually within sixty to ninety days. The Maintain phase begins immediately and continues for as long as the relationship lasts.
Every relationship begins the same way: a structured assessment of where you are, an honest proposal of where we can take you, and a decision made on real information rather than guesswork. The check-up is free, the timeline is two to four weeks, and there's no commitment until both sides see clearly that the engagement is right.