Bigger doesn’t always mean better

Hi there, 

Bigger doesn’t always mean better.

This is particularly true in digital transformation.

When selecting a partner, mid-market companies must look beyond size. They need to find methods designed with them in mind. 

Keep reading to learn more.

The Practical Toolkit

Mid-market companies pursuing digital transformation often start with what seems like the most straightforward approach.

They partner with the largest consulting firm they can afford.

Companies look to a firm’s size and reputation as indicators of quality and capability, because in many cases, this holds true.

However, this approach can create unexpected challenges for mid-market data modernization projects. 

Large firms will naturally apply their proven methodologies. 

But these approaches — designed for enterprise budgets and timelines — don’t always align with mid-market constraints.

Their open-ended nature can inadvertently lead to extended development cycles that consume mid-market resources without delivering concrete business value. 

Mid-market companies must find a way to get the customized treatment they require without taking on enterprise-level risk they can’t afford.

Finding your way with the PROOF Framework

Mid-market companies need to fundamentally shift how they evaluate and engage with technology partners. 

Over nine years of working with Limestone Digital customers who had challenging experiences with traditional vendors, founder and chairman Mark Ajzenstadt has developed the PROOF Framework. 

It’s a systematic approach that mid-market leaders can use to navigate partner selection, leading to projects that deliver measurable business outcomes within realistic timeframes.

Here’s the TL;DR:

• Pilot with fixed scope and price

• Results defined upfront

• Outcomes delivered quickly

• Ownership of risk transfers to vendor

• Follow-up projects earned through trust

Want PROOF from your technology partner? Dive into the full framework to learn how to move forward with digital transformation.

Industry Radar

• How can you measure platform engineering success? DORA metrics, the SPACE framework, and NPS. (Xebia)

• Improving the quality of your unstructured data is essential. (Harvard Business Review)

When opportunity meets the abyss: A few months ago, a payments client spotted a massive market opportunity — a chance to capture 40% more transaction volume from a competitor’s outage.

The problem? Their reporting system took days to generate the risk analytics they needed to safely scale up processing.

By the time they had the data, the opportunity was gone. Competitors with real-time reporting had already captured the market share.

Week 1: We diagnosed their bottleneck — legacy batch processing choking their analytics pipeline.
Week 4: Deployed a real-time streaming architecture pilot.
Week 6: Next market opportunity? They won’t be on the sidelines.

Cost of the solution: Less than what they lost in that single weekend.

Thank you for joining us for another edition of The Foundation.

You’ll hear from us again in two weeks, with more insights from the industry experts.

Don’t wait to kick off digital transformation. Get started today.

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