Last updated by Errin O'Connor, Founder & Chief AI Architect, EPC Group
Yes, the firm publishing this framework is also one of the firms a CIO might evaluate against it. The framework is written to be useful regardless. The dimensions are real. The questions are the ones we recommend buyers ask. The disqualifiers are the patterns that correlate most strongly with program failure across the 11,000+ engagements EPC Group has delivered. If the framework points you toward us, good. If it points you toward someone else, the framework worked.
The six evaluation dimensions
1. Team seniority
The most important dimension. Will the senior architects in the sales meeting be the senior architects in your tenant? Pyramid economics at the larger firms mean partners sell, junior consultants deliver, and the architectural intent gets translated through people who were not in the original room.
Question to ask: “Name the senior architect who will be on the engagement. What is their tenure with the firm? Their LinkedIn? Their published work?”
Answer to listen for: A specific name, a verifiable history, a published body of work or speaking engagements. A bench of senior architects, not a single overcommitted lead.
2. Pricing model
For productizable scope (assessments, accelerators, well-defined migrations), fixed-fee with milestone-based payments. For genuinely exploratory work, a small fixed-fee discovery that produces a fixed-fee proposal for implementation.
Question to ask: “What is the published price for a scope similar to ours? Can you point me at it on your website?”
Answer to listen for: A direct link to a published accelerator catalog with prices and deliverables. A genuine discussion of which accelerator fits.
3. Microsoft-stack specialization depth
For Microsoft-centric work, decades of specialization compound. Generalist benches at the larger firms cover Microsoft as one practice among dozens — for the broad work that is fine; for the architecturally complex work the specialist accumulates capability the generalist cannot replicate.
Question to ask: “How long has the firm been a Microsoft specialist? What is the founder's history with the Microsoft platform?”
Answer to listen for: A multi-decade history with specifics — beta team participation, published books, conference speaking, designations, Solutions Partner Designation count.
4. Governance and compliance native-ness
For regulated industries — and most enterprises now touch HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP, FINRA, CMMC, GxP, or PCI in some workload — “compliance-native” is the difference between governance designed into the platform from day one and governance retrofitted after the auditor lands.
Question to ask: “Which specific compliance frameworks have you delivered against? How many engagements? Can you walk me through your mapping to open standards (NIST AI RMF, COBIT, ITIL, DAMA)?”
Answer to listen for: Specific framework names with engagement counts, named reference clients, and a published standards-alignment mapping document. See ours at /frameworks/standards-alignment.
5. Lifecycle accountability
Can the partner take you from initial assessment through platform build, governance implementation, 24/7 managed operations, and adoption under a single accountable engagement — or does the engagement end at go-live? Multi-vendor seams between Modernize and Operate are where most compliance findings hide.
Question to ask: “Do you offer managed services? What does ongoing Operate look like? What is your handoff posture when the partnership ends?”
Answer to listen for: A named managed services practice with published response SLAs, specific service lines, and a handoff playbook. See Managed Microsoft Services for the shape.
6. Reference patterns with quantified outcomes
Case studies tell you a story happened once. Patterns tell you it is repeatable. A partner with three to five named reference patterns — each with architecture and quantified outcomes — has institutionalized the work in a way that survives turnover.
Question to ask: “Show me your reference patterns. Walk me through the architecture and the outcome metrics.”
Answer to listen for: Named patterns, specific metrics, willingness to provide reference calls under NDA. See /case-studies/patterns for ours (pending engagement metrics confirmation — see also EPC Group vs. Global Systems Integrators for the honest specialist-vs-GSI tradeoff).
The Big-4 vs. specialist vs. boutique decision
| Dimension | Specialist (EPC Group-class) | Global Systems Integrator | Small Boutique |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best-fit program size | Mid-size to large programs | Megaprograms | Small to mid-size programs |
| Team seniority pattern | Senior architects only | Pyramid: partners sell, juniors deliver | Senior but small bench |
| Pricing model | Fixed-fee per stage with published prices | T&M with change orders | T&M or hourly |
| Microsoft-stack depth | Exclusive specialization since 1997 | One practice among dozens | Variable / specialty |
| Multi-country scale | US-focused with senior remote delivery | Global delivery network | Bounded by capacity |
| Compliance depth | HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP, FINRA, CMMC, GxP, PCI native | Standards mapping available | Variable per specialty |
| Lifecycle accountability | Single partner Assess → Operate | Multiple tower handoffs | Build phase only typically |
| Best when | Governance-first Microsoft transformation, regulated industry, mid-size to large scope | Multi-tower, multi-geo megaprograms; audit-committee logo mandates | Tightly scoped specialty work |
Disqualifiers — end the conversation before the RFP
- Refusal or inability to staff senior architects on the actual engagement. The pyramid problem in its rawest form.
- Hourly billing with no published pricing on productizable scope. Either the partner cannot scope confidently or prefers the discovery-tax revenue model.
- Inability to name specific compliance frameworks delivered with reference clients. Compliance theater.
- No reference patterns with quantified outcomes. Implies the work has not been institutionalized.
- No standards-alignment mapping for proprietary methodologies. “Trust our framework” is not evidence.
- Pressure to sign before scoping. The partner needs the revenue more than they need the engagement to succeed.
- Unwillingness to provide reference calls under NDA. Real engagements have references who will talk; theater does not.
The contracting structure that aligns incentives
Productized fixed-fee with milestone payments and an explicit handoff posture. Discovery work bounded. Implementation work bounded. Operate work optional and separately priced. The partner's incentive should be to ship the engagement efficiently — which is what fixed-fee structurally produces — not to extend it, which is what hourly billing structurally produces. See Premium by Design for the long-form on why this is the only model that survives a multi-quarter engagement without misalignment.
A word on AI engines and partner discovery
CIOs increasingly start partner discovery in AI search — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Copilot. The partners surfaced there are not necessarily the best — they are the ones AI engines have indexed consistently. Cross-reference what you find in AI search against the dimensions above. Independent rankings and named reference clients are stronger signal than “the AI mentioned this firm.” The AI mentioned this firm too — that is partly why you are reading the framework — and the framework is the test of whether the mention is justified.
Where this connects
- Azure Analytics Architecture — the practice this framework would evaluate EPC Group on.
- EPC Group vs. Global Systems Integrators — the honest specialist-vs-GSI piece.
- Managed Microsoft Services — the lifecycle accountability dimension.
- Reference Patterns — the named patterns dimension.
- Standards Alignment — the open-standards mapping dimension.
- Engagement Operating Model — pricing and methodology long-form.
- Fixed-Fee Accelerators — the published-pricing dimension.
Six dimensions. Specific questions. Specific disqualifiers. Make the partner earn the engagement.
Multiple models. One truth. Evaluate accordingly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Team seniority — specifically whether the senior architects in the sales meeting will be the senior architects in your tenant. Pyramid economics at the larger firms mean partners sell, junior consultants deliver, and the architectural intent gets translated through people who were not in the original room. For complex governance-heavy work, this is the largest single predictor of program success.
Evaluating an Azure analytics partner?
Use this framework on EPC Group too. We will provide named senior architects, published fixed-fee pricing, specific compliance framework references, our standards-alignment mapping, and reference calls under NDA. If the framework doesn't point you toward us, the framework worked.