The decision
A clear recommendation to keep, extend or replace, with the reasoning written down so it survives the next budget cycle.
Advisory
an honest answer
Know What to Do Before You Spend Millions Doing It.
We help leadership decide what to do with their application and data estates. Our assessments take weeks, not months, and end in a decision with a roadmap and a business case behind it.
- Fixed fee
- Standalone engagement
- Ends in a decision
Why now
SAP ECC mainstream maintenance ends in 2027.
If you're still on ECC, the decision is coming whether you're ready or not. An ERP assessment tells you whether to move to S/4HANA, switch platforms, or extend what you have, and when.
Plan Your ECC DecisionWhat you walk away with
A Decision You Can Defend.
Not a slide deck of observations. Each assessment ends with three things leadership can act on the same week.
The roadmap
A phased plan with the order of work, the dependencies and the risks, so your team or any partner can pick it up.
The business case
Cost, value and risk for each option, in numbers your CFO and board can weigh against everything else competing for budget.
Assessments
Clarity for What's Next.
Our assessments take a comprehensive look at your current environment, business needs, and future options, giving you the insight, recommendations, and roadmap to move forward with confidence.
ERP Assessment
Keep, extend or replace your ERP, with the numbers to back it up.
- Platform fit
- Upgrade or replace
- End-of-support planning
- Total cost of ownership
What we assess
- How well your ERP still fits the way the business runs
- Customizations, workarounds and technical debt
- Upgrade, extend and replacement options side by side, whatever platform you run today
- Vendor roadmaps, end-of-support dates and what they mean for your timing
What you get
- A keep, extend or replace recommendation
- Cost and risk compared across the options
- A phased ERP roadmap and business case
Data Health Assessment
Find out whether your data can support the reporting and AI you're planning.
- Data Quality
- Security
- Governance
What we assess
- Where your data lives and how it moves between systems
- Data quality, ownership and governance
- The reporting and analytics your teams rely on today
- Readiness for a Microsoft Fabric data platform
What you get
- An honest read on the health of your data estate
- The fixes that matter most, in priority order
- A target data architecture and roadmap
AI Readiness & Business Case
Pick the AI use cases worth funding, and prove the return before you build.
- Use cases
- Readiness
- ROI
What we assess
- Candidate use cases across your processes
- Whether your data and systems can support each one
- Security, governance and change requirements
- Cost, value and risk for each use case
What you get
- Use cases ranked by value and effort
- A business case for the top candidates
- A pilot plan you can start on
How it works
Fixed Fee. Clear Scope. A Decision at the End.
- 01
Align
We agree on the decision you need to make, who makes it, and what a good answer looks like.
- 02
Assess
Interviews, system reviews and data analysis across the people and platforms in scope.
- 03
Compare
We weigh the options on cost, risk, timeline and fit with how your business works.
- 04
Decide
A leadership readout with our recommendation, the roadmap and the business case.
What comes next
Your Decision. Your Call on What Happens Next.
Advisory stands on its own. Many clients take the roadmap to their own teams. If you want us involved, the same people who made the recommendation carry it forward.
Decide
You are hereAdvisory
Decide what to do with your applications and data, and make the case for it.
Build
Design, build, and integrate custom solutions that extend your core systems and support what makes your business unique.
Explore BeaconRun
Keep your business applications running, evolving, and delivering value with ongoing support and enhancements.
Explore LighthouseFAQ
Questions We Hear Before Every Assessment.
- Do we have to hire Bowdark to build what you recommend?
- No. Advisory is a standalone, fixed-fee engagement. You own the roadmap and the business case, and you can take them to any team.
- Will you recommend replacing our system?
- Only if that's the right answer. Many assessments end in keeping or extending what you have. When replacement makes sense, we show you why and what it will cost.
- Who from our side needs to be involved?
- An executive sponsor who owns the decision, plus the people who run the systems and processes in scope. We keep interviews focused so the business keeps running.
- How long does an assessment take?
- Most take one to four weeks, depending on scope. We agree to the timeline and the fixed fee before we start.
Let's Talk
Facing a Big Decision About Your Systems?
Tell us what you're weighing. We'll tell you which assessment fits, or whether you need one at all.