Why your automation consultant shouldn't have a preferred vendor
· Ian Bensley
If your consultant always recommends the same platform, ask who's paying them. Here's the case for vendor-neutral advice - and how to tell the difference.
Here's an uncomfortable truth about a lot of "independent" advice: the consultant is quietly paid to recommend a particular platform. Partner commissions, referral fees, certifications to protect - all of it pulls the advice toward one answer, whether or not it's right for you.
The tell
If every problem leads to the same product recommendation, that's not advice - it's distribution. Real advice sometimes concludes that you need less software, or that a process should be fixed before any tool touches it.
My rule: no preferred vendor
I don't take vendor commissions and I'm not tied to a platform. That means I can tell you honestly which tools you actually need, which you can drop, and when the best answer is to build around what you already have. The only thing I'm optimising for is your outcome.
How to protect yourself
Ask directly: "Do you receive anything if I buy this tool?" and "What would you recommend if that product didn't exist?" The answers tell you whose interests the advice serves. It's the same principle behind how I work.
Ready to stop doing this by hand? Tell me what's slowing your business down and I'll give you an honest read on whether AI and automation are worth it for you - no pitch, no jargon.