Dispatch · The practice map

Eight practices. One commitment: the agency, not the software company.

We help agencies set technology and AI strategy, then carry out what the strategy calls for: replacing an ERP, modernizing the one you already own, standing up responsible AI, or recovering an implementation that has gone sideways. All eight practices are delivered independently and vendor-neutral. No resale. No referral fees. No conflicts.

Why eight practices

Eight practices sounds like packaging. It isn't.

Each one came out of a live engagement where a public agency needed something the market wasn't offering on a vendor-neutral basis. We built it, delivered it, and when the next agency needed the same thing, we already had a name for the work.

Every practice below works standalone. Every one bundles into the next. A decade of pattern recognition have taught us which practices pair, which sequence, and which are genuinely urgent versus comfortable to defer.

A service line is a shape we recognized. Not a shape we forced.

The pricing and timelines on each card are real ranges from real engagements. The work is senior-led, delivered by advisors who have run it before, against a playbook the firm has been refining for ten years.

Abhijit Verekar · Founder & CEO · Avèro Advisors
The eight practices

Delivered standalone or bundled. Always vendor-neutral.

Direction first, delivery second. The top row sets strategy: AI, data, transformation, and the change work that makes them stick. The bottom row runs the program: selection, oversight, contracts, recovery. Every practice built to sit on the buyer's side of the table.

Set the direction

Data & AI Strategy

Data sovereignty over vendor lock-in. Legacy migration and archival, departmental use-case analysis, governance, and a practical path to responsible AI.

2 – 9 months$50K – $250K

AI Maturity & Readiness

Six-dimension maturity assessment. A staged roadmap. Low-risk pilots first, governance guardrails throughout, model-agnostic architecture from day one.

4 – 12 weeks$50K – $150K

Digital Transformation

Process first. Then architecture. Then technology. A roadmap matched to the agency's capacity and budget, not vendor aspiration. Phases that compound.

3 – 12 months$100K – $400K

Executive Alignment & Change

Real OCM, not a checkbox. Leadership alignment, decision-rights mapping, and stakeholder engagement. The work that keeps implementations from stalling six months in.

2 – 8 weeks$25K – $75K
Run the program

ERP Advisory & Selection

Start at Zero. Readiness assessment, requirements definition, RFP development, and vendor evaluation. Vendor-neutral by design.

Caliber · requirements library + scorecard
3 – 18 months$150K – $1.5M+

Buyer-Side PMO & IV&V

Full project management on the agency's side of the table. The SI works for themselves. The vendor works for themselves. We work for you. Independent verification throughout.

Caliber · checkpoints, deviation log, pulse reports
12 – 36 months$300K – $1M+

Contract Advisory

Independent contract review against a decade of pattern recognition. Milestone-based payments, AI provisions, and no-cost concessions an agency would otherwise miss.

1 – 4 weeks$10K – $35K

Project Recovery

When the implementation has gone sideways. Two-to-four-week diagnostic, honest read, governance reset, and a path forward the board can defend. Findings arrive with the evidence attached.

Caliber · ten-domain health check
1 – 6 months$75K – $300K+

Primary buyers across the eight: Executive · CFO · CIO · CHRO · Procurement · Board

The offerings map

How the eight connect.

Most engagements start with one practice and grow into two or three. Two shapes come up again and again. An agency that knows it needs a new system runs the ERP lifecycle. An agency that wants to modernize but is not ready to replace anything starts with AI.

Shape one · The ERP lifecycle
01, ADVISE

ERP Advisory

Readiness, requirements, defensible RFP.

02, CONTRACT

Contract Advisory

Every clause read against pattern.

03, ALIGN

Executive Alignment

Decision rights before the SI starts.

04, GOVERN

Buyer-Side PMO

IV&V baked in, not bolted on.

05, DATA

Data & AI

Sovereignty over lock-in, from day one.

06, OPERATE

Operate

Benefits realization. Knowledge transfer.

Shape two · AI-first modernization
01, ASSESS

AI Maturity

Six dimensions. An honest starting point.

02, STRATEGY

Data & AI Strategy

Use cases matched to what the data supports.

03, PILOT

Low-Risk Pilots

Small wins with guardrails. Capacity built in-house.

04, TRANSFORM

Digital Transformation

Process first. Then architecture. Then technology.

05, MODERNIZE

ERP Modernization

The systems transition, when the agency is ready.

Three alternate sequences · from the same engagements
Path B Post-Selection Entry
Executive AlignmentContract AdvisoryBuyer-Side PMOOngoing Advisory

Agency has already chosen vendor and SI. Contracts are being negotiated. We enter with small wedge services that demonstrate value, then expand into full PMO. Roughly 70 to 80 percent of the core sales motion.

Path C Emergency Recovery
Project RecoveryGovernance RestructuringBuyer-Side PMOOngoing Advisory

Implementation is failing. Rapid assessment, recovery plan, governance reset, then ongoing oversight. Politically charged. Requires senior credibility from day one.

Path D Data & AI Modernization
Data & AI StrategyLegacy MigrationGovernance FrameworkAI ReadinessAI Governance Policy

Agency has legacy data challenges, is going through an ERP transition, or faces pressure to adopt AI. Often runs parallel to an active ERP implementation.

AI, data & transformation

Modernization does not start with software.

Most agencies feel pressure to adopt AI before they trust their own data. These practices exist for exactly that gap: an honest read on readiness, a strategy the data can actually support, and the change work that makes it stick. Delivered with the same evidence discipline as everything else we do.

Assess

AI Maturity & Readiness

A six-dimension maturity assessment and a staged roadmap. Low-risk pilots first, governance guardrails throughout, model-agnostic architecture from day one. No tool gets adopted because a vendor demoed it well.

4 – 12 weeks$50K – $150K
Strategize

Data & AI Strategy

Data sovereignty over vendor lock-in. Legacy migration and archival, departmental use-case analysis, a governance framework, and an AI policy the council can adopt. Run as one sequence: strategy, migration, governance, then policy.

2 – 9 months$50K – $250K
Transform

Digital Transformation & Change

Process first. Then architecture. Then technology. A roadmap matched to the agency's capacity and budget, with the executive alignment and OCM that keep it from stalling six months in.

3 – 12 months$100K – $400K
We publish the research The Start at Zero AI Navigator maps 31 government AI tools each year / Read the report →
Expert testimony

When it ends up in court.

Some ERP failures don't get recovered. They get litigated. Avèro provides ERP expert witness and litigation support for public agencies and their counsel, built on the same discipline as our advisory work: every opinion traceable to the record.

Forensics

Implementation forensics

Reconstruction of what went wrong and when. Contract obligations against delivered work, decision logs against governance records, and a defensible timeline of where the project left the rails.

Timeline of record
Testimony

Expert reports & testimony

Written expert opinions, deposition, and trial testimony on ERP selection, implementation, and vendor performance. Written for the courtroom. Defended under cross.

Deposition · Trial
Pre-litigation

Pre-litigation assessment

An independent read on the dispute before anything is filed. What the record supports, what it doesn't, and what settlement is actually worth against the cost of finding out in court.

Independent read
Retained through counsel Conflicts checked before engagement / Government ERP engagements on the record
Common questions

What agencies ask before engaging.

Practical answers on timelines, oversight, litigation support, and what we will not do.

How long does a government ERP selection take?

A disciplined selection runs three to eighteen months depending on the size of the agency and the number of departments in scope. Discovery and requirements typically take two to four months, RFP development and release another one to two, and evaluation through contract award three to six. Rushing the requirements phase is the most common cause of a failed implementation two years later.

What is buyer-side PMO and IV&V?

Buyer-side project management means Avèro runs the program from the agency's side of the table rather than the vendor's. Independent verification and validation, or IV&V, means a party with no stake in the implementation checks whether deliverables actually meet the contract. The system integrator works for themselves and the software vendor works for themselves. Buyer-side PMO and IV&V exist so someone in the room works only for the agency.

What is an ERP expert witness, and when do you need one?

An ERP expert witness provides independent, testifying expertise when a government technology project ends up in litigation or formal dispute. Avèro is retained through counsel for implementation forensics, written expert reports, deposition and trial testimony, and pre-litigation assessments that tell an agency what the record actually supports before anything is filed. The work rests on a decade of government ERP engagements and the same evidence discipline as our advisory practice.

Can Avèro help if our implementation is already failing?

Yes. Project recovery is a distinct practice. It starts with a two-to-four-week diagnostic that produces an honest read on schedule, budget, scope, and governance, then a recovery plan the board or council can defend. Most failing implementations are governance failures rather than technology failures, which is why the fix usually starts with decision rights and accountability rather than with software.

Where should a public agency start with AI?

Not with tools. Start with an honest read on readiness: what your data can support, what governance exists, and which departments have use cases worth piloting. A maturity assessment takes four to twelve weeks and produces a staged roadmap, with low-risk pilots first and guardrails throughout. Our annual Start at Zero AI Navigator maps the government AI tool landscape so agencies can see the market before any vendor frames it for them.

Does Avèro do organizational change management?

Yes, and it is real OCM rather than a communications plan. Executive alignment, decision-rights mapping, and stakeholder engagement, delivered as its own practice or inside a larger program. Most stalled implementations trace back to people and governance rather than software, which is why change management is built into every path we run.

Does Avèro resell or implement software?

No. Avèro holds no reseller agreements and takes no referral fees or commissions from any software company. When an engagement calls for building something, such as a purpose-built tool or an AI agent that works alongside an existing system, it is delivered as work product the agency owns. We charge for the work, not for licenses.

Next step

Not sure which path fits?

Thirty minutes. Tell us where you are. We'll tell you honestly which of these eight practices actually solves your problem, and if none of them do, we'll point you to someone who can.