Independence policy

The short version

No products. No margin. No commissions. No installations. The only thing sold here is judgement, and it is the only thing that would be worth buying from someone in this role.

What this practice does not do

• No reselling. Nothing specified here is sold here, and there is no margin on any product that appears in a design or a report.
• No commissions, referral fees, finder's fees, rebates, or sales incentives from vendors, manufacturers, distributors, or integrators.
• No installation, commissioning, cabling, or managed services.
• No paid vendor sponsorship of the published writing, the tooling, or the podcast.
• No equity, ownership stake, or financial interest in any manufacturer or integrator whose products may come up in an engagement.

What this practice does hold, and why it does not compromise anything

It would be easy to write "no vendor agreements of any kind" on this page. It would also be untrue, and a claim on a page like this is only worth anything if it survives someone checking it.

This practice holds consultant, specifier and A&E programme agreements with several manufacturers, and access agreements that come with working in their channel. Those exist for one reason: they are how a designer gets at the things a design needs. Current technical documentation, firmware and compatibility matrices, sizing and design tools, bandwidth and storage calculators, pre-release notice of end-of-life dates, training, certification, and a technical contact who answers a hard question properly.

What none of them involve is money moving toward this practice. No sales quota, no revenue target, no margin, no commission, no rebate, and no obligation to recommend anything. A designer without that access is working from marketing material and guesswork, which produces worse advice, not more independent advice.

So the position is vendor agnostic, and opinionated. There are platforms I rate and platforms I do not, and I will say which and why. Those opinions come from watching systems succeed and fail in the field over fifteen years. They do not come from a price list, and no margin or kickback is capable of moving them, because there are none to move.

What that costs

It is worth being plain about this, because a policy that costs nothing proves nothing. Resale margin and recurring service revenue are the bulk of what a business in this industry normally earns. Turning both down permanently is not a rounding error, it is most of the available money.

The reason to do it anyway is simple. A finding is worth exactly what the person writing it had to lose by writing it honestly. If the assessment can lead to a sale, the assessment is a sales document, whatever it says at the top.

What is sold instead

Assessment, design review, verification, investigation, and advice. Billed as time or as a fixed-scope engagement agreed in writing before the work starts. Findings are written as found, including where they are inconvenient for an incumbent, for a preferred vendor, or for the person who commissioned the review.

Certifications are not commercial relationships

This one deserves stating directly, because it is the obvious objection. This practice holds manufacturer certifications across several platforms, including Genetec, Cisco, Aruba, Microsoft, Fortinet, and others. Those are training and examination, not commercial arrangements. They carry no sales obligation, no quota, no margin, and no requirement to recommend anything.

Knowing a platform in depth is what makes a review useful. Being paid by the platform is what would make it worthless. They are not the same thing and the difference is the whole point of this page.

Conflicts, and what happens when one appears

Independence is not the same as never having crossed paths with anyone. In a market this size, prior contact is normal. What matters is that it is disclosed before it can affect anything.

• Any prior working relationship with a vendor, integrator, or party under review is disclosed before the engagement starts, not after.
• Work previously designed or specified here will not be reviewed as though it were somebody else's. If a review would touch prior work, you are told, and you decide whether to continue or bring in someone else.
• If a conflict emerges partway through an engagement, it is raised immediately, in writing, even where doing so ends the engagement.

Holding this to account

This page exists so it can be used against the practice if it is ever untrue. If you believe there is an undisclosed conflict on an engagement, say so directly at contact@hans.study and it will be answered in writing.

Clients and prospective clients are welcome to ask, before signing anything, whether any relationship exists with a named vendor or integrator. The answer will be straight.

Why this is published at all

Because the alternative is asking you to assume it. Anyone can write the word independent on a website. Very few will write down what they have given up to earn it, in terms specific enough to be caught out on.

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