Your situation
The quote landed. It is big, it is by the hour, and nobody can tell you what it will be at the end.
A systems integrator has quoted the migration: a large number, a long timeline, priced on hours against an estimate of the estate nobody has verified. You are being asked to approve it. Novuz gives you a second number in three business days: the conversion of the whole estate at a fixed price, with every object proven, and the services around it still yours to buy from whoever you choose.
What is happening
What is actually happening?
The quote was built by counting tables and guessing procedures, because the SI could not read your code before the contract. Conversion is a third of the hours in it; validation, re-testing and the slips are the rest. The number will be revised upward at discovery and again at testing, and the business will remember the first one.
The cost of waiting
What does waiting cost?
- Approving a number that will move, against a budget that will not.
- Hours spent converting dead code nobody found.
- A timeline that slips after the demo looked fine, because nobody demos validation.
In three business days
What does the estate assessment give you?
- The real object count and the dead share, so the quote can be re-based or re-negotiated.
- A fixed conversion price with a written guarantee to put beside the hours.
- A first domain and a timeline.
- A clear line between conversion (software, fixed) and the services around it (target design, data migration, cutover, change management), which you can still buy from the SI.
Honest fit
Who should not do this?
- Teams who want staff augmentation rather than software; teams with no target and no date; Oracle-only or mainframe estates, which we do not convert.
Related
Where to read next
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Does this replace the SI?
Usually not. Many SIs put Novuz in their own proposal as the fixed conversion line and run the program around it, and can drive it from their own tooling; ask yours.
Why trust a fixed price from a small company?
Because it is set after reading the whole estate, not before, and the First Domain carries a reconciliation threshold in the contract: miss it and the fee is waived. The security page covers the rest.
Can you quote without the assessment?
No, and neither can anyone else honestly; the assessment is three business days and $3,000, credited.
Sources and further reading
- McKinsey & Company, "Tech debt: Reclaiming tech equity," October 2020: CIOs estimate tech debt at 20 to 40 percent of the value of their technology estate, and 60 percent say it has risen
- Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Technical Debt Management Tools, May 2026: by 2027, 80% of technical debt will be architectural
Written by Debjani Dhar, Co-founder and CEO, Novuz · Technical review: Ted Ghose, Co-founder and CTO, Novuz
Last reviewed:
Find out what your logic debt is costing you.
Every object counted, lineage, dead code and a fixed price in three business days. $3,000, credited.
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