How We Get Paid

Most technology advisors are vague about this. We'd rather you read it before the first conversation than wonder about it afterwards.

MALA is a vendor-neutral, vendor-sponsored technology advisor. Clients pay no direct fee for our advisory services. After you select and move forward with a participating provider, MALA is compensated by that provider. Our compensation does not change based on which provider you choose — and you are never required to select a participating provider at all.

That last sentence is the one that matters most, so it's worth repeating plainly: no provider pays us more than another. There is no tier, no bonus, no volume target that makes one recommendation worth more to us than a different one. If there were, everything else on this site would be worth less.

How can you be objective if a provider pays you?

Because the amount doesn't change with the choice. An advisor whose compensation varies by provider has a reason to steer; one whose compensation is flat across qualified providers does not. That's the whole answer — it's a fact about the structure, not a promise about our intentions.

Is it really no cost to us?

There is no direct client fee for our advisory services. We say “no direct client fee” rather than “free” because free invites the question of what the catch is, and there's a straightforward answer instead: the provider you select pays a placement fee. You are never invoiced by us.

Are we required to choose one of your providers?

No. You can take our assessment, our benchmarks and our recommendation and go a completely different direction — including staying exactly where you are. We'd rather be useful and unpaid on this engagement than push you into a decision you regret.

Will you recommend whoever pays the most?

No provider pays more than another, so the question has no purchase here. But it's the right question to ask any advisor, and if you're evaluating others alongside us, ask them this one first.

What if the best answer is something you can't place?

Then we'll say so. It happens — sometimes the right move is an incumbent renegotiation, an internal build, or nothing at all this cycle. Telling you that costs us the fee and keeps the relationship, which is the trade we'd make every time.

Don't take our word for the model — test it. These are the questions that separate a structurally neutral advisor from one who just uses the word, and they work on us as well as on anyone else you're considering:

• How exactly are you compensated, and does it change based on which vendor we choose? A straight answer to the second half is the tell.
• How many providers do you work with in this category, and can you name them?
• What happens to your fee if we decide to do nothing?
• Can you show me an engagement where you recommended against a purchase?

We wrote both of these up in more detail: how vendor-neutral advisors actually get paid, and the questions to ask before you sign with any advisor. If our answers don't hold up against them, that's worth knowing before the first meeting rather than after.