Signed

Before you compare a single vendor, a lot of the decision is already made. The systems you run today rule some platforms out, and the choices you make now decide whether a requirement three years from now means adding a license or replacing something the business runs on. In this Playbook, Max Clark, CEO of ITBroker.com, answers a question he was asked directly: which is harder, brownfield or greenfield? Brownfield means building on systems you already have. Greenfield means starting from nothing. Max walks through why your existing setup narrows your options more than any feature comparison or RFP, what to plan for when you're starting fresh, and why each situation needs its own approach.

What You'll Learn
  • How to tell if a new platform will work with the systems you already run
  • How your existing technology narrows your vendor options before you compare them
  • What to plan for when you're choosing IT infrastructure from scratch
  • How to plan infrastructure for the next three to five years of business growth
  • How to avoid buying technology you'll have to replace later
  • Why brownfield and greenfield projects need different buying approaches
Answer These Before You Compare Vendors
  1. What does a new system have to work with? List the hardware you plan to keep and the platforms it has to connect to, like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace and your CRM. A vendor that can't support something on that list is either out or carrying a replacement cost.
  2. Which of those are you willing to replace? Some older equipment is worth replacing anyway. Decide that before the demo, so it's in the vendor's price instead of showing up during the rollout.
  3. What does your business plan say about the next three years? New locations and new compliance requirements change what your platform has to support. Write them down while they're still plans.
  4. If one of those happens, is it a license or a rebuild? Ask this about every platform you're considering. A feature you can turn on is a line item. A core system you have to replace is a project.
If you can't answer two of these in writing, you're not ready to compare vendors yet. Max walks through both sides in the episode.

The Playbook
  • (00:00) - The three year test: add a license or replace a core system
  • (00:32) - Why existing systems make vendor selection easier
  • (01:32) - Why your current setup matters more than the RFP
  • (02:31) - Starting from scratch: decisions that last five to seven years
  • (02:59) - How your industry shapes what you'll need next
  • (03:55) - Why neither approach is easier

Resources Mentioned
About Signed
Signed is the podcast for buyers in a market built for sellers. Playbooks are the solo format: one trigger, one specific play. New episodes weekly at itbroker.com/podcast. If the trigger in today's Playbook is one you're facing right now, book an intro call at itbroker.com. We help buyers make the right call the first time. Buy tech without regret. Follow: @itbrokerdotcom

Full Transcript

Creators and Guests

Host
Max Clark
Founder & CEO of ITBroker.com

What is Signed?

The IT market is built for sellers, not buyers.

That's why 80% of tech buyers regret their last major purchase. Deals take longer than they should. Teams get locked into platforms that don't fit, contracts they can't escape, and vendors they wouldn't choose again. The pitches, demos, and analyst reports are built to close deals, not help buyers make the right one.

Signed is the podcast for the buyers. Host Max Clark, CEO of ITBroker.com, talks with CIOs, CFOs, operators, and founders who've lived inside real enterprise tech deals — the ones who can explain what actually determined whether the deal worked.

Plus weekly Playbooks breaking down the moments that matter most: renewals, M&A, compliance mandates, office moves, budget cuts, and the specific plays that separate buyers who get it right from those who regret it.

If you're responsible for choosing, negotiating, or living with the consequences of enterprise technology, this show is for you.

New episodes weekly. An ITBroker.com podcast.

Max Clark (00:00)
We know what this industry

Max Clark (00:01)
is going to do and what your

Max Clark (00:02)
IT roadmap for the next five years

Max Clark (00:04)
is going to be as a result of it.

Max Clark (00:06)
What decisions do you need

Max Clark (00:07)
to make now

Max Clark (00:08)
So that way, in three years

Max Clark (00:09)
when that requirement hits

Max Clark (00:10)
somebody's desk,

Max Clark (00:11)
it's like, oh that's easy.

Max Clark (00:13)
We can just enable that feature

Max Clark (00:15)
and license it versus

Max Clark (00:16)
we have to go back to the

Max Clark (00:17)
drawing board and figure out

Max Clark (00:18)
how do we rip and replace

Max Clark (00:20)
critical components of how we're

Max Clark (00:22)
conducting business.

Max Clark (00:32)
I was asked a question, what's harder, Brownfield versus Greenfield and making infrastructure decisions? Brownfield means there's something already in play. Could be a little, could be a lot. Greenfield means there's nothing there. You're starting from a complete blank slate. Now with Brownfield, actually surprising, Brownfield projects end up becoming very easy. You have already selected something, there's something already in play, and that drastically limits your options on the market.

Max Clark (01:02)
based on what productivity tool you're using. If you're on Microsoft 365 versus Google Workspace, you've already made a lot of decisions. Are you Windows or Mac desktops? Are you Salesforce versus HubSpot CRM? You go down the list and what you'll find is as you want to then layer infrastructure on top of that to give you capabilities, functions, features, backup, whatever it is, you've already made these decisions. So lot of what we're doing when we're talking about strategy roadmap, sourcing, selection with our clients,

Max Clark (01:32)
is understanding what the existing infrastructure really looks like and the environment actually looks like. Because these are the decisions that really matter more than trying to figure out what vendor speeds and feeds or feature sets or doing Chinese menus or stand out RFPs. Almost all of that becomes irrelevant to you because you've already made a decision and that decision is super important. Really basic example, you're planning a phone system deployment, right? You wanna move, now we call these things unified communications, so UCAS platforms.

Max Clark (02:01)
You already have infrastructure in play. You have phones on desks. You have conference rooms. You have video conferencing systems. These are specialized specific pieces of hardware. Does the platforms you are evaluating support what you currently have deployed? Do they integrate with the platforms that you're using? You've already made a decision. Maybe you just don't realize it yet. Greenfield poses different challenges because now you have a blank slate.

Max Clark (02:31)
But you're making the decisions that are going to impact that business for five, seven years to come. So understanding what that business's roadmap is and what the evolution of the next one, three, five, seven years looks like for them is really important. So if you're talking about a tech startup, you know, and what is the, what is the life cycle going from C to A to B to C to D to E to

Max Clark (02:59)
IPO prep and what do they need at different stages and what are coming down and what becomes critically important to that organization as it hits scale? That's very different from a company that's in retail or manufacturing or healthcare different compliance requirements different software stacks different integrations different IT concerns You know different geographies so understanding now within greenfield environments becomes more of experience and pattern matching

Max Clark (03:27)
We know what this industry is going to do and what your IT roadmap for the next five years is going to be as a result of it. What decisions do you need to make now So that way, in three years when that requirement hits somebody's desk, it's like, oh that's easy. We can just enable that feature and license it versus we have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how do we rip and replace critical components of how we're conducting business. So.

Max Clark (03:55)
you know, what's easier brownfield versus greenfield, you know, they're just different. I don't I wouldn't say the one's easier ones harder. They just have different processes that you have to go through and different things you need to understand to make sure that you are not making some massive mistake that you're going to, unfortunately, realize, you know, at some point down the road, it could be a short term or could be a, you medium term recognition. And, and this is the work that we're really

Max Clark (04:22)
doing for our clients is understanding, you know, what are they actually doing and what is their business trying to achieve.