How to find reliable implementation partners without pay-to-play rankings
Partner rankings and shortlists often feel pay-to-play, hiding how past projects actually went. Without the bandwidth or desire to build complex capabilities like AI or Salesforce in-house, businesses are forced to seek external help. This lack of transparent feedback makes it difficult to identify trustworthy partners to deliver critical projects.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Searching AppExchange consultant listings
- 2Checking Clutch and G2 pages
- 3Reading top 10 blog posts
- 4Incentivizing existing technicians to get certified and learn on the job
- 5Hiring a dedicated software developer to handle advanced projects
- 6Subcontracting with third-party consultants or boutique agencies
- 7Guiding clients toward existing low-code, iPaaS, or off-the-shelf software solutions
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I am not sure we have the bandwidth or desire to bring these skills in house at this point.”source ↗
“Is anyone partnering with someone to deliver this? Or is there a company out there that partners with MSPs around this?”source ↗
“Running an MSP is hard enough, I don't have the bandwidth to try and learn everything there is about AI and I'm getting to the point where I want to exit in the next 3-5 years anyway.”source ↗
Where this came up
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