I'm in a nearly identical situation, but with publication systems. The per-seat per-year license costs of their vendor solution zoomed past 50k (!!!) - that in

I'm in a nearly identical situation, but with publication systems. The per-seat per-year license costs of their vendor solution zoomed past 50k (!!!) - that includes the PDF system - so, well, I got referenced by a friend of a friend, and then I got a call. Their vendor stack doesn't even integrate with any of their other business systems, so asking for that kind of money is . . sort of mysterious. What do they think they're selling, exactly? Whatever it is , it's a lot more expensive than having me drop by a few hours a week (although I fully expect they'll get trained up in house to work these tools in zero time; those big publications systems are insanely complicated). Thing is, even if this thing DID magically integrate all other information in the business, it STILL isn't worth that sort of cash. Not the first time I'm slobberghasted by this kind of thing, and it probably won't be the last.