Three phases. One firm. One number to call.
Opero designs the system, builds it, and then runs it. What changes as an engagement matures is the pace of change, not who is accountable for it.
The shape of an engagement.
Most companies buy these from three different places. A platform vendor, an integrator to implement it, and then whoever ends up keeping it running. Opero is all three, in sequence, with the same people throughout.
Learn the business, then build the system.
Opero designs and builds the system. Weekly working sessions, continuous releases, and the architect embedded in the business rather than briefing a delivery team that was not in the room.
Getting to live early and building outward from there is the point of the model, not a shortcut.
The system grows into the rest of the business.
The system is live and people are using it. Opero continues to extend it at roughly half the pace of Build: new capabilities, new integrations, new workflows, and the parts of the operation that launch scope did not cover.
Most companies stay here twelve to eighteen months. The hard work is the initial system design. Adding to a system that already exists is faster.
We stay on.
The permanent state. The system is complete and stable, and Opero runs it.
- Monitoring and incident response under defined business-hours response times
- Security, access, and dependency management
- Backup and restore, tested on a schedule rather than merely enabled
- Quarterly access review and written security posture report
- Quarterly architecture and roadmap review with your architect
- A standing monthly allocation of change capacity for the requests that always come
Operate is not a helpdesk. It is a fractional team that already knows the system, because they built it.
Published, because you should not have to ask.
Most builds run three to nine months, which puts them between roughly $150k and $430k depending on how much system there is. After launch, ongoing operation is $12k a month. The system itself carries no per-seat licensing, so the cost does not climb every time you add a person.
| Phase | Rate | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Build | $48,000 / month | 3 to 9 months |
| Evolve | $24,000 / month | 12 to 18 months |
| Operate | $12,000 / month | Ongoing |
Steps down are initiated by you, with notice. No renegotiation, and no pressure to stay in a higher phase than the work justifies.
You own all of it.
Full source code with commit history, architecture and data model documentation, deployment configuration, operational runbooks, and tests. Documentation is generated as the system is built rather than assembled at handover, so it is current from the first week rather than the last.
Nothing you run depends on Opero continuing to exist.
The honest version.
Scroll the table sideways →
| Opero Operate | Internal hire | Consulting partner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | $144k fixed | $180k to $220k est. | Varies with hours. A dedicated resource prices as a full FTE. |
| Who does the work | The architect who designed the system, plus team | One person you recruit and retain | Whoever is assigned, typically rotating |
| Covers custom code and integrations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Monitoring, backup testing, security program | Included | You define and staff it | Not typically part of the offering |
| Defined business-hours response times | Yes | No | Varies |
| Coverage during absence or departure | Absorbed | None | Yes |
| Commercial incentive | Fixed fee. Fewer incidents is better for both sides. | Neutral | Hourly. More hours is better for them. |
If taking it in house is the right answer for you, Opero will train the hire and hand over cleanly. That is a better outcome than a contract nobody wants to be in.
Not everyone should buy this.
A good fit
- You have outgrown the platform you are on, or you are about to buy one you already suspect will not fit
- Complexity comes from what the system does, not from how many people log into it
- You want one firm accountable for the whole thing rather than three vendors pointing at each other
Not a fit
- Staff augmentation, or extra hands for an existing engineering team
- A single feature or a short project with a defined end
- Anything where the answer is genuinely an off-the-shelf product
Opero takes on a small number of clients at a time. That is what makes the rest of this possible.
Tell us what is not working.