The Challenge
There is a growing realisation in the IT industry that the upheavals of the last couple of years have signalled a major shift in a way in which the consulting sector needs to operate. It looks as though some large consultancies have painted themselves into a corner. By concentrating on a larger mega-projects staffed by a cast of hundreds of consultants, they have become unwieldy dinosaurs that have to run ever faster to feed their needs. Nemesis will come as these large projects fall prey to the cheaper and maybe better value offerings.
Survival depends on these consultancies offering something other than a large scale implementation capability to their customers.
Clients no longer want to play a passive role in consulting-led projects but to share and benefit from working together. The key problems were that:
- They perceived that consultants below senior level were less talented.
- They considered that often consultants were telling them what to do and introducing package solutions rather than listening to their need.
- Customers valued the independent viewpoint of a consultant but found that often the consultants went "native" and lost their external perspective by identifying too closely with the clients' culture.
- Clients frequently found that recommendations were too optimistic or complex when they were looking for solutions that were simpler and readily achievable.
- There was a clash of goals in that clients were seeking value while the consultants were targeting profit.
The shortcomings can be easily diagnosed when you consider how far the concept of consulting has travelled from the original practice of consulting. Then a consultant was a very experienced person providing broadly-based practical advice combined with an understanding of human nature and organisations that can only come with experience. A young consultant is almost an oxymoron. However confident and bright the consultant may be, coming straight from business school he cannot hope to provide the wealth of practical experience that is the consultant's stock-in-trade.
The trouble is, consultants with sufficient experience are hard to find and very often have left because they found managing large project implementations an unattractive prospect. Younger consultants who have only worked on mega-projects will not have been exposed to the variety of tasks and environments that are needed to develop a base of consulting experience.
If companies are really serious about wanting a collaborative approach from consulting companies, then they have another alternative - the large number of smaller independent consultancies staffed by refugees from the larger firms. These always wanted to deliver Collaborative Consulting but couldn't do this in their previous organisations. [Martin Langham IT-Analysis]
Our Approach
Our consulting approach is highly collaborative and participative and will involve not only your senior team, but also a large number of managers and business staff from your organisation. Our strategy of locating our consulting team at your offices, results in a high degree of integration and acceptance of our team members, among your people.
Technology fashions come and go. Old problems stay and new problems emerge, solutions are the everlasting request. Being both innovative and knowledgeable is what we offer for our consulting services.
Our consultants actually consult and take active participation in the design, implementation, project management and maintenance of the system, rather than just implement systems. We recognise that our people are our greatest asset. Our aim is to recruit, develop and retain people of the highest calibre. Collaborative consultants are technocrats and technologists. They are team leaders, architects, analysts, designers, developers, integrators and mentors.
This approach may not be as profitable for the consultancies, but it is certainly more effective for the clients.
