What makes the right technology consulting service partner for your business?
Are you thinking of hiring the services of a consulting partner for your company? Are you looking at business growth? Are you aiming to solve certain intrinsic issues but are unsure whether you should do so internally or hire a consultancy firm?
Finding the right consulting partner is a daunting task. Many organizations that have gone through this exercise have failed. This caused them a lot of wasted money, resources and personal time. We have put together on this blog what are the essential parameters you should consider while choosing a technology consulting firm for your business.
Typically, companies consider hiring the services of external consultants to achieve specific goals or overcome challenges they are facing, as elaborated below.
1. Improve performance
A business consists of various departments. For it to be successful, it requires all the departments to perform efficiently. An under-performing department may result in hampering overall business growth.
Internal teams are busy with their daily routines. Employees of a company are expected to focus their time and efforts to meet tight deadlines. Therefore, they are not able to detach themselves from the situation and find the root cause of the problem. In such scenarios, an external point of view can help them identify the cause(s) for under-performance and solutions to fix it.
2. Need extra hands on the deck
As a company, you require some skillsets and expertise only for a limited amount of time. It doesn’t make sense to recruit personnel for a temporary period as it will be expensive and time-consuming. In such cases, hiring the services of a consulting partner company, makes great sense.
In addition to having more hands on the deck, you get access to experts in the field who are well-equipped to assist your business in the desired aspects. In addition to having knowledge of the latest industry trends and practices, these experts also have the right personnel with adequate skillsets to address the issue at hand.
3. Ease of pressure on the internal team
Internal team members already have multiple responsibilities to fulfill. Any new projects or changes in the existing ones means that they will have to take some time out of their daily operations and shift focus on them.
The added responsibility may either have a negative impact on the employee’s productivity or may cause a delay in the new initiative the business has undertaken. Either of these is not desirable. An external consultant or a team of consultants can do the heavy lifting in such scenarios.
They can execute tasks successfully with limited assistance from internal team members. This ensures that the business objectives are achieved successfully and without any negative impact on the existing framework.
4. External unbiased point of view
For a business to survive, sometimes tough decisions need to be taken. This requires an unbiased point of view, the ability to keep aside emotions. Members of the organization in question are in the situation and may not be able to view/analyze it objectively.
When you hire a business consulting partner, you bring in an external/objective point of view. Consultants are better equipped to analyze a situation and provide solutions based on data and facts, keeping emotions aside. It is easier for an external consultant to understand when systems/practices are outdated and take required actions to change it. Employees in the company are used to doing things a certain way and may be resistant to change.
Now that we have seen why choosing an external consultant might be more effective, it is important to note that choosing the right consulting partner is vital. Here are some pointers that you can keep handy while evaluating different consulting partners for your business.
1. An expert in the domain
As a business, you may want to hire services of external consultants to fulfil a specific objective. The objective could be to achieve digital transformation within your company, streamline operations or any other similar project.
Once these objectives are clear, a business should look for a consulting firm with the right skill sets and expertise to achieve these objectives successfully. They should be well-versed with the latest industry trends and benchmarks associated with the task at hand.
2. Industry know-how
The consulting services firm should also have a great understanding of the industry you operate in and your business model. Each industry has its specific challenges. The consulting company you choose should understand these challenges and efforts required to overcome them.
They should also be abreast with latest advancements within the industry and present an updated futuristic plan of action. It will ensure that the solution proposed takes care of the current and future business scenarios.
3. Proven track record
You must assess the track record of the company you are considering to do this. It is important to have multiple companies to choose from and not just 1 or 2 options.
Always run a reference check regarding the projects they have completed, their expertise, their performance, the skillsets and resources available within their company, specific services they offer, their core competencies, etc.
All these factors should be verified and validated before on-boarding.
4. Cultural fit
A business should opt for a consulting company with similar sensibilities and work culture as theirs. If, as a business, you have an elaborate and time-consuming decision-making process, then hire a company that understands and respects the process.
Instead, if you opt for a company that wants a quicker decision-making process, they may not be the best fit. It may result in conflicts between the various teams working on the project and hamper its progress. They may also get frustrated over a period of time as things may not move as quickly as they expect. Hence, having a partner with a similar work culture is essential to the success of the overall project.
5. A partner that can scale as per your needs
As a business, you should consider a consulting company that can quickly scale up or down depending on your requirements. Let us consider a real-life scenario. A business has hired an IT consulting services company to help them with their digital transformation initiative. However, due to the pandemic, they will have to do this at a faster rate. It may also need some additional skillsets which were not required earlier.
The IT consulting services company should have the expertise to fast track this process and the capability to fulfil new requirements that have surfaced. If they do not have adequate resources currently, they should have the ability to acquire them quickly.
6. Customer centric approach
The consultants you hire should have a customer-centric approach. They should always have the best interests of their customers as a priority. They should not push products or suggest services with the intention to increase the ticket size of the deal.
Experts should also not be afraid to tell clients if they are moving in the wrong direction and discuss the best way to move forward if things are not going as per the plan.
7. Focus on the fine print
Ensure that all the necessary timelines, milestones, terms and conditions, delivery schedules, payment schedules, etc., are mentioned clearly in the contract. Both parties should discuss all points that require deliberation before signing on the dotted line to prevent future disputes. All commitments and charges should be mentioned clearly, to avoid any discrepancies later.
Are you looking for the right Technology Consulting Services Partner for your business? Connect with our experts at Softype and evaluate if we are the right choice for you.
Softype is a global provider of cloud business automation solutions and an experienced enterprise consulting provider to medium and large enterprises. We have more than 15 years of successful experience with ERP system implementations, business process consulting, and integration. We have offices in the US, Philippines, India and Kenya.
We have been a Solution Partner for Oracle NetSuite, the original and leader cloud ERP, since 2004. We have successfully assisted more than 400 clients across 25 countries and four continents over the past 17 years. Besides NetSuite, our company has expertise in workflow automation and integration for the WD, Retail, Education and Light Manufacturing industries. We are partners of StoreHub Cloud POS and Workato for integration and automation for different enterprises.
We do not just build things/spaces or create software. Our focus is practical solutioning coupled with expert service delivery of software projects to maximize our clients’ investments in business automation solutions that they undertake. We partner with them to deliver the promise of success.
For further information, please contact us here. You can also reach out to us at [email protected] or call us at +1 650 488 4412 (Global), +63 917 558 1513(Philippines), +91 22 4616 3839 (India), +254 720 940 174 (Kenya), and +61 452 183 613 (Australia).
About the Author
Nana Luz
Co-Chairman and Co-Founder – Softype Inc. Nana Luz holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Stanford University. Even before 'cloud' was officially introduced, Nana was working on this area with her own start-up. She then partnered with NetLedger (now NetSuite) to offer a full function ERP totally on the Cloud. Nana’s expertise revolves around envisioning change and delivering value to growth-oriented businesses.