|
|
|
By Dave Anderson
According to Terry Bomberger, a principal solutions
developer for Pinnacle Decision Systems in Middletown, Connecticut, "One
of the biggest challenges of hiring an IT consultant is getting the most
out of his or her time. A company can easily end up wasting money, when
the point all along was to save money."
Bomberger and his co-worker Richard Oliva have created
the following useful "Consultant Checklist" for companies that
want to optimize their time with a consultant.
- Treat consultants like employees. However, keep in mind that there
is a fine line between having someone as a consultant and someone as
an employee, especially when it comes to the IRS. Bomberger's advice
is to develop an employee-like relationship that doesn't cross that
line.
- Give developers access to buildings and equipment. Says Oliva: "I
once had a co-worker try to fix a problem on a Saturday only to find
that the security pass the company had given him didn't grant access
to the building, even though the company had promised him a 24/7 pass.
This kind of problem arises more often than you would expect."
- Give them access to the right people. "Remember the 'telephone
game' in elementary school where people passed one message to the other
in a circle?" asks Oliva. "Then you'll also remember that
by the time the message got through the filter of people, it was completely
different. This is what often happens in the business world. By allowing
your consultant to talk directly to your customers, you remove the filter
and let the consultant have direct access to information." Bomberger
adds that this also includes giving consultants access to people who
need to make decisions.
- Restrict access to the wrong people. Consultants should be able to
concentrate on doing their job and without spending time chitchatting.
According to Bomberger, "While most companies give their consultants
a desk in 'cubical land' along with all of the other employees, I think
it's a bad idea. Because pretty soon, they will be drawn into personal
conversations. While it's important to keep the lines of communication
open between the consultant and the employees, it's also important to
remember that you need to allow the consultant to concentrate on the
work."
- Should the consultant be a teacher? "Many times employees will
come up to a consultant asking for advice on technology issues not related
to the project," says Oliva. "While that may be fine in some
cases, it's just another way to waste your consultant's time. I think
it's good to have some knowledge transfer between the consultant and
the employees, but the company should predetermine that. Many times
a consultant will help get a project started and then will have some
sort of mentoring project to train the staff. However, along the way
there are bound to be employees who see the consultant as the 'guru'
who can give free technical advice. The question is, "Does the
company want that to happen or not?"
- Bring in the consultant at the right time. Oliva says, "I've
experienced contracts where we were called in and on the first day we
were working on our assignments and getting the job done. I've also
been in situations where I've been brought in as much as three months
too early and was stuck reading manuals until the company decided on
what I needed to do. The sooner a consultant can get to work, the more
cost-effective the relationship is."
- Know what you want from the consultant. "You'll waste time if
you call in a consultant to start working on solving a problem, only
to call the consultant back in four days saying that you've changed
the goals of the project," says Bomberger.
- Make time for the consultant. "The consultant cannot do a great
job along. Don't call a consultant and think they can fix the problems
without your input. You'll find that optimization of your relationship
will depend upon how much time you can devote to the project,"
says Oliva.
- Be open to new ideas. "The consultant may have ideas that go
against the traditional way of thinking," says Bomberger. "Companies
that fight change will end up wasting time and money because they aren't
letting the consultants do their job. They need to accept 'outside the
box' thinking and put faith in the fact that they have hired the consultants
because they need outside insights."
Pinnacle Decision Systems is headquartered in Middletown,
Connecticut and can be reached on the Internet at www.pinndec.com or (860)
632-7766.
To learn more about this topic, consider these AMA
seminars:
|
|
 |
AMA Learning Network |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
