What I Know It’s About Experience

The primary function of a consultant

Hi All and to my brothers  (you know who you are) Salam,

Sorry I'm a few days behind.

I noticed there are not many comments on the last post, so nothing to answer or clarify (as yet?)

Lets talk about the role of a consultant, in the years that I have worked in IT as a supplier, consultant and client/customer, I have seen many different thoughts on what is expected from a consultant. If you look at the Oxford English Dictionary a Consultant is 'a person who provides expert advice professionally '. This has always been an issue with the consultants I have known and dealt with, the word 'professional' means different things to different people the same for 'expert'. Personally, I always say that I have never been a 'pert' so I could never be an 'ex-pert'

When you look at professional conduct, each type of career choice has different interpretations or guidelines. Take a lwayer for instance, they are responsible if not accountable for giving the client the best advice while stealing their money throught changing an arm and a leg and some of them the entire body. However, if it is found that they did not have the client's best interest at heart, they could lose their licence and possibly end up in jail. Believe it or not, this would also hold true in the Kingdom. The same goes for a Doctor or an Engineer. However, in IT, this is not the case.

The question you have to ask yourself is, why not? Is this an easy answer, black and white or is it grey with a few other colours in the mix as well?

In my humble opinion, the answer relates to what the client's expectations are and how much they are willing to spend versus the expected profit from the consultant/supplier.

I am a CISM and CISSP and both bodies make sure that I know what my responsibilities are with regards to consulting (even if I knew it before). If I do not abide by their rules, quite simple, I lose all the certifications resulting in a loss of income. Remember, a certification body has an agreement with other bodies, they tell each other if you have not been doing your work right.

So lets go back to the 'professional' part and see what this means in IT. As I stated in my previous posting, the client must save money, the consultant and supplier must make money. If the client wants a Business Continuity Programme for instance, the consultant/supplier will look at the potential of making as much profit as possible and allocate junior team members (who have limited or no BCP knowledge or experience) and deliver a 50/50 job. That is why there are different levels of consultants, Junior, Senior with wait for it; a Subject Matter Expert. Each costs the client extra, my experience in KSA was that a Junior was billed from USD 800 a day, a Senior from USD 1,600 a day, and this is for a small company. The going rates for South Africa is about the same. If the consultant is billed to the client for a month then it is USD 800 * 20 working days = USD 16,000 a month for a Junior, the Senior comes in at around USD 32,000 a month. The cost to company for the different resources is maximum Junior USD 8,000 and Senior USD 15,000. Not a bad profit!

But wait! Why employ a Senior when we can pass off a Junior as one and make more money. The result of this? The client gets a resource that does not know what is required and does not have the knowledge and/or expertise to do the work.  The result? The client fires the first and gets  another company to do the work properly with usually the same result.

Wait, stop everything. Think about the expectations, the client knows what they want but need the knowledge and experience of a consultant/supplier to assist them in getting there. Alternatively, the client will ask what should be done and the consultant/supplier will give them advice to the best of their ability. If you have no knowledge or expertise in the subject, how can you give anything to the client? This is what makes the difference between a 'Resource' and a 'Consultant'.

As a consultant, I have left companies and projects due to the use of resources that did not have the knowledge or expertise to deliver and I do not talk about the 'scope' of the project but also the 'big picture' of the client's requirements (or their strategy). I have just left a project in South Africa because of this. Why you ask? Is he stupid? No, there is such a thing as ethical consultants who will try their best to do the work the right way as it is their name (and not the company's) that will get blamed, who then choose to leave a project before their name is dragged through the mud and blamed for what went wrong even though they notified the relevant people of the risks.

What does all this mean? Simply, a professional consultant has the best interest of the client at heart while they make money for their employer. However, the client's expectations are agreed to, managed, and delivered all within budget.

How do you measure a consultant? This is a difficult one as there are many ways to ask, I usually ask clients at my first engagement if they want to be 'told' how to do it or do they want to be 'guided'? If they say guided, then they need a consultant else they need a resource.

Many people will disagree with me on what I have mentioned, but ask yourself this question (say it as it is written); "when the last IT consultant did work for me, did I learn anything about what he was doing or supposed to do?" If you answer 'No' to this then you had a resource. He was there to do the job and do it as cheaply as possible, guiding or mentoring (an experienced person in an organization or institution who trains and counsels new employees or students) is not on his agenda even if it is in the deliverables. A consultant guides and mentors the client even if he annoys the living hell out of the sales person. Ask Fahad about the talks we have had with different clients and the accusations that came from the sales people.

This is called the ethics of the professional consultant. Look at www.isaca.org (click on Code of Professional Ethics) and www.isc2.org (http://www.isc2.org/ethics/default.aspx) for guidelines.

Comments are as always appreciated.

Wa Alaikum As-Salam until next time,

Enjoy the rest of the week and may you travel safely.

Next to come;

1. The primary function of a supplier,
2. The primary function of a consultant,
3. The differences between client and supplier,
4. The differences between supplier and consultant,
   
5. The differences between client and consultant,
6. Ethics as a consultant,
7. Ethics as an employee and
8. Is there ethics in business.