Are You an IT Consultant or Computer a Computer Repair Person?

by Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan, Organisational Provocateur

After consulting with over 50 information technology companies both large and small, I have decided to dedicate a few lines to making a clear distinction between IT consulting and repairing computer-related bits and pieces.

It is both sad and misleading that so many firms out there try to sell their services as IT consultants, but really and truly all they do is fixing dead computers ands peddle products. This confusion often comes from the confusion between contractors and consultants. So, let's just quickly put an end to this confusion.

As a contractor, you work for your customers on issues they have neither time, expertise or inclination to do. The problem is clearly defined, and the customer is not involved in the work itself, only in the evaluation of the work. Considering the skills required, this type of work is usually considered as a commodity, and these contractors are compensated accordingly.

As a consultant, you collaborate with clients on solving their problems that are unclear. Jointly with clients you diagnose the problem, and together you develop a solution. Clients are involved in the whole process, and they do some of the work with your guidance. This is a relationship between equals.

According to the - Canadian Oxford - dictionary, the verb "consult" means to seek information or advice from a person and refer to a person for advice and opinion. It mentions nothing about doing manual labour for clients. Consultants are collaborated with and provide additional value-added that represents something clients did not possess before.

This is an important distinction, because without the clear understanding between the two you can grossly misposition your firm, thus gradually bringing it to its knees.

While as a contractor, you focus on technical issues only, there are some other factors to consider in IT consulting.

One big difference is that while geeks make good contractors, most of them make poor consultants. Geeks are called geeks because they have a very strong technical focus, thus they possess amazing technical skills.

In IT consulting you need three key competencies: technical skills, business skills and people skills. While contractors fix problems, that is, they take contingent action, as a consultant you must be able to think big picture and take preventive or innovative action to advance the client's business. Read again. While contracting is about restating the status quo, consulting is about improving the client's condition by raising the bar to a new level of excellence.

You must think ahead and take preventive actions, that is, to help your clients to reduce or eliminate the possibilities of problems. Also, you must keep your clients' visions in mind and people's readiness to use your technology. That is why you need both business and people skills.

1. You have technical skills and business skills, but missing people skills. In this case you can do the technical work that supports business processes and is in alignment with the client's vision, but cannot effectively interact with people to make sure they actually use your new technology. Look out because you can lose the client's trust on this one.

2. You have people skills and business skills, but are technically lagging behind. This situation does not happen too often, but every now and then we can see it. But it is important to note here that - even when it happens – it is probably the smallest problem. Why? Because in the worst case as you assemble the implementation team, you can draw some people from other firms which have the needed competency.

3. You have technical skills and people but do not understand how they tie into business processes, and you may end up recommending a system which is totally counterproductive when put to work.

4. As a consultant, you must operate in such a way that you have technical knowledge to accurately diagnose problems and develop solutions, business skills to analyse business processes and people skills to make sure people are willing to use your new technology which supports the business .

So, when it comes to skill-building for your people, just keep in mind that technical knowledge is just a small part of the game. In my experience it is about 80% personal development and 20% of professional development.

Copyright Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan. All rights reserved. You are free to use this article in whole or in part. One favour though: Can I ask you to you include complete attribution, including a live website link. Also, can you please let me know where you plan to publish the article.

The attribution: This article was written by Organisational Provocateur, Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan of Dynamic Innovations Squad, a firm specialising in helping consulting firms to sell their expertise at the highest margins. Get Tom's free Practice Management Black Paper when you sign up for his monthly newsletter, Commando Consulting: Lessons And Practices From The Ultimate Professional Service Firm, The Military. Visit Tom's website at http://www.di-squad.com.

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