The return of boutique consultancies...

Over the past several years, being an independent consultant meant panhandling for decent pay where the only alternative was to become an employee or a larger organization. The marketplace is now observing a return to its historical roots which means a better value proposition for those who want true specialized consulting over generalist firms attempting to sell the kitchen sink...



Clients are now starting to realize that there is no such thing as one-stop shopping and that a strategy of using best of breed is actually more cost effective even when the parts individually may cost more.

I have observed many people departing the larger firms as they shift their focus away from management consulting towards more commodity offerings in an attempt to drive extreme revenue growth to a value proposition that I believe actually offers better value for clients who are savvy enough to consider startup firms over those with established brands. Unlike their larger counterparts, these small one to five person consultancies seem to be more principled in their approach to growing the business. Some of the common values adopted by smaller firms and missing from the larger include:

1. Do not promise what you cannot deliver

2. Do not overextend your resources and get a reputation for poor performance.

3. Do not tell the customer what he or she wants to hear. Tell them what they need to know. They will respect you for it.

4. Network constantly on professional sites such as Linked In. Hit the "Answers" feature and accumulate an "Expert" rating from your peers in your field. This allows buyers to not blindly trust that they will get the right resource but be certain in advance.

5. Blog like there is no tomorrow. A blog is quite different than a web site. Provide good, solid information free of charge and use blog searches for synergistic businesses to team with. Teaming is an absolute necessity these days.

6. Be prepared to provide information, samples and valuable service gratis as a marketing tool. Introduce yourself and then immediately engage the client with your presentation tools available to bring your expertise to whatever topic they are interested in. Let them take you where they want to go with their concerns and their needs. Apply your presentation tools and expertise dynamically on the fly in a sincere manner to those concerns and needs and you will be in demand for follow up business.

7. Quote and bill what the client can afford and grow with him (in content and resources).

8. Be dedicated to working yourself out of a job with a specific customer and having your client take over by training him. He will remember you and recommend you to 10 others.

9. Remember growth is a function of persistence and foresight. Know where your market is headed and get their first - then write and speak about your success indirectly by helping others. Demonstrate humility and a satisfaction in helping others succeed. They will find ways to give you credit. There are ways of tooting your horn without making peoples' lights go out.

10. Word of mouth advertising from pleased clients is a sure ticket to success.

Enterprise Architecture: Meeting Best Practices

In conversations with many IT professionals, I find that their Outlook calendars look more like Tetris than anything that makes sense...



Let's face it, the engineering discipline within IT has gone the way of the dinosaur and has been replaced with architects, executives and project managers who are masters at being short-form conversationalists. With that being said, the notion that IT has a communications problem is both true and false at the same time.

Whether everyone in IT understands the mission and the challenges of communicating in a global economy will continue to be elusive to most shops. However, there is a bigger challenge that is less frequently discussed.

So, lets pretend that I am a CTO for a Fortune 100 enterprise and my calendar is 80% filled with meetings. Isn't it reasonable to think that I should spend 80% of my time talking with workers that report to me? I think the answer is unequivocally yes but the challenge is when we think of this time as "meeting" time, we are automatically compromising a precious resource.

I do think there is a difference in spending 80% of your time with people that report to you vs spending 80% of your time with other than your own workers. The later is more indicative of a busted culture where time is spent in meetings with clients, project stakeholders and other external entities. In this model, the manager becomes more of an information conduit by which they shuttle what they have learned from partner organizations to those below them.

The premise is that the hierarchy lines on the organization chart are also the only communication conduit. Information can only flow along those lines. It is vital that enterprises separate out the paths of authority from the paths of communication.

Effective enterprises have eliminated all forms of narrow band communications by encouraging broadband thinking. When communication happens only over the hierarchy lines, that's a priori evidence that leadership management are trying to hold on to all control. This is not only inefficient but an insult to the people underneath.

So, don't complain about meetings and having too many of them. The key is to figure out their purpose. On the chance you haven't figured out that movements such as Facebook and Twitter are breaking down communication barriers in the outside world and that you should do this to yourself inside, you only are causing harm to not only yourself but your organization by attempting to control the message via meetings.

My go forward thinking in this regard can be summed up in three powerful words: Hyperlinks subvert Hierarchy...

Consulting 101: Values over Profit

At various times in my career, I have provided consulting services. At no time, have I been solely focused on driving revenue numbers higher and have stood for more than just profit...



Accenture has one of the best stories that is never told. They care not only about growing revenue but also their local community in which their consultants work. For example, I had the opportunity to observe Accenture consultants who live in cities such as Chicago, Atlanta and Cincinnati contribute time after hours to a charity in my hometown known as FoodShare whose goal is to help provide food to the poor. The consultants didn't just do this as a bottoms-up idea but this was actively encouraged and supported by various partners.

Cognizant also did something very special. They provided sponsorship for tickets to inner-city youth to attend a minor league baseball game. They also support the local Boys and Girls club through after hours volunteer efforts.

So, while I know of the great human stories of Accenture and Cognizant, I do seek to hear of equivalents from Wipro, Infosys, TCS and Virtusa. If you know of human stories of contributions from these firms that are concentrated in the Hartford Connecticut area in the last six months, please do not hesitate to share. I would like for the world to know that there are people out there that care about their communities and aren't just big faceless corporations are are savage in making a profit while ignoring their role in society...