When should you use a consultant?

The decision to consider using a consultant is usually driven by one or more of these scenarios:

• You have qualified internal resources, but they are unable to devote the necessary time
• Your internal resources do not posses the necessary and specific skills, knowledge, or expertise
• The business need or project is one which does not repeat often yet is of significant importance or impact
• Management is requesting a more global view with an external resource
• There exist diverse opinions between groups on direction, needs, and priorities
• The degree to which these apply to your organization or situation will determine if and to what extent your use of a consultant is beneficial.

What are the benefits of using a consultant?

Typically, the proper use of a consultant brings advantages in the areas of expertise, objectivity, and resource utilization. 

Expertise: 

Your effort gains both time and quality when you involve someone with specialized expertise.  Your consultant brings an understanding of the process, the subject, and current industry trends which can either validate your assumptions or bring fresh thought to your objectives or process decisions.  

A specific benefit during a vendor selection process is being able to shorten a quality RFP cycle by writing it in a way that vendors understand, asking relevant questions without guiding the respondents to a predetermined solution, and being able to cut through vendor hype in the responses.  Natural knowledge transfer will also enhance your internal staff capabilities for the future.
 

Objectivity:

One can always benefit from an objective viewpoint…a knowledgeable second opinion is very useful.  A 3rd party can often identify and involve stakeholders in a non-threatening way, which helps enrich and insure the success of the project.  An opinion that is unbiased by internal pressures or outside relationships leads to quality decisions.  A consultant can also help keep the effort focused on the original goal without being sidetracked by distractions along the way, for example, technology features that may look impressive but are not necessary for you. 

 
Resource utilization:

Your use of a consultant should ease the burden for your internal staff.  The extent of the impact is proportional to how you utilize the consultant.  This use can extend from pure consultation (advice and counsel) at various steps along the way, to managing parts of the process, to performing tasks as a full team member.  The nice thing is that the consultant ‘goes away’ at the end as opposed to the continuing expense if staff had been added.

 

Think of your project as a road trip with success defined as arriving at your destination in the right time at the right cost.  A consultant should help map out the best route and be with you to keep you focused on the destination, supplement your efforts on the straight-aways, and help negotiate each twist and turn with personal knowledge of the terrain.

© 2010 by Brian Korsmeier  -  You are free to print or distribute this material as long as you include this copyright statement or attribute the contents to the author.  Please let me know if you include any of these statements in any of your documents.