What to Look for in a Business Technology Consultant

If you select carefully, a consultant familiar with a particular industry problem can save your company a lot of time and effort wasted on false starts. Some of the attributes to consider include the following:

• Loosely coupled relationships with a variety of resources

• Experience across industries

• Orientation and education

• Variety of communications models

• Ability to act as translator

Loosely Coupled Relationships with a Variety of Resources

You want an advisor to have access to resources such as work force suppliers, product vendors, potential clients, and other independent consultants. But you don't necessarily want them to be too closely aligned with any particular resource. Too close of an affiliation with a limited or large company can indicate too much influence and/or dependence.

On the other hand, having a close relationship with other independents or partners shows the ability to forge a partnership, and enables an independent to bring the force of several alliances to bear on your situation. Just be wary of taking advice from those who are more affiliated with one alliance partner or company than any other. Such a consultant might be more influenced by that relationship than you realize.

Experience Across Industries

Business technology consultants focus on enterprise and integration issues. Having experience in multiple industries gives a consultant access to a broader range of solutions, to be applied to your situation. Over the years, experienced consultants develop a toolkit of approaches and solutions they have experienced in many different situations. The broader the experience, the richer the consultants toolkit.

Orientation and Education

It would be oversimplifying to expect that your consultant could make everything you need to know come clear to you immediately. But, not all of it is ineffable and mysterious either. A good consultant acts as a guide to the often confusing, sometimes treacherous, terrain of information technology. You should expect support in orienting yourself to that terrain, an inside guide to how the system works, as well as training and technology transfer for the individual members of your team.

Variety of Communications Models

You operate every day in a variety of communications modes: visual, narrative, verbal, email, phone, and face to face transactions. Although most people have a preferred mode of communicating, it's an inflexible consultant who can only use one or two mediums. Look for an advisor who is comfortable transacting in most mediums, especially the ones you prefer.

Ability to Act as Translator

If you've ever traveled to places where the culture is decidedly different, you learn the value of having a good guide and translator to help you find your way around and help you communicate with the locals. A seasoned traveler, like a seasoned consultant, doesn't get lost in the changing cultural domains, and knows how to concentrate on finding the common ground between people coming from sometimes vastly different points of view. A good consultant can help you communicate with the natives—those coming from a different viewpoint within or outside of your organization.