Business Technology Consulting

Is external consultancy expensive?

WCA is in the business of advising companies on how best to use information technology to meet their business objectives. Technology selection and implementation projects should always be concerned with how technology will drive business benefit, both in terms of ROI and in terms of how the business change will lead to increased shareholder value. However, if a specification for the system exists it often doesn’t address these questions, although they are crucial to whether the project is considered a success. We make your projects a success.

Frequently we are required to provide both management consulting services and IT consulting: detailed knowledge on how latest technologies in a variety of areas can drive improved business performance and tangible return on investment. It can be seen that it is not clear where management consulting stops and IT consulting starts.

As discussed here, new technology’s benefit to the business cannot be clear without considering how it will affect existing business processes and systems, and how it should ultimately drive improved shareholder value. Without close reference to and a clear understanding of the business activities which it is meant to support, return on investment is extremely difficult to calculate. A project leadership role often requires skills, experience and time which are unlikely to be found within the business engaged on day to day operations.

Many companies approach us for business technology consulting services when they are clear that technology “should” improve the business but don’t have a clear picture of what a return on investment looks like and don’t see the need for a plan of how to achieve it. This is because the answers to specific questions like exactly what that technology should do, the kind of reporting analytics required, or how it should support or develop the business is running at present all remain unanswered.

We work with clients to help them

understand their situation and how new business process efficiencies - or more sales at better margins – will be found using technology
quantify a sensible value for the improvement technology will bring, in terms of revenue and margin improvement
establish a justifiable budget and timescale for technology to be implemented
manage the changes in business processes as technology is implemented.

You cannot implement technology successfully without a clear understanding of what the existing business processes look like: ultimately this is why so many projects fail.

However, consultancy services have a cost and the temptation may be to cut corners. Trying to select new business technology without this level of detail has several potentially expensive consequences for the business:

You have no idea what constitutes a sensible price for the business benefit expected
Interviews with potential software vendors quickly become a beauty parade of what the supplier wants to show, rather than how they will meet the business need you define
Your requirement may change as vendors different offerings become more confusing
The process takes up large amounts of management time and resources as the vendors chase the now confused business, and in selling their solution to an ill defined problem, confuse you further
As a result, the vendor selection is often made based on nothing more than a gut feel of which vendor the business thinks they can get on with

Often it isn’t until the project has actually started that the business owner starts to understand the detail of what is being delivered. This means that new “must have” functionality is discovered but you are already committed to a supplier, and costs can quickly escalate out of control.

Is it expensive to use business technology consulting services? Without professional help your costs are likely to escalate and your timescales are likely to be longer than planned. It can be seen that detailing system requirements and your business processes is fundamental to managing time, technology costs and ROI.

Many companies approach us for business technology consulting services when they are clear that technology “should” improve the business but don’t have a clear picture of what a return on investment looks like and don’t see the need for a plan of how to achieve it. We create the plan and manage every aspect of the change, thus achieving their business goals.

Our consulting services will save you money by delivering your projects on time and to budget, and delivering the business process change required. Under certain circumstances our project management costs can be capped to a fixed fee based on a defined delivery within a defined timeframe, so everyone knows where they are.