How to Choose a Software Development Supplier. 8 Characteristics of the Best Software Development Consultancies

Transcription

1 How to Choose a Software Development Supplier 8 Characteristics of the Best Software Development Consultancies Kynetix Technology Group 2012

2 INTRODUCTION As an executive with responsibility for I.T. you are often faced with the decision of whether to bring in an outside consultancy to help with a project or to assist with your resourcing issues. These days, with easy access to the Internet, it s relatively straight-forward to find an I.T. consultancy. But how do you identify which one to take on? And how can you be sure that they will have the skills you need? Most importantly, how can you be sure that they will deliver to your requirements, cost effectively and without trying to sell you lots of services you don t need? Based on over 30 years of experience in I.T. working on both sides of the fence (corporate and consultancy) we ve identified a number of the key attributes and characteristics that the best consultancies have. So rather than choosing a consultancy randomly we would suggest that you use these characteristics as a way to objectively identify the right one for you. THE 7 CHARACTERISTICS TO LOOK FOR 1. A SATISFIED CLIENT LIST SPANNING MANY YEARS Has the consultancy remained in business over a number of years and retained their clients over long periods? In boom times consultancies can spring up almost overnight. In times like these there is often so much business about that a consultancy can move from client to client without establishing a track record of success. However when the market heads south then that s when these consultancies get found out as they have no solid client base to work with. In the early 2000 s in the aftermath of the dot-com crash many so called new media consultancies went bust. They had not built a sustainable business that was able to withstand the leaner times ahead. Consultancies that survive these market cycles must clearly be doing something right. When the markets are down then it becomes very difficult to find new business. To be able to survive these cycles they must have built long-term relationships with clients who continue to call on their services, albeit usually with reduced budgets. Assuming the clients are not tied in, for example by a long-term outsourcing contract, then the only real reason that they will retain a consultancy is because they have proved themselves and because they continue to deliver value to the organisation. This one characteristic will also serve as a litmus test for other attributes such as integrity and trust. If a consultancy can retain clients over long periods then these attributes will have been tested by these clients. It is highly unlikely that a consultancy could retain clients if they were dishonest, had poor integrity or failed to meet their commitments. Kynetix Technology Group 2012 Page: 2

3 2. NO HARD SELL Here s a dictionary definition: Consultancy: noun 1. a company that gives specialist advice on a particular subject: Note that the definition doesn t say a pushy company that tries to sell you things you don t want or need. It s paradoxical if a consultancy tries a hard-sell approach. The very nature of consulting is that it should be done on a mutually beneficial basis. If a consultancy tries to pressure a prospect or client to buy then they have lost their objectivity and are only focussed on their own targets. No right-thinking consultancy would employ the sort of people who operate like this. The nature of consultancy is that work will ebb and flow with any given client, or set of clients, based on the client s business cycles, their budgets, their deadlines etc. No amount of pressure from a consultancy will change that fact and yet some will still try to use highpressure sales techniques. The best consultancies will only employ consultative people people who want to work with their clients in a cooperative environment where they offer advice and skills that are beneficial to the client. There is one, and only one, reason why a consultancy should be in business to add value to their clients businesses. Everything else, growth, revenues, profits etc should be a byproduct of that single mission. 3. INTEGRITY Integrity is a hard characteristic to uncover when you first meet people. It can really only be measured over time when you ve seen how people react in different situations and how true they stay to their core values. As mentioned above, a good sign of integrity in a consultancy is when they have retained clients over a long period. It is fairly certain that over longer periods these clients will have seen situations where the consultancy demonstrated its integrity. Some proof-points that you can seek out include looking for examples where the consultancy has turned down work that it wasn t suitable for or where they recommended a course of action that brought no reward to them. In situations like these a good consultancy will put more value on its integrity than on winning another piece of business. 4. THEY CARE ABOUT THE SERVICE THEY DELIVER One thing boutique consultancies can bring to the table is a level of care and service that is often missing from the larger consultancies. In the small to medium-sized consultancies there is often a close involvement between clients and directors of the consultancy. Kynetix Technology Group 2012 Page: 3

4 This close involvement of a director as the account manager ensures that the client is getting the highest levels of commitment from the consultancy. It will also help ensure that continuity is maintained during the course of the relationship. When directors of the consultancy are engaged with the client then they have direct responsibility for ensuring the success of the project(s) they are working on. The directors are also the torch-bearers for the other aspects of the consultancy their values, their integrity etc. It also demonstrates to the client that the work is important to the consultancy. Advantages for the client include the knowledge that they are getting access to the best people combined with the ability to get issues quickly addressed at the highest levels. 5. THEY KNOW THEIR LIMITATIONS Fact: No consultancy can be good at everything. What s important is that the consultancy acknowledges its limitations and is up-front and honest about its capabilities for a given task or project. The best consultancies don t need to take on every project that might come their way. What should matter more is that they value success and the client relationship above short-term revenue gains. In the longer term this leads to a build-up of trust between the client and the consultancy which then leads to more business. Look for examples of situations where the consultancy admitted their lack of expertise in an area or where they recommended another course of action which would mean they wouldn t gain any business. 6. THEY ARE FLEXIBLE Consultancy by its very nature is not always a full-on, straight-line activity. Sometimes all a client needs is a few hours of help. Sometimes they need months of help. Either requirement shouldn t phase the best consultancies. From the smallest requirement to big enterprise projects a top consultancy should be willing to adapt to the clients needs. And all this should be possible without the client having to provide formal commitment. The best consultancies will also provide their clients with all manner of help from the leadingedge projects to the mundane simple tasks. Whether it s implementing a global CRM system or whether it s a few hours work sorting out issues with an Excel spreadsheet, these are all part and parcel of good client/consultancy relationships. Kynetix Technology Group 2012 Page: 4

5 7. THEY WORK TO PROTECT YOUR BUDGETS All I.T. projects have their peaks and troughs of activity. There are times when a consultant can t proceed because of things beyond their control. Sometimes the right internal people aren t available to enable the consultant to make progress. Sometimes a project hits a block point, maybe because of dependencies on other people. In situations like this it can prove very expensive for a client to keep paying for a consultant, or team of consultants. The best consultancies will always offer to stand their people down in such situations in order to preserve the client s budget. Alternatively they will look to redeploy their resources on to other tasks that can be progressed. Too many bad consultancies have earned reputations for piling people on to projects and squeezing their clients for every last penny. This is the worst sort of myopic thinking. Bringing in projects on time and budget should be the mantra by which a consultancy should live. The best consultancies will respect their clients budgets as if they were their own and do everything possible to protect them. 8. THEY ARE PRAGMATIC AND NOT TECHNOLOGY-OBSESSED In the real-world few organisations can afford to be always up-to-date with the latest whizbang technologies. Most companies have refresh cycles that stretch over a number of years. So the best consultants have to be pragmatic and will often have to work with technologies that may be one or two steps behind the curve. For business user s there s nothing worse than being constantly pushed into new technologies that have no perceivable benefit to them. They real skill of the best consultants is in providing solutions that are soundly based on business logic whilst using the best technology available to each client environment. At the same the consultant also has to be fully conversant with the latest advances and be able to recommend new technologies that bring real benefit. The other skill that the consultancy has to apply is in the area of recruitment. They must ensure that their people are first and foremost motivated by helping their clients achieve real business change regardless of the technology in use. Kynetix Technology Group specialise in designing and building custom business applications that operate across mobile, cloud and web platforms. We shorten the time to market for new systems by using Agile development techniques to deliver solutions within tight timescales. Kynetix Technology Group 2012 Page: 5