Technology Consultant
Technology Consultant
A Technology Consultant is an expert in the field of IT Services & Solutions that accesses the whole company’s IT Infrastructure. This is a must for any business and especially for a start-up company or a small organization. The IT Consultant should have expertise within the areas of Managed IT, Automation, Backup and Recovery and Productivity Loss.
What is a Technology Consultant
Hiring a Technology consultant can help guide your company’s future growth. Whether it’s finding the right hardware, software, integrations, deployment or support services for the organization.
As stated above in the first paragraph, a ‘technology consultant’ is an expert in the field of IT Services & Solutions that accesses the whole company’s IT Infrastructure. Again, the consultant should have expertise within the areas of Managed IT, Automation, Backup and Recovery and Productivity Loss.
Basically speaking, a consultant should be able to access the whole company to offer guidance and advice within the areas of improving workflow, productivity, profit and creating a better experience for staff and customers. Ultimately, saving the company money in terms of business automation, avoiding compliance issues, fines, and litigation.
How Consulting Services work
As a technology consultant, the goal is to inform companies of how to use their IT practices to achieve their business objectives. To do that, a technology consultant is also going to manage and implement strategies. IT consulting services can range from creating a technology to managing a system of processes for a client.
Take a look at the graph to the left, basically speaking, a consultant will examine each area and the deficiencies in the organization. They will broadly look at such areas as Managed IT, Automation, Backup and Recovery and Productivity Loss.
Then the consultant will advise the company on what is needed immediately, in the near future and as the organization continues to expand, what will eventually be applied. Further, a consultant may or may not be the person to do changes but he or she will connect you to the appropriate person.
Why & When to Hire a Technology Consultant
There will be times that new IT capabilities need to be implemented for a company to stay competitive. It is a habit with small organizations to ask friends and acquaintances who are tech savvy for advice. At first glance, it makes sense because the company is trying to lower it’s costs. The issue nowadays is that IT is a very broad industry. For example, a programmer is not a IT tech and vice versa. A small business needs a qualified technology consultant who has the skills to access all of the IT infrastructure. Now, the consultant may not be the person making all the changes to the organization. But, he or she will advise and help find the qualified individuals to get the job done.
Furthermore, technology consultants can be valuable allies who help identify needs, find potential service providers, help plan and manage the project. Smaller businesses without skilled IT management can bring this expertise in-house temporarily for specific projects by hiring IT consultants.
Hiring a consultant is an investment. Moreover, it’s tempting to cut costs by talking directly to service providers without input from a consultant. After all, quality service providers will gather requirements, plan the project, and manage it, so why spend more money to have a consultant do the same thing? Though a service provider and a consultant may indeed duplicate roles, they do so with distinctly different perspectives.
Difference Between an IT Consultant & Service Provider
A consultant advocates for the best interests of the client. A service provider will act in its own interest, and that may result in higher project costs or solutions that you don’t need. An IT Consultant plays a vital role to ensure that the service provider delivers what the client needs. Not necessarily what the provider wants to deliver.
Finding a Qualified Consultant
Despite the obvious benefits of retaining a Technology Consultant, finding one who’s qualified isn’t easy. You are looking for an IT leader and not a programmer with HTML, CSS or Java capabilities. With that in mind, here are four traits you should try to find in your Technology Consultant:
- Business savvy
- Translating business needs into technical requirements
- Vendor assessment capabilities
- Project management skills (if you don’t want to rely on the service provider)
Being business savvy and being able to translate business needs into technical needs are critical to making strategic IT decisions. A business-savvy IT person understands issues like return on investment, cost management, revenue generation, and marketing. Having the ability to identify potential service providers and evaluate their ability to successfully complete the project is not to be looked over either. By getting a technology consultant to help out, the business can more safely move forward on an IT project when IT is not a strategic component of the organization.
Lets Wrap this Up…
Wow! This was a lot of information and thank you by the way for hanging in there as it may cause information overload. I am joking by the way but it is important for you not to overwhelm yourself. Lets do a brief review, remember, A Technology Consultant is an expert in the field of IT Services & Solutions that accesses the whole company’s IT Infrastructure. This is a must for any business and especially for a start-up company or a small organization. The Technology Consultant should have expertise within the areas of Managed IT, Automation, Backup and Recovery and Productivity Loss.
Furthermore, thanks again for taking your time and gaining some knowledge about IT Consulting. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us with a no-obligation chat. You can contact us here or give us a direct call to start with Technology Consulting for your business goals.
