Middletown, CT, February 25, 2003 - In these days of a tight economy, companies are looking for new ways to save money and many times that involves automating a business process or updating an existing computer system. Inevitably, building or updating those systems means taking on a consultant to help navigate the myriad of technology choices available.

"One of the biggest challenges of hiring a consultant is getting the most out of their time. If companies mismanage their time with a consultant, the company can easily end up wasting money, when the point all along was to save money," says Terry Bomberger, a Principal Solutions Developer for Pinnacle Decision Systems in Middletown, Connecticut. Pinnacle provides consulting and software development services to clients. "There are a number of simple steps that companies should take to make sure that they are getting the most out of their consultant's time."

Bomberger and his co-worker Richard Oliva, a Senior Solutions Developer with Pinnacle, have created what they call their "Consultant Check List" for companies that want to optimize their time with a consultant.

• Treat Consultants Like Employees: "In order for the developer relationship to work correctly, the company should treat the developer more like an employee and less like an outsider," says Bomberger. "One of our long-term clients has always done that and the result has been a fantastic relationship. We are always invited to team building exercises and almost always invited to departmental meetings. This adds to the context of what is going on around the consultant on many levels. However, there is a fine line between having someone as a consultant and someone as an employee, especially when it comes to the IRS. My advice is to develop an employee-like relationship, that doesn't cross that line."
  
  

• Give Developers Access to Buildings and Equipment: "You don't know how many times I have seen consultants get hung up because the company that hires them hasn't given them complete access to their systems, facilities or people," says Oliva. "I once had a coworker try to fix a problem on a Saturday and the security pass that the company gave him didn't let him in the building. This is even though the company had promised that it was a 24/7 pass. While this is a pretty black and white example, this kind of thing happens more often than you think."

  Oliva says he's had days when he's came in early, hoping to get some work done and a client's computer network wouldn't let him log in. He's had to wait up to two hours to get access to computers that he needed to start work.

  On the flip side, Bomberger says one of his clients has shown that if you can't give access or equipment you can still make it work. This particular client didn't have workspace or adequate equipment available in its facilities for Bomberger and his team to do the work needed on the project. So the client allowed Bomberger's team to telecommute, allowing the productivity to increase. And since Bomberger's team was able to use its own equipment, the client saved additional funds.
  
  

• Give Them Access To the Right People: "Most of our clients don't want us talking directly to their customers which can cause difficulties," says Oliva. "Remember the 'telephone game' in elementary school where people passed one message to the other in a circle? Then you'll also remember that by the time the message got through the filter of people, it was completely different. This is what often happens in the business world. By allowing your consultant to talk directly to your customers, you remove the filter and let the consultant have direct access to information."

  Bomberger adds that this also holds true for giving consultants access to people who need to make decisions. By restricting the consultant's access to decision makers, the consultant can be left waiting while corporate politics are played out. Bomberger says it will benefit a company to have the consultant answer to someone who has the authority to make decisions.
  
  

• Restrict Access to the Wrong People: "Consultants should be able to concentrate on doing their job and not have to spend time chit chatting with other people in the office about the weekend games," says Bomberger. "This is especially important if the consultant is doing some programming, because it takes a long time to get into the programming groove. While most companies give their consultants a desk in 'cubical land' along with all of the other employees, I think it's a bad idea. Because pretty soon, they will be drawn into personal conversations. While it's important to keep the lines of communication open between the consultant and the employees, it's also important to remember that you need to allow the consultant to concentrate on their work."

  Oliva adds that he's felt the struggle firsthand when working at a client office. The people he's working near ask him to go out for a long lunch, but he can't because he's on the consultant clock. If he does ultimately decide to go out, he says he has to make it a point to come in early the next day and be obvious about it so that the client knows.
  
  

• Are They a Teacher? "Many times a consultant will be brought in and other employees will come up to that consultant asking for advice on technology issues not related to the project," says Oliva. "While that may be fine in some cases, it's just another way to waste your consultant's time. I think it's good to have some knowledge transfer between the consultant and the employees, but the company should predetermine that. Many times a consultant will help get a project started and then will have some sort of mentoring project to train the staff. However, along the way there are bound to be employees who see the consultant as the 'guru' who can give free technical advice. The question is, does the company want that happening or not."
  
  
• Bring in the Consultant at the Right Time: "The consultant relationship works best when they are able to stay busy working," says Oliva. "I've experienced contracts where we were called in and on the first day we were working on our assignments and getting the job done. I've also been in situations where I've been brought in as much as three months too early and was stuck reading manuals until the company decided on what I needed to do. The sooner a consultant can get to work, the more cost effective the relationship is."
  
  
• Know What you Want From the Consultant: "An easy way to waste time is to call in a consultant and start them working on solving a problem, only to call them back in four days saying that you've changed the goals of the project," says Bomberger. "If this happens once you think it's a just a mistake. But if it occurs more frequently than that and we could be talking about a lot of time being wasted. It's important for a company to have a clear plan for the future before it bothers calling in the big guns."
  
  
• Make Time for The Consultant: "The consultant can not do a great job for you if they work in a vacuum. This means you have to make time in your schedule to meet face-to-face with them," says Oliva. "Many times the consultant may be working on a problem and they won't be in the same building as their client. In some cases it's a matter of a short drive, other times it's a long flight. I've had cases where I'm working on a project and had been having problems and a face-to-face meeting cured all of the issues with a short meeting. Don't just hire a consultant and think they can fix the problems without your input. You'll find optimization of your relationship will depend upon how much time you can devote to the project yourself."
  
  
• Open to New Ideas: "One of the reasons why people hire consultants is because they are supposed to be the 'hired guns,' coming in to fix the problems that no one else can fix. Because of this, the consultant may have ideas that go against the traditional way of thinking," says Bomberger. "Some of our clients go out of their way to encourage us to offer dissent. They realize that part of our job is to offer new ways to tackle problems. Companies that fight change will end up wasting time and money because they aren't letting the consultants do their job. Companies need to accept the 'outside the box' thinking and put faith in the fact that they have hired the consultants because they need outside thoughts."