When you need support, guidance or an objective perspective on your project, setting up a partnership with a reputable technology consultancy can be a cost-effective way to get the answers and results you need. Be it a systems update or implementation, security challenge, Cloud migration, emergency scenario, or even just ongoing technical advice and strategic guidance, sometimes you just need an outside set of eyes.
Technology consultancies, like Fruition Consulting, operate by guiding your business in developing and executing IT roadmaps deliver both transformation and enhanced digital capability. Service delivery is handled by teams of experienced experts, giving end-users access to industry and tech-stack specific knowledge and insight.
Organisations big and small engage technology consultancies’ services every day, however, it can be challenging to know where to start when you partner with a consultancy. While no two consultancies have the same approach, we have outlined what good looks like and what you can expect to achieve from a strong partnership.
How to get the best results from working with consultants
When you work with a technology consultancy, their team bring a wealth of knowledge, experience, and industry insight to the table. Good technology consultancies will sit down with you at the very beginning of the engagement for a thorough discovery phase where the full requirements of your tech stack, implementation or migration are assessed against your business goals, current systems, and processes to create a detailed roadmap. This is an invaluable step in the process as consultancies usually have an objective stance on your project and can suggest how an effective route or outcome can be achieved without internal politics, preference for legacy systems or any change-averse attitudes impacting decision-making processes. They should come to you with relevant insight on your markets, geographically relevant trends, skills accessibility and recommend a sustainable and maintainable course of action.
Ensuring both parties understand the goals and objectives of the project is essential in the early stages of the engagement and should be completed in the initial project scope meetings. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, get clarification and justification for their suggestions on their service so you know exactly why they may have a different outlook on the project from you, where their assertions come from and their relevance to your unique needs.
From there, you can continue to lay the foundations for a successful project with open communication, flexibility, and good facilitation.
How to facilitate and manage a consultancy partnership in four easy steps:
1. Ensure everything is ready prior to project commencement
Understanding who will be working with you on your project, how many consultants, what their areas of expertise are and what internal support they may need from you is important. Create a list of documents, company information, security access, passwords, etc. they will need when the statement of work starts. This will mean they can start delivering straight away and provides you with records for compliance purposes.
2. Set clear expectations and KPIs
At the beginning of the project, communicate your expectations, take the time to listen to the consultant team you’re working with and understand the project roadmap. By doing this through a mutual exchange of ideas and clarifications, you will be able to create realistic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track the project’s success.
Having a clear idea of where you ideally want your project to go and being aligned with your consultant team on this is a great first step, but it’s important to remain flexible to any unforeseen variables and how they might impact the project. As an experienced technology consultancy, we know from experience that a truly agile approach will ensure you get the right results in the most efficient way possible. Legacy systems and complexities, licensing issues and much more can all come out of the woodwork further down the line and can impact project delivery if you can’t adapt and change. It’s important to stay in communication with your consultancy and their project team for real-time updates and to solve any problems.
3. Set up communication lines between stakeholders and associates
Consultancies don’t work on projects in isolation. Not only do they deploy bespoke teams of subject specialists, but those consultants may also need support from an internal team seconded onto the project for a set amount of time. This typically means a web of stakeholders invested in the progress of the project.
4. Be proactive in your responsibilities
If you’ve set up your consultancy partnership with transparent communication systems and a flexible approach, their teams will be able to manage your project well. But what can still impact project delivery is delayed sign offs or approvals from the end-client. Be proactive and ensure you’re not causing any roadblocks!
See, efficient project delivery for digital transformation isn’t too difficult! Set up a partnership with us today
Fruition Consulting provides the digital expertise you need to help your business thrive. With an extensive associate network of 200+ specialists, we put some of the best tech talent in the country at your disposal, our mission is to help you unlock the power of technology and get set for future growth. We will support and guide you on that journey, find solutions to whatever challenges you face and make the complex straightforward.
Get in touch to find out more.
