Technology consulting is the pervasive discipline, because technology enables almost all business activities in most organisations across all sectors and industries. Technology simply touches everything that we use and do.
Technology consulting skills are very broad, ranging from business focused (e.g. developing an IT strategy) through to highly technical (e.g. designing real-time communications services). The most popular, or common, technology consulting projects are positioned towards the business-focused end of this spectrum. The projects highlighted below range from dealing with strategic topics, through tactical matters to operational projects with a technical focus but a robust business rationale.
Technology consulting projects
Common technology consulting projects at the strategic level include:
- Business cases for investments in technology … monitor as investment proceeds.
- IT architecture and infrastructure designs and implementation … mission critical for highly technology dependent organisations.
- IT governance policies and procedures … governance needs and structures must change as implementation proceeds through the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle).
- IT security policies and procedures … mission critical for all organisations.
- Strategic IT sourcing of new technology … a proven methodology is the key.
- Technology strategy, design … IT strategy must align with business and not the other way round.
At the tactical level, typical areas of focus are:
- Application portfolio rationalisation … applications have a ‘use-by’ date … enforce it.
- Disaster recovery / business continuity planning ... essential plans … test them.
- Hosting / cloud services
- IT planning and review
- Systems integration
- Technology migration
And these are two operational projects with a robust business rationale:
- Telecommunications design, planning … constant advances in telecommunications alone could deliver an acceptable project ROI.
- Unified communications … constant advances in telecommunications plus the availability of multiple mobile technologies could also deliver an acceptable project ROI.
What to look for in a technology consultant
Proven technical skills matching your specific technical requirement are essential. At the strategic level, the ability to align IT with the business is important. At the tactical and operational levels, your technology consultant must be able to understand what the business is trying to achieve.
And finally, change management may come into the technology equation, because of the ‘high touch’ between your people and technology. Visit our Change Management page for more information.
If you are ready to speak to a technology consultant for your needs, select the "Technology" category in our quick online wizard.