Apr
05
Looking for a Great IT VAR or Consultant? Culture Is the Key.
Filed Under (Industry Observation) by Jamal Rahal (see bio)
 

Have you ever been burned by a service provider who promised great service but didn’t deliver? You’re not alone. Especially in the IT world, where virtually every company has a story about a consulting engagement gone wrong.

So what makes an IT service provider great? Are there specific things that the best service providers do to delight their clients? Are there things that you, as a client, can demand? Or is great service something you only know when you see it?

We came upon the answer when we conducted a reference check with a company we’ll call “Midco”—a midsize, US-based distributor of consumer products that had hired a consultant firm to handle its SAP implementation.

The project turned out to be so successful that when Midco filled out our reference check questionnaire, they gave the consultant some of the most effusive praise we’ve ever seen.

To find out what was driving all that excitement, we sat down with Midco’s chief financial officer (CFO), whom we’ll call “Bob,” a former consultant and veteran of several major software implementations.

Bob was happy to talk about what made this consultant so remarkable, and over the course of our conversation, he kept coming back to the same five things.

Setting the Tone at the Top

Right from the start, Bob said, the consultant firm’s senior management was deeply involved in the project. They worked hard to understand Midco’s business, and establish the scope and objectives of the project so they could put together the right team.

When one of the consultants proved to be a poor fit, senior management replaced him immediately without charging Midco for the replacement’s ramp-up time. At one point, the firm’s owner even stepped into the project manager role to keep the implementation on track.

According to Bob, that level of commitment at the top sets the tone for the rest of the organization. And it sets this consultant apart from those whose senior managers rarely, if ever, dive into the details of a project.

Understanding the Client. Really.

Another thing that set Midco’s consultants apart was their commitment to fully understanding Midco’s business. Many consultants, Bob said, push a set of “best practices” in the hopes that the client will conform. But Midco’s consultant didn’t do that.

Instead, they worked closely with Midco’s project team to figure out which business processes were a good fit for Midco, and which would need to be customized. When it became clear that Midco would need specific custom functionality, the consultant tracked down a developer who could deliver it and brought him onto the project team at no charge to Midco.

In the end, having a consultant that understood the business helped Midco cushion the “culture shock” that Bob says often accompanies an SAP implementation.

Becoming Part of the Team

Something we heard over and over from Bob was that the consultant’s team became a part of the Midco team. They worked closely with Midco employees, getting to know their core strengths, holding joint team-building exercises, and sharing in the successes and setbacks that are part of any large IT project.

By creating the sense that both companies were in it together, the consultant turned Midco’s team into engaged advocates for the new system—paving the way for the kind widespread user adoption that is the mark of a successful implementation.

Delivering on Commitments

Enterprise software implementations are notorious for cost overruns, major delays, and other horror stories. We’ve all heard about a one-year project that’s now in year five. So imagine how refreshing it was to hear that Midco’s implementation was completed on time and on budget, without any compromises, in under a year!

Midco’s consultant really stands out here for the simple fact of having done what they said they were going to do when they said they were going to do it.

Following Up

According to Bob, even though Midco hasn’t done any major business with the consultant since the SAP implementation went live, the two companies maintain a close relationship. The consultant’s managing director visits Midco roughly once a month just to make sure that the system is running smoothly and still meeting all of Midco’s needs. When problems crop up, the consultant fixes them immediately. In other words, Midco’s consultant has created the kind of long term partnership between consultant and client that you hear about often, but rarely see.

Great Service is about Culture

Boil Midco’s experience down to its essence and you’ll realize that the consultant provided a truly excellent service by understanding their client, committing to the project, keeping promises, and following up. In other words it’s not about methodology or technological know-how—it’s about a genuine commitment to excellence.

What Midco’s consultant has done is develop the culture of excellence that nearly every consulting firm pays lip service to, but few actually achieve. Consultant Web sites are awash with promises to “understand your business” and become a “partner” for your company. So why do so many client stories paint a different picture?

It’s Everyone’s Fault

Creating a culture of excellence is hard. Consultants need to show the same level of commitment and dedication that Midco’s consultant showed. They need to show it all the time. And it needs to be rooted in principles that the whole organization actually believes in.

But the sad truth is that if clients don’t demand better service from consultants, consultants aren’t going to deliver it. There’s a lot of money to be made by firms who go after clients with low expectations, and each new implementation horror story sets those expectations lower still. It takes a special kind of firm, like the one Midco hired, to set high standards without being asked.

But until Midco’s consultant is the rule rather than the exception, you can’t count on great service from your consultant unless you demand it.

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Comments

Andy on 8 April, 2012 at 1:45 pm #

So true we need to be the exception


John Kohos on 8 April, 2012 at 6:36 pm #

Thanks for saying it so succinctly. We’ve offered that culture for more than a decade, resisting temptations to indulge in a quick-buck race to the bottom. And we paid a price. For awhile.

But our message resonated and people came back when the shortcuts and clever stories failed to pan out and the costs began to mount.

Our challenge today is finding staff, not customers.


Jenn on 8 April, 2012 at 11:31 pm #

Any suggestions for consultants on how to find quality, dedicated staffing (contractors) to build your business?


Hossam El Cheikh on 9 April, 2012 at 2:30 am #

Being in theIT service delivery services for more than 30 years locally in Egypt as well as abroad with multinational Co’s I can summarize it as follows:
“Delivering Quality Services is through balancing Customers’ expectations and perceptions.”


Jamal Rahal on 10 April, 2012 at 11:01 am #

@John: I’d like to hear more about how your company was able to resist the “race to the bottom.” How did you stick to your principles when you were paying the highest price.

Drop me a line here: if you’re interested:

http://www.technologyevaluation.com/about-tec/contact-us/editing-and-publications-3/

@Jenn: Stay tuned for an upcoming post on the subject.

@Hossam: That’s certainly part of it, but customers who’ve been burned by consultants have pretty low expectations. Consultants need to exceed expectations until the bar gets a bit higher.


Nicole on 13 April, 2012 at 1:03 am #

I agree with @John. Finding the right staff is a challenge. Often bad experiences have been with the “new generation” consultants who lack the “old school” work philosophy. Education systems are not adequately preparing learners and students for the “real” business world.

How do we get them to understand that the customer is ultimately paying for a service and they have made the commitment to deliver? They have very little understanding of consequence, or maybe the customer or management is no longer enforcing consequence to their actions or lack thereof.


John Kohos on 15 April, 2012 at 3:27 am #

@jamal: @Nicole: @Jenn

Since you asked…

Resisting the race to the bottom starts by choosing to be the very best and knowing that you can sincerely make the world a better place. But the process has to start at home where you need to know who you are and realize that your people are the greatest asset you will ever have, after your own commitment.

If you want to know how a company will treat its customers, find out how it treats its own employees.

In our case, our 14 people (so far) have a full kitchen that we stock with fresh groceries once or twice a week. There is a pool table in our boardroom, a place to drive golf balls in the office and an electric motorcycle and other toys for anybody who wants to bring their kids to work.

I’ve co-signed mortgages, fixed immigration and legal problems, provided language and professional training, baby-sat children. Whatever my employees need, because these are the people who make my existence possible and pay for the excellent school my children attend.

Mysteriously, nobody complains about working late or taking a call on the weekend.

On the other side, prospective clients who won’t pay our rates can have our help for free. We’re a phone call away and we dispense our advice generously. So we aren’t holding anything for ransom. It only costs money if you actually want us to do the work. Thankfully, those who can pay eventually put themselves in our hands and the rest frequently send us referrals.

It’s all about relationships.

Of course, during the recession from 2008 to 2011, I put myself so far in debt, I risked losing everything. But I didn’t lay off a single employee or drop a customer because they couldn’t pay. And nobody even knew I was struggling until it was over. Thank G-d things finally turned around in 2011.

At this point, we are back in the black and our brand is golden, with a seemingly endless list of prospects who want to talk to us. We picked up 4 major deployments in the last 4 weeks alone. So staffing appears to be the new challenge, at least for now.

In that respect, we present Guardian almost as a club with employees (and customers) as “members” It’s an attractive culture for serious people who enjoy what they do. A place to work where they can laugh together while they “own” the tasks that they do.

My job as president then is just to keep the wastebaskets empty, keep the fridge full, and provide a safe and comfortable haven for my magical elves, unencumbered by the laws of gravity and bureaucratic inertia, with challenging projects to keep them excited.

In return, they help me keep the promise I make to every Guardian customer that nothing will interfere with their G-d given right to make money. Simple enough?

But you need to recognize the right people when you meet them. So you need to know who you are looking for, technically and as individuals, because every person you hire will have an impact on your customers and the people who already work with you.

Our method, developed over several years and countless interviews, includes 15 questions we ask every candidate, not necessarily to see what they know, but to see how they respond.

In our business, how somebody addresses what they don’t know can be as important as what they do know. And what they can learn, just during the interview can tell us a lot about their ability to learn overall.

With respect to client expectations, our most recent client (referred by another client) expressed it best when he approved the project with the words, “I can’t wait to experience the ‘Guardian Effect’”. That was quite a buzz.

But it really is all about culture.

In our case, we live by 5 simple imperatives that seem to cover every possible situation. We call them “The 5 Pillars of Guardian”. We’ll probably carve them on tablets someday or something.

1. Guardian is a learning company
2. Guardian is a teaching company
3. Integrity is everything
4. Quality of life is paramount
5. Smile

I apologize for rambling and hope this isn’t too incoherent. It’s after 4:00am and I’m not very good at composing my thoughts in these little comment boxes. But some of you asked questions and I didn’t want anybody to think I was disregarding you.

If anybody cares, my little company can be found at www.guardian.net

Thank you for writing this excellent article Jamal. It needed to be said.


Jamal Rahal on 18 April, 2012 at 9:33 am #

@John: Thanks so much for taking the time to give us such excellent, and detailed feedback. Hope you managed to get some sleep afterwards (4 AM?!?).

A lot of what you’re saying here about building a company culture and retaining top-quality employees dovetails with conversations I’ve been having with out HCM analyst, Sherry Fox.

I’m working on a follow up post and it’s great to have a first-hand account. Thanks again.


Jamal Rahal on 18 April, 2012 at 9:45 am #

@Nicole: Customer focus and poor work ethic are problems everywhere, and it’s not just a generational thing. The internet is full of young startup-ish firms that differentiate themselves by building rock-solid products and using customer satisfaction as an important metric for success.

You can also find examples of older firms that have abandoned customer focus for short-term gains.

I’ve also wondered if schools can do more to prepare students for the business world, but I have a hard time imagining how any curriculum could give students a genuine appreciation of the value of good customer service.


Omar Tikail on 22 April, 2012 at 4:00 am #

In marketing IT solutions,particularly ERP systems the software providers claim that they are offering the best business practice. Most salesmen speak about this point to win contracts and promising what the book says about SAP,Oracle,etc without knowing the complications of implementing these solutions and the various aspects that can hinder the process. According to practical experience in a number of implementations, without the right combination of experienced and dedicated people, any such implementation will drag on, cost a lot of money and fail.


John Kohos on 23 April, 2012 at 11:12 am #

We discourage our customers from making decisions based on the cherry-picked templates and manicured examples featured by salesmen. We encourage them instead to let us deal directly with the engineering and technical staff at the ERP provider to find out what’s really what.

That is where the real answers are, not only about the products, but about the company, because finding out too late that you lack adequate access to qualified technical support on demand is where many implementations go wrong.


Zasady systemu punktowego. on 11 April, 2013 at 8:08 am #

Zasady systemu punktowego….

Looking for a Great IT VAR or Consultant? Culture Is the Key. » The TEC Blog…


ipad3 on 19 April, 2013 at 4:47 pm #

ipad3…

Looking for a Great IT VAR or Consultant? Culture Is the Key. » The TEC Blog…


rosenrod on 17 May, 2013 at 10:11 pm #

rosenrod…

Looking for a Great IT VAR or Consultant? Culture Is the Key. » The TEC Blog…


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