Does your business contract an IT consultant? If your business is large enough to have an IT department, it probably doesn't. If it is a smaller business, you probably still don't. But in either case it's something you need to consider.

There are a number of reasons why businesses need IT consultants and I'm constantly trying to get them across to the management types I meet with. Whether you are needing to cut expenses from the corporate budget or you need to make paperwork more efficient, a good consultant can get you closer to your goals than you'll ever get on your own.

Don't let people talk over your head

One of the most irritating things I deal with in the IT industry is the way the tech-heads try to talk in circles around managers, spitting out every acronym and piece of technical jargon they can muster while knowing full well that the manager isn't getting it. About the only thing that trumps this in my mind is the fact that managers continue to let it happen.

It's understandable that not all people in management positions, if any, will be educated in the use of technology. Even when some are, keeping current simply isn't going to be a priority when they already have duties to take care of.

This is one place where a consultant can come in and help your business out. Consultants aren't like the tech-heads; they are great communicators and educators who can help you understand the options you are looking at. Even better, they are experts at doing that without making you feel dumb. Independent consultants know what it's like running a business and will show you the kind of respect you deserve.

The more minds, the better

Even if you have an IT staff, the more minds you can bring into a scenario, the more solutions you can come up with. In the business world, decisions aren't always yes or no, as many choices need to be finessed and tweaked to get the optimal results.

When it comes to IT decisions, it often works the same way. Get a staff with all the A+, MCSE, MCSA, and any other certificates you want but not every problem is going to be worked out by following a standard troubleshooting road map.

In particular, not every problem requires a reaction. The IT staff is there to fix things and keep them running, but preemption requires a bit of creative thought that they don't have the time to concern themselves with. An independent consultant is in a much better position to evaluate your current implementations.

Inherent conflicts of interest

One of the biggest mistakes I've seen businesses make is that they are getting so-called consulting in the wrong places. I think this is a result of misunderstandings of what consultants are there for and what consulting even means.

What I usually see in a medium-sized business is management presenting a need to a local IT business's representative who then states a solution and price. Incidentally, any time you are getting a solution, the odds are you aren't dealing with a consultant but a salesperson. A true consultant will present you alternative courses of action along with estimates in both costs and labor hours.

If you were shopping for a new car, would you expect a Chevy dealer to tell you that a similar Ford model would be cheaper than the one you are eying and would offer more of the options you want? Of course not. So don't expect the same out of IT salespeople.

Preferably, a consultant should not be the same person selling you the goods you'll need for a given solution. I can't count the number of times I've seen companies throwing down $5000-$10,000 for a simple file server because the so-called consultant presented only Windows-based solutions when a Linux-based solution could have been seamlessly implemented for under $1000.

As common as it is for salespeople to call themselves "consultants," it simply isn't an accurate portrayal of what they are doing. Any time you are selling a product, you have an inherent conflict of interest and can't expect unbiased opinions. This fact is even more pronounced than usual in IT because most managers will not have the expertise that they are expected to have in other areas of business.

Independent views

Again, even if you have an IT staff you still need a consultant for at least a few tasks. If for no other reason, you need one because he or she isn't employed by you. If that sounds counterintuitive, allow me to explain.

No matter how fair you are as a manager, your staff will always keep in mind who you are. There are times where your IT managers aren't going to be completely upfront with you either for fear of contradicting you or the risk of damaging the image of the IT department in your eyes. It will work the same for them with their staff, as they don't want to cross their immediate bosses.

When you hire an outside, independent consultant, you get a level of honesty that you can never truly assume you are getting from the IT department. Even though a consultant wants to keep you happy as a client, he or she lives and dies by maintaining his or her professional integrity. Even if it's bad news, good consultants will tell you because keeping it a secret will hurt them in the long run by damaging their credibility and reputation among businesses.

Besides, your consultant isn't comfortably living on a salary you provide. That makes him or her a bit more assertive than the average IT employee, as it is more in the consultant's interest to point things out to you that your staff might prefer to ignore.

Conclusion

There's no rule that says you can only have one consultant. After all, the nature of independent contracting is that either party can terminate the relationship at any time with adequate notice, so you can't afford to marry yourself to a single IT consultant forever.

Having said that, a positive relationship between you and any consultant is of paramount importance. After all, you are empowering an outsider to influence the decisions you make for your own business. If this isn't someone you can trust, then you are throwing your money away. Although this "relationship" aspect of business is often lost in the commonly impersonal IT world, it's one that a good consultant will try to emphasize and maintain.

Now I've used the phrase "good consultant" several times in this article and maybe you are wondering just what makes an IT consultant "good." Here's a hint: it's the same things that make any consultants good. Good IT consultants are all about helping people solve problems – they just happen to use technology to make it happen.