How do companies make decisions about which technology platform they should be on? What are the critical points in the decision making process? How can they spot a consultant who is not likely to guide them down the right path? I've worked with a few firms lately who's existing consulting firms have attempted to guide them down a dead end path. Why would they do this?
My focus for this series of blogs is about simplicity. On the surface it seems that staying focused on one particular technology for resolving a particular technology issue would be the simplest path. For instance: Choosing Microsoft Exchange and Outlook as the only way to provide email and calendar sharing. Well, it is for the consultant. But not for the customer. It's easier for the consultant to learn and promote one product line very well and promote its benefits to their customers. Its complicated to create an evolving suite of solutions from a variety of products that give the customer the customer high quality solutions that fit their business process and stage of growth.
I would argue that this will ultimately offer the customer the simplest solutions. This is because the customer will know when their is a fit in terms of product features and price. This makes the solution simple.....easy to understand and move forward with. It's the consultants job to bring a variety of solutions that make the decision easier for the customer and also fit into the long term plan provided by the consultant.
Sometimes I get brought in late in the game. By that point the client is very frustrated that they have been brought down a dead end path. Sometimes it is a tough pill to swallow but it is worth it. Usually its not as tough as it looks up front. Lately we've been able to help customers make this jump by moving them to the cloud. So the capital costs are far less than they used to be.
Thanks for reading. Many blessings to your path.
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