Small Business Consulting

why use a consultant?puzzled?

A few things to think about:

  • Rapid change: The too little time?computer and information market is fast-moving and dynamic and requires a commitment from top management to take advantage of newly available capacities.  Management has little time to devote to understanding this environment and is dependent upon others to stay abreast of beneficial developments.  These other individuals or organizations must have the breadth to understand how technical solutions can fit into specific business requirements.

  • Extra resources: Business pressures to maintain a lean organization mean that existing management overload?staff is fully occupied with its current responsibilities and does not have time to initiate or follow up on improvement projects.  A business that is not constantly improving is dying.  Improvement projects that do not have sufficient dedicated resources committed to them often fail to produce the promised and anticipated results.  Project leadership is the most critical resource.

  • Breadth of experience: There is frequently a “communication gap” between those members of link is broken?management who understand the business and the value of certain kinds of information, and those members of the technical staff who have the technical skills to create and maintain complex information systems.  It is crucial to have a participant in the process with experience in both areas.

  • Professional experience: All businesses have many smaller record-keeping requirements that are currently being met by “ad hoc” methods, dependent upon the experienceold fashioned record-keeping and initiative of the user.  Many, if not most, of these do not have adequate controls over the information and are only as accurate as the ability and dedication of the reviewer dictates, yet the information and how it is used may be extremely important to the business.

  • Specific experience: Information Systems departments properly focus on maintenance and operation of major corporate systems.  They have little time for, experience in, or understanding of development of management-oriented business information systems.

  • dangers around you?Potential hazards: There are a lot of “solutions” available in the marketplace, all of which have a cost and commitment associated with them that are not always clearly spelled out to prospective purchasers.  Poorly understood or poorly implemented solutions can be dangerous to the health of a business.  Effective utilization of a technological solution depends upon how thoroughly management understands the system and how effectively it implements and controls it.

  • Independent perspective: All business decisions have a “political” side to them.  They all affect organizational and power relationships within a business.  It is helpful to have a perspective from outside the internal politics of a business for making significant decisions that affect the health and future of an enterprise.

  • Criticality of issue: Computer resources are a cost of business that no business can avoid.  Not only do they consume significant corporate dollars, the use of computers will have an impact on the business well beyond the size of the investment.  It is critical that this investment be managed wisely and that it be as productive for the business as possible.

  • Comprehensive understanding: “Answers” are dangerous.  Understanding and the process of makingwhen you do it right! decisions are critical.  There are generally no quick answers for substantial problems.  Notwithstanding the need for quick action on occasion, it is important to set a process in motion that management is comfortable with that addresses problems in an orderly manner and builds better understanding over time.  This is as true of computer issues as of any other issues.

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