Organizations in the Manufacturing, Health Care and BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance) sectors sometimes find themselves with a multitude of problems in their supply chains, logistics and day-to-day production. As a result, they may not have enough time to explore effective IT solutions, like building a data center that tracks and monitors their financials and understand trends/actionable insights. They may also lose focus on significant IT and security processes. Some organizations may consider creating an in-house IT team but are struggling to identify the core competencies/skills needed. Hiring resources with an inaccurate skill set may lead to unwanted overhead and expenses. In this article I’m going to discuss some major issues faced by organizations and how IT Consulting firms can help.
They may also lose focus on significant IT and Security issues while trying to sort out daily operational issues. Some organizations may consider having an in-house IT team but may be struggling to identify core competencies/skills they need to consider while hiring. Hiring resources with an inaccurate skill set may lead to unwanted overheads & expenses. Let’s discuss some major issues faced by corporate organizations and how IT Consulting firms can help.
Network Outages
In the case of network outages, an organization loses the ability to cascade important and confidential details. This is when IT consulting firms come to the rescue. Consulting firms have their own email/infrastructure and can help clients cascade important pieces of communication while maintaining the highest level of security and confidentiality. They can also work along with the network provider and find a faster resolution to outages.
SMEs & Problem Solving
IT consulting firms often have SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) with varied capabilities and a wide range of experience. This enables them to leverage their capabilities for out-of-the-box solutions. SMEs often suggest solutions that can be automated, leading to subsequent reduction in setup and maintenance costs of software and hardware.
Lack of Documentation
Sometimes, organizations may have a single resource handling the IT processes for the entire organization. The resource might be so preoccupied that he/she might not properly document their processes. When the resource exits the company, the processes might be at stake due to lack of documentation. Some consulting firms are adept at reverse-engineering these IT processes even without documentation due to their past experiences with these situations. They can also leave behind a host of documentation for you based on what they find. Pedestal uses the popular documentation platform called ‘Confluence’ amidst other collaboration tools to do this type of work.
Timelines
Many organizations often ask – ‘Do consulting firms provide unrealistic work estimates to earn revenue?’ I advise that when in doubt, speak directly to the consulting firm to understand their processes and practices. Consulting firms with a well-structured and transparent process will never provide unrealistic estimates. For instance, Pedestal Technology follows an Agile process to track work done by its resources.
Timelines are tracked in widely used project tracking applications like Atlassian (JIIRA). A Data Discovery phase is carried out during which important resources (i.e. human resources, assets, utilities) and constraints are identified. A Business Requirements Document is then created that has all business/user requirements translated to functional requirements and an estimate is assigned to each task. This document is broken down to the most granular level, enabling better transparency with the client. The information is then shared with the client along with the timelines – which provides the client better clarity on what to expect and when.
Report Management
A common issue that many organizations face is “Trusting the numbers in reports.” This happens when two reports display two different numbers for the same entity. Consulting firms are adept at creating reports using different tools like SQL Server Reporting Studio (SSRS), Cognos, Tableau and PowerBI. Based on a client request, Pedestal Technology recently developed a backend automation piece that compares numbers between reports created using different reporting ecosystems; and sends out the reports only if the numbers match.
Production Support
Consulting firms provide production support to tackle everyday IT security/data/reporting issues in a faster and more efficient manner. They can also do a Causal analysis to understand the root cause of an issue and can create special-handling mechanisms to prevent them from occurring again.
Are you an IT decision maker that is contemplating whether outsourcing is a good option? If so, it’s worth your time to contact the consulting firm of your choice and discuss what’s going on in your IT organization. They can then conduct an audit/assessment of your organization’s IT resources and come up with a plan. If the plan meets your needs, I say go for it!
