REPORTS FROM SENIOR IT MANAGERS ON STRATEGIC PROJECTS


BIT REPORT
Reported by Betty Cooke

IT and Business: A Mega-Merger Ripe for Consultants

Everyone in the technology arena is scrambling to keep up with concepts and terminology that are changing at a furious pace. But consider the IT consultant's much more difficult task. He or she has to keep up with new terminology, new technologies, and the latest business practices—while simultaneously advising clients on the IT-related issues that they encounter as they grow a successful business.

Set this challenge against the backdrop of a knowledge-based economy and a society with an extraordinary hunger for instantaneous access to information, and you have an environment ripe for the emergence of a new breed of consultant. "New" in this context does not imply short-term experience. Indeed, it takes a long time—and a lot of work—to be this kind of "new." What differentiates the breed is their business acumen and their new business-oriented offerings.

These consultants are often boardroom-class talent, and it is natural that their services spring from an era marked by a severe shortage of such IT talent coupled with an abundance of IT mergers and acquisitions.

Susan C. Felix, who holds an MBA from Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, is one such consultant. She is a principal in Felix Consulting, Saratoga, Calif. She founded the company in 1995, after almost 20 years with such software leaders as Morino Associates, Legent Corp., and Compuware.

Felix does not characterize her focus as "IT consulting" as such. Instead, she defines it as "management consulting for software, Internet, hardware, services, and other high-technology companies." Her goal is to help clients, in this case high-tech firms, grow their businesses. She says, "Our services have evolved in response to the sea changes in the industry—the explosive growth of the Internet, the increase in venture capital investments, and the acceleration of IPOs."

Felix ticks off a shopping list of possible services: "We can help position companies to meet investor criteria; we can advise them on the types of strategic partners they need; we can help them make quantum leaps in operations efficiency so as to be ready to acquire other companies and products or to be acquired. And we can help them with organizational issues that can arise after mergers or acquisitions."

She considers herself to be "an agent of change" and her firm to be one that "bridges the gap between technology companies and corporate growth." Felix occasionally finds herself acting as an informal (and unpaid) search firm, helping clients plug into a network of talented prospective staff members.

Not too long ago, consultants were looked upon as being out-of-work professionals. "But today," Felix contends, "we've acquired legitimacy and are recognized as major contributors to a company's success."

Leveraging Information

Mellanie Hills agrees with Felix's assessment of a change in perception. She credits it to the current shortage of on-staff people with needed expertise—the expertise that comes only from having been "in the trenches" and gaining an understanding of organizational dynamics.

The president of MellanieHills.com, Leander, Texas, adds, "Just as intranets facilitate knowledge sharing among employees, the Internet allows knowledge sharing with business partners." Having come to realize that such interaction lets them do things faster, cheaper, and better, she points out, "companies are now aware of the benefits of sharing knowledge and of tapping in to the know-how of outside resource persons such as consultants."

Hills focuses on knowledge management (KM) and e-business. She preaches the importance of KM to e-business success and lauds its emphasis on IT as an enabler, not as an end in itself. "It's what people do with information, how they transform it into knowledge that they can share, that propels business success."

Hills' evangelical zeal for KM grew out of her years at JCPenney, where she was instrumental in building its massive information storehouse, terminology she prefers to data warehouse. Ahead of its time, the giant retailer had intranets and extranets before the terms were even coined, calling them internal Webs and private Webs.

Simply stated, KM goes beyond the collection and massaging of raw data to produce knowledge, to what people do with the information and what results from it. [Ideally, the continuum eventually leads to wisdom, but that's philosophical territory.] Because the Internet is the medium-of-choice for knowledge transfer and supports e-business initiatives such as customer service, supply chain management, and collaborative product development, KM and e-business go hand-in-hand.

Hills emphasizes the importance of people to business success. "An effective consultant has strong people skills and has learned to guide and coach organizations to do their own problem-solving. We must be facilitators and educators." She continues, "Along the way, we use IT to help us—I, for one, have one foot in IT and one in business—but we have to be very careful not to use IT to invade people's privacy or to exploit their trust."

Investing Wisely

Another consulting firm whose principals have historically avoided the "technology-for-technology's-sake" syndrome is Do Diligence Partners Inc. (DDPI). One of the firm's primary offerings is the evaluation of technology companies, helping clients make sound decisions prior to proceeding with an investment.

The two principals, Thomas E. McKittrick and Charles C. Francis, work out of McLean, Va., and Rockport, Mass., respectively. Both are well-versed in the delivery of software solutions, and at one point in their careers, worked together at Morino Associates.

There, McKittrick led software development initiatives. Later, as a consultant to Legent Corp., he developed the firm's due diligence methodology. Francis, who was vice president of technical services, moved on to Comdisco Inc., where he served as CIO and then vice president of IT financial and management strategies.

Recently, an international technology services provider asked DDPI to design and lead a software evaluation project aimed at rescuing a $30 million software investment. The consulting firm's objective was to provide quantifiable findings and impartial conclusions—and to incorporate payback-oriented recommendations in its final report to executive management. Later, DDPI developed the specifications for software that would leverage the investment.

"We were successful in returning the software organization's focus to the critical fundamentals," declares Francis. "Both Tom and I define these fundamentals as being product quality, customer satisfaction, and a business-like approach to the delivery of products and services." He adds, "Now, the company is well on its way to systems stability and is in a strong enough position technically and procedurally to adopt and develop innovative technology with confidence."

"In the investment side of our business, we try to give our clients the hard facts they need in order to negotiate the best terms possible," points out McKittrick. "But even the best deal can carry with it some bumps that need to be smoothed out. We can then discreetly and objectively help the company during what may be a rough shakedown period."

Building Bridges

Adapting to change is the common thread that runs through all aspects of today's IT consulting. Consultants need to be on top of current business issues, as well as be well-versed in all facets of IT.

As the computing universe is being transformed through networks, data mining, EDI transactions, e-business, etc., new IT roles are constantly being defined. And old roles are being redefined. One of them is that of consultant, who is often the one capable of building bridges between IT and business.

And the building of these bridges will be essential to business success.