Are consulting companies changing fast enough in a cloud web 2.0 world?
With the proliferation of many feature-rich on-demand CRM/ERP solutions on to the market place and emergence of modern “social” enterprise applications to make your corporate life more efficient –
We ask why has the consulting industry not really adapted ?
Recently, we have talked to many customers that are looking at moving to the cloud or switching from their existing provider. One thing in common is that they are spending countless days (and even weeks) evaluating offerings. sending out RFP's et. al. to vendors and value-added resellers.
It seems like a wrong approach to us and a waste of time.
There are 100’s, if not thousands, of option combinations to run your business in the cloud at a price that is both affordable and efficient. The problem is navigating these options, navigating the emerging technologies and making qualified decisions based on these options.
Lets face it. The general customer is not aware of emerging technologies and may only confine their initial selections to "known" players. Compound this with the fact that software publishers have a bias and speak a language that a customer wants to hear. You wonder why customers make the wrong decisions a lot of the time.
In the days of limited options – the choices were few and anyone with half a brain could come up with a short list to review. In today's web 2.0 world this has changed and it is almost impossible for customers to keep up to speed with the latest offerings and the functionality that is delivered with contemporary applications.
Traditionally, consulting companies are normally a sales extension of a particular set of vendors and add value by servicing customers during deployment of these solutions and/or customizing the solution for a particular need.
Today, web 2.0 applications are highly configurable and highly integrated. Gone are the days when a massive system to run your entire business is the only option. With the advent of web services; remarkable “line of business” solutions have now entered the market place; all aimed at making your time to value quicker and at the same time addressing priority concerns.
However, most consulting companies do not seem to be changing at the same clip. The trick here is for these companies to become more horizontal in their offerings and not be tied to a specific set of vendor(s). A bold move - yes. But for customers to really trust these companies the traditional consulting paradigms need to shift accordingly.
It seems to us that consulting companies are not changing fast enough to keep pace and still confining their offerings to a particular publisher. Maybe in tomorrow's consulting world - this paradigm will change.
Thoughts ?.
Reader Comments (2)
I agree with this. Consulting companies must start adapting soon - not many are though - which I find surprising.
I think some companies are starting to realize this - but you are right - there seems to be 100's of players coming to market in recent months. BTW - I noticed you have changed your web site a bit - like the new positioning of Skyytek.