Information & Communication Technology Consultants
WHY WOULD YOU NEED A CONSULTANT ?
Strategic planning
The driving forces in the competitive environment are cost optimisation, strategic alliance, value added services, adaptability to future technologies, commercial flexibility, expendability, implementation aspects etc.
What is the main concern: switching or transmission equipment? What are the key platforms: radio or terrestrial infrastructure? What are the main applications: voice, data, video or multimedia?
Choosing the right topology and technology, which will serve the business in the long run is not a trivial issue.
Consultants do come to the rescue. Competitive analysis through identification of business strengths and weaknesses, identification of strategic targets (eg. suppliers or customers) and strategic thrusts (such as costs or innovations) provides tangible management tools. These tools are essential to make informed decisions, thus to minimise business risks.
Business processes re-engineering / change management
Today's market demands continuous improvements. Large organisations need to ensure that the competitive advantage is created in the first place but what may be even more important, is that the advantage is also sustained over a period of time.
Changes resulting from technological advances, alone, justify strategic planning to be carried out regularly. Of course, there are other changing factors to consider; such as those related to regulatory environment, capital structure, organisational structure, staff turnover, new risks, new demands, etc. Certain institutions cannot possibly allow for their business processes to change without understanding requirements and future consequences. Business risks are too high.
Consulting phase reduces or eliminates such risks. Business needs or concerns that managers or their employees have are often not expressed explicitly for a number of reasons. Workshops and discussions conducted in a tactful and relaxed environment, facilitate free flow of information, stimulate minds and provide context behind the business requirements. Teamwork provides additional motivating factor for changes to occur. These changes must be controlled to ensure business continuity.
Business Analysis / Tender Management
Reduction of IT&T cost can be achieved through aggregation of demand for carrier's services, deployment of new technology, improvement of business processes or competitive Tendering. Conducting formal or informal workshops, analysing requirements and putting specifications together is not a "painful" process at all, when conducted in a systematic way.
Competitive Tendering is not only about the bottom line. Tenders also help to negotiate a complete set of commercial conditions, suitable to an organisation for initial deployment of IT&T technology and for support of that technology in the years to come.
Micro-economic studies and network capacity costing
No matter how strong or colourful the presentation is, at the end of the day, economic parameters "talk" and help to justify projects and/or business development initiatives. Formal quantitative analysis deals with parameters such as Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, Pay Back Period, Weighted Average Cost of Capital, revenue structure, P&L, cash flow etc.
In many cases it is incorrectly assumed that just because the infrastructure is already in place, it costs the organisation "nothing". The hidden costs related to products and services are often bundled together with other costs in the consolidated statements. Even if they are unbundled, it is then far too late to re-engineer the system. Appropriate methodologies should be applied to cost the direct capital outlays and O&M activities and to cost usage of the shared network infrastructure, at product or service level, during the planning phase.
