Career in IT Consultancy: Skills, Lifecycle & Certification

1. Thinking of a Career in IT Consultancy? Paul Stevens Jason Buckley

2. Jason Buckley • Physics Degree • 15 Years IT Career • Roles included team management, project management and technical writing • Currently Internal Consultant in multinational utility • Paul Stevens • Computer Studies Degree • 20+ Years IT Career • Roles included team management, database administration and software development • Currently Internal Consultant in multinational utility Both

3. Objectives • What does a consultant do? • What skills are needed? • When are they used? • The consultancy lifecycle • Real-world example • How do you gain ISEB certification? • Pros and cons of a consultancy role • Questions JB

4. What does a Consultant do? • Fundamentally, to save the business time and money • Understand the business – people, technology, processes, drivers, politics • Take a holistic view of a problem • Help them understand what options they have – manage expectations, manage conflict • Consultancy is advising, not delivering. As soon as you start to implement anything, you are no longer a consultant, you are a practitioner JB

5. What skills are needed? • Written and verbal skills at appropriate level for audience • Soft skills – expectation setting, workshop facilitation, understand the customer and their business, persuasion/negotiation skills • Ability to learn new concepts quickly, often avoiding the detail • Technical translator JB

6. When are they used? • To make a strategic decision • When detailed technical knowledge is required • When broad business knowledge is required • To advise on possible improvements • Political pawns, to back-up someone’s position • Facilitators between internal stakeholders • Facing off to vendors, cutting through the sales speak JB

7. The Consultancy Lifecycle • Entry. First contact and early problem diagnosis. Expectation setting and building trust. • Diagnosis. Understanding the problem, digging for facts, analysing the “as is” world. • Action Planning. Developing solutions and options. Helping the client to select the most appropriate solution. The “to be” world. • Implementation. Assisting but not building the solution. • Termination. Evaluation and withdrawal. JB

8. Project: Delivering IT infrastructure in the desert PS

9. 1. Entry • Internal sales lead through a protracted route. Disgruntled customer. • Required a complete infrastructure to support the company’s operations. • Proposal to develop a high level architecture based on standard infrastructure components; to be delivered by a project manager. • Request for interview. The stakeholder was based in Germany. • MANDACT. • Risks … PS

10. What is MANDACT • This is a technique to size and assess the viability of the request. • Money: Is there a budget? • Authority: Who has the money and authority to spend it? • Need: How serious are they? • Decision Criteria: Do we want to follow through with this assignment? • Ability: To we have the capability? • Competition: Is there any? • Timing: Timescales to solve a problem? PS

11. Risks • Network Communications. • Staffing. • Equipment Failure. • Sourcing Spares. • Governmental Factors; advice from FCO. PS

12. 2. Diagnosis • Knowledgeable Customer, with a solution in mind. • Time Limited. • Some components in place. • Locally Employed Personnel (LEP) hired. • Initial risk list confirmed, plus: • Import restrictions. • Commodity hardware was difficult to obtain. • A non-standard solution would be a likely outcome. • Interim HLA issued. PS

13. 3. Action Planning PS Iterative Process

14. 4. Implementation • The high level architecture was passed to a project manager for implementation. • Support provided by me in terms of developing plans and briefing technicians. • Participation in progress meetings up to and including the testing phase. • Refinement of the design as required. PS

15. 5. Termination • My decision was to withdraw from the assignment when testing of the solution proved positive. This was agreed with the customer. • A follow up session when the solution became operational. • We had had other business based on this assignment … PS

16. No consultancy? What goes wrong... • People buy equipment, then it doesn’t fit together • No holistic view taken, for example, support model missing • Trust between business and IT breaks down • Scope creep • Money and time is lost as the project goes around in circles • Missing documentation JB

17. ISEB Certificate in IS Consultancy Practice – the Examinations • Minimal entry: 24 years old and 4 years experience in IT • Optional 5 day course, hands-on, role play, real-world scenarios • Written 2 hour exam, closed book, 3 questions – one lead question • If passed, follow-up oral examination, 45 min total: • Panel of two BCS examiners • 10 minute presentation on a recent or current assignment • Answer questions on presentation • Answer questions on ISEB syllabus • Resulting certifications: • Pass written exam: ISEB Certificate in IS Consultancy Essentials • Pass oral exam: ISEB Certificate in IS Consultancy Practice • BCS website for more information: http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=nav.6928 JB

18. Pros and Cons of Consultancy Role Both

19. Questions Please! • ? Both