Consultants

I was a consultant for many years. As I specialized in Microsoft solutions (usually AD and Exchange migrations), I brought value as the in-house expertise didn't exist.

I have been brought in by a client in the past to "vet" a design, just as you would go to another doctor for a second opinion before having major surgery. If I increased the project costs by 100% and the project was completed successfully, then the client spent their money wisely.

I have worked with consultants in the past that did not have expertise or experience in products. Far too often, these were software support consultants working for the vendor who did not know their products as well as I and the in-house staff. Sadly, I've found this to be true about 50% of the time when dealing with vendors to include Microsoft and Novell.

My thoughts on the justification for brining in a consultant:

You don't have the experience.

You don't have the manpower to complete the project.

You want a second opinion of another industry veteran.

Good Post & Good food for thought. From working on both sides of the house (in house IT & Outside consultant) one perspective is that maybe it is not so much as question of trust of one's internal IT staff as it may be one of independent verification and results. In today's environment where unfortuneately consumers and shareholders alike have become highly skeptical and suspicious of companies performing "in house assessments & investigations" companies now appear to be employing consulting firms as a measure of verification of results by an "independent firm". IT security also plays a part in this as many businesses may be striving to have thier IT environments evaluated and assessed by and independent third party to help achieve and maintain a level or degree of Information Assurance. The last aspect is usualy for companies with Government contracts, but is becoming more prevalent with regulatory compliance such as HIPAA, GLB, etc..

One other point to consider which may come into play here is Insurance for the company, today many insurance companies also require independent assessments of assets etc.. in order for better rates on insurance.

So maybe it is not so much not trusting your own IT staff, or that there is a lack of expertise in house (which still is a possibility of course). But more one of a business decision to address the skeptical consumer & shareholder concerns or some other regulatory or business facet that has not been readily discussed. - Just some thoughts.

they are a high skilled, well educated, potentially liable and expensive resource whereas you are a mere employee.

Happened to me several times, this, one even paraphrased my original report. It's when you don't agree with the consulant, you can have real problems. That's happened to me too.

There are two reasons for getting a consultant in one is that you don't have the resource in house (or don't believe you have), the other is manager CYA. They'd rather spend an extra 30k that be left holding the can if it goes nipples up, blaming you after all won't work.