Why is it that we will spend big money for consultants to come in and tell us what we already know.
Recently we finished a really in-depth evaluation of one particular aspect of our data archiving technology and came up with a well supported plan for improvement. We then submitted it to the directors for review.
The directors then hired a consulting firm to repeat the evaluation and come up with a proposal. The consultants came up with the exact same solution we did.
The consultants billed for us for $26,000.00. (This effectively doubled the cost of the final solution.)
The only reason I can think of for hiring consultants is that either:
1. You don’t believe you have the expertise in-house. (Which means you didn’t need to bother asking your IT teams opinion in the first place. And your IT team would probably tell you this if you ask.)
2. You don’t trust IT team to be truthful or you don’t have enough faith in them to listen to their suggestions. (In which case you should fire them all and hire a group you can trust.)
Don’t get me wrong. These consulty folks were great to work with and the two weeks they spent here were certainly pleasant. I just don’t see the value from a business point of view.
I actually worked for a brief time as a consultant for a medical systems vendor. I would like to think that I was worth what I charged. However, now I’m not so sure.
Maybe our administration just didn’t like our proposal. But was it worth almost $30,000.00 to get a second opinion on a $30,000.00 solution?
What do you all think? Are consultants generally worth the money? I would like to hear from some of the IT consultants out there as well as in-house IT folks.
