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“These best practices provide the road map that is key to running a
world-class consulting practice.”
—David Smart, VP, System and Technology Services, The CIT Group, Inc.
“Practical, actionable, and full of insight. If you are starting your
own consultancy,looking to advance in your career as aconsultant,or
looking to take your consultancy to the next level, you will find the
hands-on information you need in this book.”
—John Wyzalek, Principal, White Paper Group
“This book provides an invaluable road map for enterprises that find
themselves crossing over into the consulting arena, but that lack formal
consulting experience to draw upon.”
—Charles Dow, Vice-President, SLMSoft
“A digestable summary of the consulting industry and powerful key
factors to consider in building, managing, and measuring a successful
practice.”
—James Fehrenbach, HR Director
“This is a comprehensive and thoughtful approach to helping IT
consultants get a solid perspective on how to establish or improve
their consulting practice.”
—John Davies, Independent IT Consultant
“This book provides the information a technical practitioner needs to
know in order to succeed in a consulting organization. It also nails the
business of consulting.”
—Nancy Stonelake, System Architect, Sprint
“This book should be required reading for experienced practice
managers in order to help avoid the gaps in processes that creep into
existing operations.”
—Paul Saunders, Vice President Consulting Services,
QUEUE Systems, Inc.
“This is a how-to guide to building a successful consulting organization


with key anecdotes as well as useful management and measurement
philosophies geared specifically toward the consulting environment.”
—Tanvir Mangat, Senior Consulting Executive
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“From pre-engagement to post-engagement activities, this book provides
key metrics, practical approaches, and real-world examples for success
-
fully running anIT consulting practice and ensuring client satisfaction.”
—Silvy Picciano, FLMI/M, ACS, Industry Executive
“A comprehensive guide for any IT consultant looking to effectively
build, manage, or grow their practice.”
—Andrew Chow, MBA, Director of Technology, ninedots
“An excellent reference for IT consultancies to remind them of the true
value consultants provide to the market—something that is critical
with the economic climate we endure today.”
—Steve Engel, Business Integration Consulting Lead, EDS
“Consulting work can be frustrating because of the challenges involved
in managing client expectations. This book provides solid material to
understand the intricacies of the consulting process and ways to suc-
cessfully deliver consulting projects. A must-read book for consulting
practitioners and business users.”
—Bharat Shah, Principal, McCann Computer Systems, Ltd.
“This is a very useful guide for consultants to provide them with a com-
prehensive and practical understanding of what consulting is all about.”
—Adel Melek, Partner, Deloitte & Touche

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High-Value IT Consulting:
12 Keys to a Thriving Practice
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About the Authors
Sanjiv Purba is an information technology executive with over 15 years
of industry and consulting experience. He has worked for the “Big 5”
consultancies,boutique consulting firms, and has run a successful inde
-
pendent contracting business. Some of his clients include IBM,Deloitte
Consulting, ISM,Goldman Sachs, Perrier, CIT, Microsoft, Sun Life, and
the Royal Bank. He has built successful consulting practices at a variety
of firms including Deloitte Consulting and Blast Radius. He has written
over 10 books and hundreds of articles for such publications as The
Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star and is a frequent lecturer at
universities and colleges.
Bob Delaney, MBA, has more than 25 years of experience as a
consultant and manager in marketing, communications, and infor
-
mation technology. He manages a web development consulting

practice and teaches Internet Marketing at Ryerson University. Bob
is a Microsoft Desktop Systems MVP.
About the Technical Reviewer
Marian Cook is a futurist, strategist, entrepreneur, and professional
speaker. She is the founder and president of Ageos Enterprises, a business
and technology consulting firm headquartered in Chicago with an office
in Denver. She has received the Influential Woman in Business Award
presented by The National Association of Women Business Owners,
and is a member of the Advisory Board for Loyola University’s Center
for Information Management and Technology.
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High-Value IT Consulting:
12 Keys to a Thriving Practice
Sanjiv Purba and Bob Delaney
McGraw-Hill/Osborne
New York / Chicago / San Francisco / Lisbon / London / Madrid / Mexico City
Milan / New Delhi / San Juan / Seoul / Singapore / Sydney / Toronto
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McGraw-Hill/Osborne
2600 Tenth Street

Berkeley, California 94710
U.S.A.
To arrange bulk purchase discounts for sales promotions, premiums, or fund-raisers, please
contact McGraw-Hill/Osborne at the above address. For information on translations or
book distributors outside the U.S.A., please see the International Contact Information page
immediately following the index of this book.
High-Value IT Consulting: 12 Keys to a Thriving Practice
Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Printed in the
United States of America. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, no part
of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or
stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of publisher,
with the exception that the program listings may be entered, stored, and executed in a
computer system, but they may not be reproduced for publication.
Legal disclaimer: This book is not intended to provide legal advice and should not be used
for this purpose. Please consult a practicing lawyer when dealing with legal matters.
1234567890 DOC DOC 019876543
ISBN 0-07-222625-0
Publisher
Brandon A. Nordin
Vice President & Associate Publisher
Scott Rogers
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Project Editor
Katie Conley
Acquisitions Coordinator
Jessica Wilson
Technical Editor
Marion Cook
Copy Editors

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Information has been obtained by McGraw-Hill/Osborne from sources believed to be reliable. However, because of the
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does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or
omissions or the results obtained from the use of such information.
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To my wife Kulwinder, my children Naveen, Neil,
and Nikhita, and my mother Inderjit.
—Sanjiv Purba
To Frank C. Walden of British Columbia: friend,
mentor, inspiration, and all-time favourite employer.

—Bob Delaney
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Contents at a Glance
Part I IT Consulting Best Practices
Chapter 1 Evaluate the Current Health of Your
Consulting Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2 Road Map for Building a High-Performance
IT Consulting Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Part II Selling Client Businesses and Engagements
Chapter 3 Implementing a Marketing Strategy . . . . . . . . 49
Chapter 4 Account Development Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Chapter 5 The Client Account Pipeline and
the Decision-Making Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Chapter 6 The Client Decision-Making Process . . . . . . . 117
Part III Delivering Client Engagements Successfully
Chapter 7 Pre-Engagement Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Chapter 8 Starting an Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Chapter 9 Maintaining Engagement Controls . . . . . . . . . 187

Chapter 10 Running an Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Chapter 11 Testing, Deploying, and Closing
an Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Chapter 12 Working Multiple Engagements
for a Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Chapter 13 Risk Mitigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Chapter 14 Legal Considerations in IT Consulting . . . . . 297
Chapter 15 Quality Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Chapter 16 Celebration, Communication, and Other
Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
ix
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Part IV Running an IT Consulting Group or Practice
Chapter 17 The Evolving Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Chapter 18 Financial Management: The Bottom Line . . . 351
Chapter 19 Day-to-Day Management of an
IT Consulting Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Chapter 20 Using Information Technology in
IT Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
Chapter 21 Human Resources and
Career Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
x High-Value IT Consulting: 12 Keys to a Thriving Practice
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Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
The Downloadable Online Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Part I IT Consulting Best Practices
Chapter 1 Evaluate the Current Health of Your
Consulting Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Defining the 12 Key Metrics for a Successful
Consulting Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Evaluate How Your Practice Is Doing . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Establish a Benchmark for Your Practice . . . . . . . . 23
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 2 Road Map for Building a High-Performance
IT Consulting Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Describing an IT Consulting Practice . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Defining the IT Consulting Practice Lifecycle . . . . 28
Defining IT Consulting Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
12 Key Metrics and the Practice Lifecycle . . . . . . . . 43
Leadership, Value, and Intellectual Property . . . . . 44
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Part II Selling Client Businesses and Engagements
Chapter 3 Implementing a Marketing Strategy . . . . . . . . 49
Service Lines and Paradigms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
The Niche and the Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Research and Development and New Projects . . . . 52
The Role of Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
People with a Common Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

The Marketing Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
The Marketing “Kit” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Writing and Talking Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
xi
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The Channels to the Client’s Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Project Planning with a Human Face . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Chapter 4 Account Development Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Yes, I Do Account Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
The Structure of Account Development . . . . . . . . . 70
Crossing the Validation Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Discover the Client’s Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Propose a Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Resolve Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
The Engagement Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
The Decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Account Development Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Pricing Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Samples and Reference Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Response Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
RFP Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Integration with Product Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The Account Development Plan

and Resource Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Budgeting for Account Development . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Chapter 5 The Client Account Pipeline and the
Decision-Making Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Business Development’s Common Elements . . . . . 99
The Account Pipeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
In and Out of the Pipeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Case Study: The Windy City Opportunity . . . . . . . 113
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Chapter 6 The Client Decision-Making Process . . . . . . . 117
Organizational Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
The Art of Finding Decision-Makers . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Is the Client Worth the Effort and Risk? . . . . . . . . . 128
Contract Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
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Getting the Deal Done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Part III Delivering Client Engagements Successfully
Chapter 7 Pre-Engagement Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Impact of Pre-Engagement Activities . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Checklist for Pre-Engagement Activities . . . . . . . . 145
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Chapter 8 Starting an Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
The Engagement Lifecycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Impact of Engagement Activities
on Key Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
What You Should Have from
the Previous Phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Sample Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Chapter 9 Maintaining Engagement Controls . . . . . . . . . 187
The Thin Wedge of Profitability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Chapter 10 Running an Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
The Quest for a Standard Methodology . . . . . . . . . 209
Impact of Running an Engagement on
the 12 Key Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Major Phases and Deliverables for
Running an Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Chapter 11 Testing, Deploying, and Closing
an Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Impacts on the 12 Key Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Testing Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Deployment Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Post-Engagement Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
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Chapter 12 Working Multiple Engagements
for a Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Extending the Engagement Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Challenges of Multiple Engagements . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Selling Multiple Engagements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Chapter 13 Risk Mitigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Three-Point Risk Assessment for Engagements . . . 279
Practice-Based Risk Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Examples of Risk Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Chapter 14 Legal Considerations in IT Consulting . . . . . 297
Legal Documents Are Part of IT Consulting . . . . . 298
Form and Style of Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Defaults and Disputes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Counterparts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Chapter 15 Quality Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Why Quality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Quality Assurance Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Chapter 16 Celebration, Communication, and Other
Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Never Crowded at the Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Celebrating Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Client Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Team Satisfaction and Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Keeping the Practice Competitive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

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Part IV Running an IT Consulting Group or Practice
Chapter 17 The Evolving Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
What Are Your Business Vision and Goals? . . . . . . 340
Assessment: Tactical and Strategic
Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Building a Corporate Road Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Chapter 18 Financial Management: The Bottom Line . . . 351
Impact of Financial Management Activities . . . . . . 351
Keeping a Running Score with Financials . . . . . . . . 353
Dealing with Suppliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
The Bank: What to Do, What to Expect . . . . . . . . . 367
Insurance in IT Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Taxation for IT Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Revenue Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Chapter 19 Day-to-Day Management of an
IT Consulting Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Priorities and Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
Organizational Structure and Documentation . . . 384
Expense Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Legal Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Chapter 20 Using Information Technology in
IT Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
Keeping Technology Focused on Your Business . . . 399
The Business Essentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
Software and Office Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
E-mail and the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Mobile Tools for the Professional Staff . . . . . . . . . . 411
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Home Office Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
Putting It All Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Chapter 21 Human Resources and
Career Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
HR Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Consultant Review Cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Career Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Closing Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
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Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge the support or encouragement received
from the following individuals: Paulette Peirol of The Globe and Mail;

Mike Flynn of Kingsbridge; and Kan Wadera, Franca Del Bel Belluz,
and Alex Lynch at Microsoft.
And at Blast Radius: Gautam Lohia,EVP; Natalie Michael,VP; Brett
Turner, SVP/GM; Lee Feldman, Chief Creative Officer; Gurval Caer,
President and CEO; Steve Harmer, EVP; and Michael Dingle, EVP.
xvii
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Introduction
It seems that the idea of becoming a consultant appeals to just about
every IT practitioner at one time or another in their careers. Some
eventually take the leap by joining an existing consulting organization,
others start their own business, and some simply continue to ponder
the possibilities.
Many practitioners that become consultants end up repeating mis
-
takes other consultants have made in the past, which ends up costing
them money, leaves a trail of dissatisfied clients, burns out talented
employees, and causes many to abandon the consulting profession al
-

together. Others continue in the profession without a clear end-game
in mind.
It doesn’t have to be like this.
Purpose of this Book
It doesn’t matter if you’re a new consultant, a seasoned pro, or if you fall
somewhere in between. This book provides a realistic and true picture of
what it takes to be successful in the consulting business—whether you’re
joining an established consulting organization or starting a new one.
Tools for measuring the health of an IT consulting organization are
not readily available in the industry. This book examines the three pil
-
lars that form the infrastructure of every consulting organization,
namely: people, clients, and profitability. At any given time, one or
more of these pillars can be at odds with another. For example, train
-
ing practitioners on a new technology may reduce profitability in the
short term, but it may be the right thing to do for the client in the long
term. This book defines 12 key metrics that make it possible to measure
the impact of everyday decisions on the three-pillar infrastructure and
the ultimate vision of a consulting practice.
Of particular importance to the intended audience of this book is
how these 12 key metrics can be impacted in the different parts of a
standard practice lifecycle to improve the overall health of the consulting
organization. These 12 keys can thus be used as a dashboard to assess
the health of the current organization, and then in an overall strategy
to improve the organization’s value in measurable stages.
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Intended Audience
This book is written for consultants, managers of consulting organi
-
zations, and prospective consultants. It is intended to help practitio
-
ners grow their professional careers in consulting organizations of
any size, as well as providing techniques for improving the health of
the practice.
Clients who are hiring consultants or those who are considering
the use of consultants in the future will also benefit from reading
this book. By understanding the consulting business, clients can
more effectively leverage the value that consultants can bring to their
organization.
Organization of the Book
The book is organized according to a practice lifecycle that includes the
following phases: practice operations; marketing and sales; pre-engage-
ment activities; engagement lifecycle; post-engagement activities; and
risk mitigation and quality assurance.
Part I: IT Consulting Best Practices
In this section we examine the three-pillar framework and the 12 key
metrics for evaluating and influencing the health of a consulting orga-
nization. Chapters 1 and 2 show a practitioner or the managers of a
consulting organization how to build a report card or dashboard to
measure how they are currently doing with respect to these 12 key
metrics.
Chapter1 Evaluate the Current Health of Your Consulting Practice
Chapter 2 Roadmap for Building a High-Performance IT
Consulting Practice

Part II: Selling Client Businesses and Engagements
Part II focuses on sales, marketing, account strategy, and client decision
making. This is the lifeblood of any consulting organization and all too
often,consultants neglect this area of their business. Chapters 3 through
6 examine practical approaches for optimizing these processes.
Chapter 3 Implement a Marketing Strategy
Chapter 4 Account Development Strategy
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Introduction xxi
Chapter 5 The Client Account Pipeline and Decision-Making
Process
Chapter 6 The Client Decision-Making Process
Part III: Delivering Client Engagements Successfully
Part III examines techniques for effective delivery of engagements, estab
-
lishing and growing client relationships, and closing out engagements to
facilitate farming of additional business development opportunities.
Chapter 7 Pre-Engagement Activities
Chapter 8 Starting an Engagement
Chapter 9 Maintaining Engagement Controls
Chapter 10 Running an Engagement
Chapter 11 Testing, Deploying, and Closing an Engagement
Chapter 12 Working Multiple Engagements for a Client
Chapter 13 Risk Mitigation

Chapter 14 Legal Considerations in IT Consulting
Chapter 15 Quality Considerations
Chapter 16 Celebration, Communication, and Other
Considerations
Part IV: Running an IT Consulting Group or Practice
Part IV examines back-office functions that are critical for supporting
practitioners. This includes executive leadership, support applications,
tools, and human resources.
Chapter 17 The Evolving Practice
Chapter 18 Financial Management: The Bottom Line
Chapter19 Day-to-Day Managementof an IT Consulting Business
Chapter 20 Using Information Technology in IT Consulting
Chapter 21 Human Resources and Career Management
The Downloadable Online Forms
Throughout the book you’ll find examples of forms, the bulk of which
have been used by the authors with great success on consulting en
-
gagements for Fortune 100 companies. All of the forms discussed and
illustrated here are available for download in Microsoft Word format
from the McGraw-Hill/Osborne web site. Visit www.osborne.com,
click the “free code” link on the upper left-hand corner of the page,
then scroll through the list of titles to find this book’s link.
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The forms are divided into the following categories:

Practice operations


Marketing and sales

Pre-engagement activities

Engagement lifecycle

Post-engagement activities

Risk mitigation and quality assurance
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Part I
IT Consulting Best Practices
1
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