Do you need professional help? I bet you do.
One of the biggest power shifts in IT today is the evolution of your role from provider to buyer/co-ordinator of IT services. This shift has incredible potential to increase your effectiveness and credibility. But the skills, knowledge and experience needed for this role are very different from the classic chief information officer (CIO) mindset. I believe that in future you'll need a lot more honest and unbiased advice when planning projects, and hiring and managing your big services suppliers.
You can't get unbiased project advice from outsourcers themselves - they have too many internal conflicts of interest. Would you trust IBM, HP, Microsoft or Sun Microsystems to evaluate your needs and recommend between Unix, Windows, Linux and so forth without bias? I hope not. So why expect IBM, HP or Accenture to plan business change and then recommend and manage outsourcers and systems integrators without favouring their own colleagues?
But how do you evaluate services providers? Road testing is expensive. Word of mouth (talking to your peers, not just listening to gossip) is important, but only gets you so far. You need recent experience and knowledge gained from time at the coalface.
The solution will most likely involve hiring outsiders who've worked closely with the big services companies. Ideally, they will be independent and capable of both recommending the right supplier for the right job and evaluating their progress. The key is capability and lack of bias. Surely this work can be done in-house? Well, sometimes.
The consulting-market depression has pushed large numbers of talented consultants into end-user organisations. I bet there's never been more experience, knowledge and skills in many non-consulting organisations. But even the best-staffed organisation rarely has the knowledge, skills and fresh experience of a good niche consultancy.
That's why I believe that although the IT services market is consolidating into a few big players who dominate the top end of outsourcing consulting, there's also a place for smaller management consultants. These companies can act as trusted advisers to CIOs, helping them manage big projects and keeping the services giants honest. Want a cliche? Try 'honest broker'. We're talking about strategy guys such as McKinsey and Bain, but also the IT-focused consultancies who get their hands dirty, such as Deloitte and PA Consulting Group. The latter has won some interesting work recently helping organisations hire and manage outsourcers.
Peter Rogers, chief executive of Westminster Council, positively raves about the work PA did for him, saying he couldn't have revamped his organisation without independent advice from PA. Hiring consultants to manage consultants sounds crazy, but when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. I'd go further and say that if you're not using independent consultants to manage your outsourcers, then you're going to be in trouble, unless you have some pretty spectacular - and fresh - skills and knowledge in-house.
The big problem then becomes: how do I choose my trusted adviser? There's no simple formula, but obvious criteria include track record, cultural fit, independence, reputation, industry understanding, creativity, and willingness to listen to customise their advice. Watch out for the 'pitch switch' specialists - outfits that will pitch their Premier League consultants, but then hand you over to a Second Division account team. And beware the 'corridor creatures' - consultants who go behind your back to the chief financial officer and chief executive, to by-pass you and win more work by stealth.
Douglas Hayward is an analyst at researcher and consultancy Ovum.
