Consulting is an advisory service provided by professionals with knowledge and experience in the matter or subject that the company needs advice. Therefore, the consultant is a specialized professional. The consultants who provide the consulting service can work as independent, associated by project or belong to an organization.
Software consulting companies are those ones who tell you which software to choose. In this regard, an IT consultancy is intended to help clients achieve their business goals by providing effective solutions, based on a combination of innovation and industry-accepted practices.
The consulting service must be planned. This means that it has a beginning, a middle and an end. In other words, it must be executed according to a plan and with one or more deliverables or results during its execution.
IT consultancy services are vital nowadays. If you don´t hire any kind of IT services, you may be at risk. Without protection you can lose very valuable information. If you don´t do anything against data theft risk, there could be consequences such as loss of time and money and even business bankruptcy.
To avoid this, it is necessary to hire IT consultancy services. The most important service offered by an IT consulting company is data protection. Identifying which information is the most important and what would be the consequences of losing it, analyzing weaknesses, determining the real odds of these scenarios and implementing solutions is a fundamental part of their work.
Among IT security services, we can find: protect against malware action, prevent unauthorized personnel from entering certain networks, make backup copies, prevent outsiders from intercepting and accessing the data, manage passwords, guarantee that the activity of the company is not interrupted by any computer problem and maintain computer systems.
In addition to this protection, IT consultancy services are also responsible for managing and controlling computer hardware and software. The objective is that expert people take care of the computer equipment, allowing managers and employees to completely focus on the business.
Some of these computer maintenance services are: manage and maintain servers, offer web, mail, hosting or cloud computing solutions, perform equipment inventory, monitor and manage networks, give support to the user, distribute the software in an automated way and offer migration services.
When it comes to software, consulting companies also offers app development services. An IT consultant specialized in the development of mobile apps is in charge of turning an application idea into reality. This implies conception, functional analysis and, if necessary, the business model to be adopted.
Great IT consultancy must know how to guide its clients, and this implies being close to them. That is why it is essential that decisions are made together. For this, in addition to the knowledge and experience of the IT consultant company, its communication skills must come into play.
It is also important to know how to adapt to the budget available. Taking into account the client´s resources and needs, the appropriate solutions will be found for each situation.
A good consulting service proposal contains, at least, the following elements: objective of the project, context, understanding of customer needs, project scope, stages or phases of the project, detail of tasks and activities to be carried out, deliverables, acceptance criteria, economic proposal, contract mode, price and payment method, obligations and resources that the contracting company will have to provide, background of the consulting company or the consultant that offers the consulting service, and references.
In many cases, as part of the context, a diagnosis or current situation is included. If the proposal is approved, the consultancy begins.
Who should hire consulting services?
Companies constantly pursue goals such as improving their performance; increasing productivity; reviewing their strategies; optimizing operations; innovating; improving their relationships with customers; and many others.
80% of companies that are created do not reach 5 years of life. Although there are various reasons for this to happen, some internal or controllable and others external or uncontrollable, the disappearance of a company can be avoided by turning to professionals who contribute their knowledge and experience through their consulting services.
As a company expands, its complexity increases and the support of external professionals is necessary to help solve the problems that arise. The external consulting service is carried out by people who are outside the organization and therefore are not “contaminated” with the daily operation. The consultant, with his challenging, fresh and innovative contribution, can find spaces or opportunities for improvement that those who are inside cannot see. This is challenging because his interventions generate motivating debates and serve as a stimulus to reflect and rethink the way of doing things.
The consultant, as impartial and neutral, helps find solutions and promotes the implementation of changes that can lead from the current situation to the desired one.
