The Bridges of CRM County
Would you like to get more from your consulting vendors? Don’t burn their bridges! So, what the heck does that mean? Let me offer a case for illustration.
I have a client where it is literally easier for me to get a meeting with the President of the North American business operations than it is for IT VPs to get on his calendar. And that upsets those hard working IT execs to no end. They have even resorted to attempting to block those meetings unless they are invited.
Well, let’s look into this a bit. When you hire a consulting firm to assist with initiatives such as CRM they will come in to the organization with a need to understand both business issues and technology solutions. These types of firms span both management and technology consulting expertise. As a result, they tend to develop connections to both sides of the organization, no matter which side brought them in.
Unfortunately, this ability to establish relationships with the business can be threatening to members of the IT staff. But this need not be the case. Good consultants serve as bridges between the business and IT. They bring in objectivity to a situation that can often be riddled with emotion. Many of my executive-level clients have become jaundiced toward the IT function, in some cases with good reason, and in some cases not. Either way, consultants can serve to bridge the chasm and, if permitted, assist with bridge building internally.
When IT execs feel threatened by their consultants the bridges are either prevented, blocked, or are attempted to be torn down. This is tragically counter productive. Most consulting firms are very sensitive to this difficult situation. They recognize they have multiple constituencies to satisfy and will find ways to assist all stakeholders to be successful. The best way to leverage consultants is to allow the bridges to be built and then build upon them further. This will enable IT to be in the best position to work as a partner to help achieve business objectives.
Use your consultants to your best advantage.