Technology consulting: what it should deliver

Technology consulting is the work that comes before building or changing a system: it turns a business problem into a decision with a scope, risks and an estimate. When it ends, it should hand you a document you can read without being technical and use to decide between going ahead, changing approach or not doing it at all.

That document is what sets it apart from a quote. A quote tells you how much; consulting tells you what, in what order and with which risks, and only then what it costs.

Five pieces, written so that whoever decides can follow them, not only whoever programs. If one is missing, the consulting is incomplete.

The problem and the objective

Written the way the business understands them, not the way a technician does. If the objective cannot be said in one sentence, it is not ready yet.

A scope with priorities

What is in, what is out and in what order. Writing down what stays out stops the scope growing without anyone approving it.

A technical approach with its risks

What it will be built on and what could go wrong, with each risk and each dependency named, together with its consequence. “It depends” is not a risk; it is a way of not saying it.

A phased plan and an estimate

The estimate rests on the scope above, not the other way round, and the assumptions behind it are in plain sight.

The success criteria

The concrete way to check, at the end, whether it worked.

Sometimes what is sold as consulting is a quote under another name. Four differences you can check by reading the offer:

What you receive

Consulting gives you a document to decide with. A quote gives you a figure and a list of what will be done if you accept it.

When the price appears

In consulting, after the problem is scoped and on that scope. A price given before scoping is not an estimate, it is a bet, and somebody pays for it.

What it can conclude

Consulting can end with “there is no need to build”, or with “changing a process or adjusting a tool you already have is enough”. A quote almost never says that.

Whose the result is

The document from consulting is yours and can be used to ask for other offers, not only the one from whoever wrote it. A quote can only be accepted or declined.

• You have a clear problem, but you do not yet know what needs to be built.
• You work with paper processes or spreadsheets, programs that do not talk to each other or a website nobody can touch, and you do not know where to begin.
• You have no in-house technology team that could scope the project for you.
• You have been given a price and you do not know what it includes or what it leaves out.
• You want to compare proposals from several suppliers against the same scope.

• If the job is simple and standard, you can ask for a price directly: scoping it does not need a phase of its own.
• If what you need is standard, buying it is the cheap option, and you do not need consulting to decide that.
• If you already have the problem, a scope with priorities and the risks in writing, and whoever will build has reviewed them, repeating that work is paying twice for the same thing.

Ask them before you hire. If one has no written answer, you know what to ask next.

• What document will I receive and what does it contain? At the very least, the five pieces above.
• What does it cost and what does it include, agreed in writing before starting?
• Will you look at the real systems and data, or only at what is said in a meeting?
• Who will we work with: both whoever decides and whoever uses the process every day?
• Do the risks come with a name and a consequence, or with an “it depends”?
• Is the document mine if another supplier builds afterwards?
• What happens if the conclusion is that nothing should be built?

We begin with a conversation that commits you to nothing, in which you tell us the problem, how it is handled today and who uses it. If it makes sense, we carry on with a preliminary analysis with its scope, its deliverable and its amount agreed in writing before starting; if it does not, we tell you.

Consulting and discovery

What it is and what it settles

What is technology consulting?

It is the work done before building or changing a system: it turns a business problem into a decision with a scope, risks and an estimate. It builds nothing; it sets down in writing what is worth doing, in what order and with which risks, so you can decide with that in front of you.

What should technology consulting deliver at the end?

A document with the problem and the objective written the way the business understands them, a scope with priorities, a technical approach with its risks, a phased plan with an estimate and the criteria for knowing whether it worked. If all you receive is a figure, it is a quote.

How is technology consulting different from a quote?

A quote tells you what something already decided will cost; consulting helps you decide what to do and reaches the price afterwards, on a scoped brief. It can also conclude that nothing needs building, and its document is yours and works for asking other suppliers for offers.

How long does technology consulting take?

It depends on the scope: on how many systems and how many people have to be looked at. That is why what will be analysed, what will be delivered and by what date is agreed before starting. It is a short phase by design: its job is to unblock a decision, not to produce a long report nobody reads in full.

How much does technology consulting cost?

It depends on the scope, so the amount is agreed in writing before starting, together with what will be analysed and what will be delivered. Be wary of a fixed figure that arrives without anyone having discussed the problem: without a scoped brief it is not information.

Can I hire just the preliminary analysis, without building afterwards?

Yes. It can be hired as a piece of work in its own right, with its scope, deliverable and amount agreed in writing, or be part of a larger project. If at the end you decide not to build, or to build with another supplier, the document is still yours.

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