Consultants Everywhere...

About a decade back, if any one used a word "Consultancy" or "Consultant", it usually meant a highly respectable and select few organizations or in short the Big5/6/7 or niche consulting firms. Joining a consulting firm used to be highest priority for any MBA grad.

Today, it is the most "mis-used" word and practice. Wherever, in whichever project you see, there are consultants and most of them abusing the worthy practice by either using Microsoft's powerful "Copy & Paste" technique or just writing whatever is dictated by the OEMs/influencers. A company picks up a consulting assignment of writing a solution document/ RFP/vendor selection for a client without even an iota of domain experience.

What is end-result of this, a project in a mess from the begining itself. Recently in one of the prestigious project because of complete incompetence of the consultant, the total bids received were in access of 30!!! and that too ranging from the top most MNC firm to a small (and probably loss making too) domestic IT firm. The client was furious but helpless. The reason for such disaster, consultant's inability to understand the project, domain and put together a PQ that can eliminate weeds and pick-up only the fruit-bearing plants.

In fact the mistake is not that of any consulting firm but the clients themselves, as they are not looking out for well reputed firms for consulting firms but picking up consultants who are either cheap (hmm...cost wise!) or can be tamed to write whatever client wants to get written.

I am quite glad with recent initiative of DIT, MCIT of creating template DPR/ RFPs that will be used by the consultants to customize it as per the state's specific requirement, so only 20% changes, 80% standardized. This leaves very little aberation in the system. We still can recall the multiple formats of tenders that came across the country in the last 3 years, finally vendors can breathe easy.

I think, the time has come to move on from a "un-audited" consulting services to "audited" consuling services regime. Every consulting assignment by all the consultants should be assessed by a 3rd party in terms of openness, clarity, objectiveness, transparency, compliance with rules/ law and above all relevance with the Project. Any consulting firm found violating the rules should be banned for couple of years from all government/psu projects. Also, it should be made mandatory that all the consulting firms be registered/ empaneled with a regulatory authority and they should comply with minimum standards
- Availability of resources with experience in domain/ technology/ process
- Infrastructure
- Training & Development
- Specific Approach & Methodology
- All Project Managers/ Delivery Managers should be PMP certified
etc.

Yes, this would definitely mean that mom & pop consulting companies will either shutdown or become more mature and comply with requirements and the big firms will create much better compliances for its team's so that they don't end up getting penalised.

This will create a clean environment, much speedier project execution and hence better services to citizens.