In this ever-evolving world of technology, the most critical constant remains qualified personnel. In the past we chose consulting as a means of controlling headcount, augmenting a large development effort, outsourcing business functions, avoiding layoffs, or supplementing staff to improve aggressive project dates. This was primarily due to the fact that mainframe technology was very stable. Today with e-commerce development, technology is growing at a pace that cannot be controlled by most organizations. The small corporations can’t afford to employ the many varying talents necessary to stay competitive and the large organizations have a problem controlling the growth of internal staff. How do you bypass the corporate bureaucracy without compromising quality? How do you open up the niches that have been occupied by legacy talent for many years? You can begin by modifying your corporate and technical culture and embracing the challenge E-commerce is presenting to all of us. 
One serious factor is many organizations are taking a different look at IT/IS Departments today and recognizing they can be viewed more as a profit center than an expense. The bottom line is often valued in terms of your technological advancements and how you address your customer needs through technology. Service is the magic word in the E-commerce world and it can only be obtained by staying in pace with the technological advancements and addressing your clients service level requirements. 
So what is the answer? Just like Y2K, there is no silver bullet. E-commerce requires both technology and business changes to maintain your current customer base and stay competitive. You must modify your systems life cycle to improve your time frame for rapid development and delivery of system changes while modifying your organizations culture to realize the importance of the use of technology and staff augmentation. No one said E-commerce was going to be easy, but they did say it would be fast.
How do you do this without risking the farm and breaking the bank? Part of the answer lies with augmenting staff needs through the use of consultants. You will still need consultants for all the typical reasons. However, I now believe the most important use of consultants will be to augment your lack of technical talent. Many of you have a large pool of talented resources who have been loyal to your company and maintain current technology in an efficient and effective manner, however, the future will bring change and that change will require retooling these employees to remain effective. In some cases where this can be costly it requires spreading the impact of change over time, and you can use contract personnel to supplement the new technology efforts until your staff is trained. 
With this rapid change in technology come new consulting challenges that we must be prepared to meet. We are not only hiring contract programmer expertise, but we are looking at networking, software, hardware, help desk, and many technical positions as well as administrative contracting opportunities. In many cases you can use one firm to address all your needs. However, I have found it beneficial to use several different firms in order to take advantage of the expertise they bring to the table. I believe through tough negotiations with a variety of consulting firms you can stay cost conscious while accomplishing your goals. It is imperative that you interview each firm as well as their employees to ensure they have the talent necessary to improve your imposed service levels. After all, your bottom line is to get a quality product delivered quickly for the least amount of money. 
At this point you must be asking yourself what types of consulting firms exist and how do I determine the best one for my needs? This question has as many answers as there are consulting firms to choose from. Nevertheless, the typical consulting arrangements encompass establishing hourly rates, augmenting staff requirements, obtaining fixed-bids, establishing not-to-exceed arrangements, outsourcing all or part of your applications, and utilizing off-shore development efforts. Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages and each can be effective. The advice I would offer is to select a reputable firm (one with solid references), have an accountable permanent staff member assigned to each effort, interview all firms and candidates prior to engagement, insist on getting the talent you are paying for, find a firm who offers a high level of service, get your users involved in the interview process, ensure a good QA review after all work is done, and most of all set up a change policy with a pricing structure that allows you to stay within budget. Make this policy a part of your contract. 
In closing, I would say, “Remember, the consulting firms you are asking to help you have no silver bullets or secrets for development and they select their staff from the same job pool you have access to. The main difference is that they have a strict system life cycle that they follow and a vast pool of staff with varying technical talents to draw from.” After all, this is what you are hiring them for. 
*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and are not necessarily those of his employer, The Options Clearing Corporation.

David Mounce is currently the First Vice President of Production Operations for the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). He is a current member of the EAB.

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