Consulting is about change, always about change. In fact, more than any other managerial discipline, consultants need to be the ambassadors of new technologies, new ways of working and thinking, and new ways of getting even greater performance.
SaaS is a change that most consultants didn’t see coming to be frank, and those that did are now offering products as part of the continual barrage of emerging online applications.
Regardless of whether you are championing changes to work processes, new technologies, a different configuration to SAP or Oracle (say), or even different strategies and corporate structures; at all times we need to be the most up to date with the changes in our area of expertise, and know how our clients could benefit from them.
So how can consultants tap into this growing trend, by joining in the game of course!
Today’s technological offerings allow consultants to be even more productive than ever before in delivering their solutions. The Force.com visual programming language premiered by Salesforce.com this year gives everybody the ability to rapidly develop online programs, and they will also host it for you on their market-tested servers.
But wait - there’s more, Adobe Flex is a free programming tool that can be learned easily and is able to deliver very smart looking products quickly. Or if you are in a hurry to deliver a turnkey product for your clients then just plough through some of the commodity-priced programs already on offer through AppExchange.com, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
If you are not able to provide coding services yourself, then there is already a burgeoning market in outsourced independent coders for you to work with. Check out Rent-a-Coder.com if you like, a meeting place for freelance technical consultants and product developers. Auctioning is the name of the game here and you can pick up a good deal quickly. I have used it twice and it has served me well. Today I have ongoing relationships with a couple of coders I met online there and they often deliver small services for me.
Wordpress, Blogger, Microsoft Dynamics, WebScribble.com, and so on, the list grows every time you look. All these products are out there for you to use in delivering productivity improvement to your clients. A fascinating time for consultants, particularly those that are keen to tie small technological offerings into their overall service portfolios.
