High-Value IT Consulting: 12 Keys to a Thriving Practice
Author: Sanjiv Purba, Bob Delaney
List Price: $39.99
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ISBN: 0072226250
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media (10 February, 2003)
Sales Rank: 255,852
Average Customer Rating: 4.29 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 1 out of 5
Not a High-Value Reference
Although this book has a great deal of useful information, there are a number of areas where it misses the mark. Often the obvious is stated as important. In many respects the book takes a 35,000 foot view of the IT consulting practice and addresses issues faced primarily on very large projects with large consulting practices. With limited resources to acquire and read books on IT consulting, this is a book to skip - there are so many others that are quicker to read and have more valuable information (for example Alan Weiss general consulting and Janet Ruhl for IT).There is the suggestion that payment terms should be negotiated after the contract is signed, but before actual work begins.
The pipeline, backlog and sales hit ratio sections don't mention the typical discrete steps in the sales cycle.
At one point, the authors write "It is said with tongue-in-cheek that any consulting firm that cannot operate its photocopier as a profit center probably also cannot do a decent client engagement." A couple paragraphs later in the same section the reader is instructed how to arrive at a price for a given markup using the formula Price = Cost/(1-Markup). Any large IT consulting firm that can't calculate markup without help cannot do a decent job consulting.
Elsewhere, the authors point out that switching from First Class to Coach travel, reducing out of town allowances, and reducing social/entertaing expenses are not good for employee morale but lower costs.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Must Have Consulting Playbook
Purba and Delaney offer a powerful playbook for creating and delivering customer solutions that exceed customer expectations and result in outstanding customer satisfaction.
Rating: 5 out of 5
An excellent resource!
This book is a must for anyone working in IT. Full of practical advice and information, the book is also an engaging read. I plan to apply the valuable information I obtained from "High-Value IT Consulting" to my business. Similar Products
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Book Index