Goldilocks Principle for Consulting Partner Selection

Mike Ettling, CEO of Unit4, recently wrote about the Goldilocks Principal for Consulting Partner Selection, as it relates to software selection.  The premise is that every midsize enterprise can thrive when it stops taking a ‘one size fits all’ approach to technology. This concept not only applies to technology, but to the consulting partner and project plan used to implement software.

Goldilocks Principle for Consulting Partner Selection: Explained

In the children’s story “The Three Bears“, Goldilocks tastes three different bowls of porridge and finds she prefers porridge that is neither too hot nor too cold, but has just the right temperature. At Raven Intel, we’ve seen how important the Goldilocks Principle for Consulting Partner Selection, and the right fit for an Enterprise Software project is (and how having the wrong fit can end up becoming a real ‘bear’!).

Goldilocks Principle for Consulting Partner Selection: “BETTER”

Every company and project is different, but there are 6 standard areas that should be considered regardless of whether you’re about to implement a new global ERP or migrate to a new platform with your current software vendor.  You can remember these critical areas through the “BETTER” acronym:

Breadth:  This is the size & scope of the Consulting organization itself.
Expertise: This relates to the expertise with your chosen software, as well as the expertise of the functional area within the business where your project lives.  It also includes expertise in your given industry as well.
Team:  These are the people who will be assigned to your project, including the lead (project manager) who will be responsible for the rollout.
Time:  This would be the time that is proposed for project completion & the responsibilities of your internal versus external resources.
Expense:  More than just the proposal cost, this is the expense that you should budget for (including potential change orders).  This area would also include evaluation of the proposal quality & due diligence done to ensure you have a good scope of work proposed up front.
Reviews:  This is the real, authentic & unfiltered voice of other customers that will serve as proof points that your chosen Consulting Firm will do what they say they can do.  The importance of knowing what your peers (how have gone through a project like yours) are saying is critical.

Breadth.

Just because you recognize a Consulting partner’s name from their advertisements at the airport or because your software salesperson brought them to your door doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re your best options. Conversely, a boutique vendor might not have the capabilities or capacity to handle your project depending on its scale.  There is no clear pattern that indicates larger, well-known consulting firms produce better project outcomes for their clients, but in some cases their larger, global footprint may offer capabilities that smaller partners can’t.

Questions to ask your consulting partner:

> How many full-time employees do you have? What is the composition of employees in the geographies of your project?
> How many certified resources do you have within my chosen software? Do you use subcontractors for projects like mine?

Red Flags:
> You’re a small fish in an ocean, or you’re a whale in a pond.  You don’t want to be a firm’s biggest client, but you also don’t want to be the smallest either. Your consulting firm should feel somewhat similar to the composition of your company (or at least have plenty of references of customers of your size & geography).
> Inexperience in the regions that your project is located in.
> Firms that rely on subcontractors for software project work.

Expertise.

Your potential partner should be able to point to specific projects (software, modules and geographic scope) that look similar to your project.  Similar industry expertise is important, but so is expertise with the functional areas of the product you’ll be installing. We heard from one customer who said the consulting firm they chose did great in North America, but the “wheels came off the bus” during the European roll-out.

Questions to ask your consulting partner:

> How many projects have you completed with the same software / modules / geography as ours?
> How long have you been implementing this specific cloud software?

Red flags:
> General statements about implementing “ERP” v. your chosen cloud software (e.g. SAP / Oracle on-prem vs. SAP SuccessFactors / Oracle HCM Cloud)
> Few specific project references (or consultant certifications) for the modules that are important to you.
> If your project is global–lack of actual in-country project experience or consultants.
> Lack of proof points around the quality of implementations of similar scope

Team.

No matter how strong a Consulting organization is, the quality of your project is going to be based on the team that you are assigned. Many customers who have written reviews on Raven Intel recognized individual Consultant project leads by name as the most important reason for their satisfaction / project success.

There is much talk about the concept of choosing a partner for “cultural fit”, but what exactly does that mean?  It’s important that your organization “likes” the persona of a consulting firm, but it’s hard to truly know how that feeling will mature during the actual project.  Many times the team that you “like” during the sales process are totally different than who you get during implementation, as Consulting firms assign resources based upon capacity.  Industry expert Brian Sommer says, “the wanting and the gettin’ are 2 different things.”  Depending on a firm’s workload, staffing, and when you sign an agreement with them, you may not get the resources you thought you would.

Raven Stat:  Raven Intel’s peer reviews show average Team Consistency = 60% (in 40% of Enterprise Software projects, SI teams change some or multiple times).

Questions to ask your consulting partner:

>Is the team we met during evaluation process going to be who I get during my actual project?
>Where is my team located?  How often will they be on-site? Or will this be a totally remote deployment (which in 2021 is most likely)?
> What is your team turnover rate?  How often does a team change during a project?
>How many other projects will they be working on at the same time?
>What type of background do they have?  Are they recent college grads or HR functional experts?

Red flags:
>The sales team (v. actual Consultants) are doing most of the talking.
>The Consulting firm makes no guarantees about who is going to be assigned to the project or who does not provide team consistency rates / guarantees in team composition.
>The Consulting firm has no in-country resources in or near the countries you have a big footprint in.

Time.

Pay close attention to how much time a Consulting Firm takes with you to truly understand your needs and do a proper discovery to estimate the project timeline.  Firms who promise ‘rapid deployments’ without doing a proper due diligence and scoping fail to deliver projects 90% on-time and rarely end up with satisfied customers.  One Raven reviewer who just completed a Phase 1, full HCM global install said, “plan on 1.5x the amount of time you think it is going to take you to implement your system, then double that.”  We hear this regularly on project reviews.  In general, if you have a specific date you need your project live, plan on a nice cushion beyond the estimate.

Raven Stat: Raven Intel’s peer reviews show an average On-Time Delivery of Enterprise Software projects is about 61%.

Questions to ask your consulting partner:
>What is the time required to do this project?
>How often does your firm deliver on-time?

Red Flags
>Firms that rush through discovery & promise a rapid deployment.
>Firms that don’t commit to timelines or measure their delivery rates.
>Firms that have habitually late delivery rates.

Expense.

How much is this going to cost?  Chances are if a Consulting firm can afford to advertise at the airport, they’re not going to be the least expensive option. Conversely, if a Consulting firm is coming in at rock-bottom prices, they might not be able to offer the breadth and depth of experience you need and that is a big risk as well.  Finding the right balance between your confidence in the the firm’s quality, capabilities and price is key.

Raven Stat: Raven Intel has found when projects go over budget by 25%+, customer satisfaction drops 2 points (out of 10).  That’s significant.  On-Budget Delivery averages 63%.

Questions to ask your consulting partner:

> Is this quote fixed-bid or time-and-materials?
> In previous projects like mine, what percent of projects did you deliver on-budget?
> How often do you have change orders in projects like mine?

Red Flags: 

> Firms that rush through discovery & promise a rock-bottom price.
> Firms that don’t commit to or measure their on-budget delivery rates.
> Firms that have many projects that go over budget 2x+.

Reviews.

The voice of the customer speaks volumes.  Prior to Raven Intel being founded 3 years ago, finding independent, unfiltered customer references about Consulting partners was like finding a needle in a haystack.  In many ways, it was easier to find a good local restaurant (on Yelp) than it was a partner who you’d entrust a huge project costing hundreds of thousands of dollars for!  We’ve changed all of that, making it easy and free for customers to read the reviews of peers who have gone through similar projects and know the real deal.  We’re not just measuring sentiment either–we have approximately 12 different project KPIs that you can look at for every project review at Raven Intel (more information here).

Questions to ask your consulting partner:

> Is my potential partner listed on Raven Intel?
> What are customers saying about their projects?  Were they delivered on-time? On-budget? What level of expertise did they bring? What were the lessons learned? How were projects scoped? How did the partner handle challenges?

Red Flags: 

> Firms who are not listed on Raven Intel or have no reviews (it’s free for consulting firms to do both!).

Goldilocks Principle for Consulting Partner Selection: Wrap Up

The combination of “just right” software and the right partner is essential for long-term Enterprise Software success.  Every project and company is different, so taking the time to test out all of your options and ask the hard questions during the selection phase will pay off in the end. Raven Intel is here to help research your options and provide proof points to help you make your decision.