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Former Member

Since the creation of the first hand axe and fire pit millions of years ago, technology has been associated with evolution and change. This is still the case today, but there is a slight difference. Technology is not the only thing creating market and business change – it’s also the way people and businesses consume them.


And this single truth is becoming increasingly clear when IT services work with businesses of all sizes, industries, and geographies. Sure, it’s still expected that every deployment is completed on time and within budget. But business leaders are also demanding complete solutions that produce clear business results and competitive advantage – immediately. But can service consultants truly deliver the promised business outcome?

Along with new technology, buying habits are shifting towards platform-based innovations designed to capitalize on breakthroughs such as in-memory computing, enterprise mobility, cloud, and predictive analytics solutions. While these technologies accelerate business decision making and execution, they are quite complex and require business process experts who can streamline and simply the implementation. These service consultants can help business leaders choose the right solution(s), deploy the software with minimal disruption, and train business users.

5 ways your business can benefit from IT services

The ability to assess and build a clear business case and road map is critical to making the right technology investment and putting it to good use. In fact, the analyst firm PAC predicted that spending on IT services related to enterprise mobility and cloud technology will grow by more than 20 percent worldwide through 2017. Meanwhile, more and more companies expect to hire service consultants to tackle these breakthrough technologies.

While some executives are just learning about the critical first steps to implementing new technology, there are others who are already relying on service experts who can simplify the process and reduce headaches.

Here’s a short list of the key advantages these businesses are realizing right now:


1. Adding value with every customer interaction

Consultants are expected to do more than just troubleshoot and resolve issues. Executives depend on them to understand how they can benefit from the latest technology innovations as it relates to their unique business requirements.

When a business hires a consulting team for a thorough review of its IT systems, they rely on these experts to draw from a history of project success to create future value. Consultants are asked to give an aerial view – from beginning to end – of the business situation and pinpoint key areas that should be addressed to gain new capabilities. With a focus on value, they can guide businesses as they transform current processes and establish new ones in ways never before considered. 

2. Developing a holistic solution that addresses business needs

Every business has very specific issues. And for the most part, executives can articulate those needs to guide a project – but only from a high-level view. Very rarely do they know the specific untapped possibilities that exist.


No matter the industry, it’s critical to understand the unique potential for new competitive advantage. With solution and industry experts who possess a wealth of knowledge, an IT service engagement provides an opportunity to resolve those problems and creatively address areas that hadn’t been considered before.

For example, one of my company’s service consultants was assigned to help a utility business. In addition to reviewing and streamlining core business processes, he proposed predictive analytics functionality that could enable the utility to predict which transformers were most likely to fail. Even though this topic was not on their radar, the executive team decided to put the solution into action. As a result, the utility is gaining a loyal following by sending their technicians to service the transformer before it fails and leaves customers without power.

3. Facilitating a consistent delivery method that yields expected outcomes

Working across industries and companies of all sizes, service consultants are exposed to different business challenges. But they can also see similarities across the gamut of their client base.

With this experience, consultants can engineer services and apply them to their client’s implementation. These services facilitate a consistent delivery method that offers a predictable outcome. And for your business, this means transparency, faster delivery, and lower costs.

4. Innovating continuously with constructive project feedback

Because they know what works and what doesn’t, service consultants are the backbone of technology innovation. They understand firsthand how a variety of technology performs in real-world situations and bridge the gap between vision and reality. By using these insights to fine-tune solutions and improve the user experience, these consultants act as a liaison between the teams that develop the solutions and the customers that use them.


5. Getting support with a human touch

At the end of the day, it is real human beings who select, implement, train, and maintain these solutions. Don’t they deserve support with a human touch?

This is where the real value of IT services comes into play. By building a trusted relationship with a consultant, businesses can benefit from a comprehensive, up-to-date working body of knowledge – something that is very hard to find in today’s talent pool. Whether a company deploys a new cloud solution, mobile application, or other innovation, the service consultant specialized in these solutions can provide the internal IT team personalized help quickly and with greater success.


For as many companies who stand to benefit from the latest technology, there are companies who will misuse them. But when a company applies the expert guidance of an IT services consultant, the resulting transformation is nothing short of game changing.