Chances are, if the firm excels at a particular skillset, they are profitably doing business as specialists and will not need to overly diversify their technology offering. However, some firms offer a full range of services at varying levels of diversity. Consider the following scenario:
You go to visit your knee doctor. It comes up during your exam that you’re looking to update your will. “Did you know that we’re now writing wills here too? Yep, we’re really looking to be a provider of all your ‘getting old’ needs.” After inquiring what other services the doctor’s company offered, you find out that she would also build your house, plan your retirement, and book your cruise.
Specialists are highly trained in their area of specialty and do not need to stray from their primary focus to be successful or provide a high value to their clients. Jacks of all trade are masters of none.
IT + Software Firms
One such “Jack of all Trade” in software consulting is the IT firm that also offers computer programming services. The danger here is that most firms with a dual focus are primarily IT shops with one or two programmers on staff. The challenge can be that the salespeople, used to selling IT solutions, do not understand software and are not qualified software project managers. This can result in “oversold” software projects and questionable code quality. In addition, turnover is a very high risk because software developers do not have career growth opportunities at a company that does not specialize in software.
Design + Software Firms
Again here the danger is that the firm is primarily a design firm, with less of a focus on software application development. Firms that lack a specific talent in software are not going to be able to offer the best advice to a customer on technical matters. Most design firms subcontract to independent software developers, often working with different resources on different projects, due to continuity problems. For this reason, the design firm may introduce the resource as “their software guy” or say something like, “Jack handles our database work.” Do not be afraid to inquire as to whether “Jack” is an employee, or as to how many projects like yours “Jack” and the firm have completed successfully together.
IT + Software + Design + SEM/SEO Firms
If the firm claims 5-6 core competencies, and has 20 employees, that’s 2-3 specialists per competency, considering several project managers and administrative staff needed to support a typical midsized firm. The danger here is that it is extremely difficult, if not nearly impossible, for an individual to master and stay current on more than one of these skillsets, as they are each broad, incorporating diverse knowledge and experience bases, many of which are constantly evolving.
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