Software Consulting and the Right Team
During our ongoing discussion on quality and custom software, Entrance’s software consulting team recently covered what we bring to the table for our clients.
As a buyer, you may have wondered why you should hire an outside programmer versus building an internal team. What follows is a four great reasons why the investment in software consulting is worth it for your company.
Exposure to Many Industries and Practices
As software consultants, we get exposed to many different companies and industries, so part of the value we bring to the table is our diversity of experience. Our clients may be asking for a specific request, in a specific way, because they are unaware of any other way to do things.
We can help them diversify their options by sharing our knowledge and experience from other clients and projects, especially when those clients and projects are in a different industry. Other industries may have been doing something for a long time, and consider it standard practice, but that same process could be a revolutionary innovation in a completely different industry.
As an example, think about FedEx, who applied a hub-and-spoke concept that revolutionized the overnight delivery industry.
Subject Matter Expertise
Yet another way we add value is by becoming a subject matter expert, either for an industry as a whole, for specific operations within an industry, or for a series of technologies. One specific place where Entrance shines in this regard is our deep expertise in oil and gas software and integration solutions.
Then we become advisors, coaches and mentors to our clients, thereby reducing their efforts to make decisions that are right for their company and industry.
Saving Time for the Tasks that Matter
One of the best value-adds our clients have seen from software consulting is that we can improve processes so that they can focus their energy on doing what they do to add value. Usually this is improving workflows or automating data gathering and reporting.
Over and over again, clients tells us, “This isn’t my job, this is just the stuff I have to get out of the way to GET TO my job.” A trusted team of software consultants can help your employees get past those road blocks that waste their time on a daily basis.
Beyond freeing up time that may have been spent on time-consuming tasks that don’t bring value, software consulting can also address problems that have been languishing at your business for a long time.
A lot of times, customers see a need for improvement, but do not have the capability to implement that improvement while also maintaining existing commitments. Frequently, we are in a position to take care of this without interrupting the normal flow of business.
Fresh Set of Eyes
When your company is dealing with a long-standing problem, a fresh outlook may be just what you need to get it solved. Far too often, people cannot get to the root of their own problems, which prevents them from coming up with insight that leads to worthwhile solutions.
Some people may not have a mindset of curiosity, others are uncomfortable with change, and many are too busy to dig deep and solve problems. As a result, companies tend to lean on tired solutions that only half work.
When an Entrance software consultant starts a new engagement, we focus on identifying how our clients deliver value to their customers, and then find the roadblocks that stand in the way of that happening. We use questions and our outsider perspective to break each piece down to its essential components and build it back up again in a way that is novel and valuable.
Turning Your Business Goals into Reality
As your company considers internal versus external resources for software, qualities like domain knowledge, inter-organizational experience, technical knowledge, and providing additional capacity to deliver solutions to match business initiatives should all be considered.
For more on how software consulting can help your company make decisions that are right for the business, check out our series, “Software Selection: Buy versus Build.”