I had a discussion with a local construction expert about expectations when hiring a contractor. One of those expectations was the need for a consultative approach.
I was looking for someone to restore an old hardwood door and casing and posted a simple ad on a Facebook group asking for a referral. Someone responded, saying they could do it. I said great, can you show me some pictures of restorations you have done and give me a ballpark estimate. The person replied, asking if the problem in my picture was that the door didn’t close… I nearly fell off my chair… This is a major red flag obviously. Not unlike some of the responses from so-called Ivanti Consultants by title, but not by experience or skill set!
This is where the story takes an interesting turn. My friend, a local construction & renovation expert, said it was my fault for not clearly outlining what needed to be done. Step by step. Sand the door, what varnish, how many coats, replace the hinges or not, etc etc. In other words a detailed work-break-down structure without a scope of work, without a roadmap, without a consultation. (Another serious red flag) Last but not least, only an untrained eye would be unable to get an idea what needed to be done to restore my door. A professional, or at least someone with a few wooden door restorations under their belt would easily spot the various issues and provide a professional assessment.
This really took me by surprise as the contractors I hire provide basic consultations. As in, we can do x, y, or z, and here are the differences and reasons why you’d pick x, y, or z over the others based on your scope of work and requirements. Here are some pictures of the before and after. Opposed to the yes we can do that, but you need to tell me exactly what you want approach which is a surefire-fail in so many ways. It’s not unlike saying to your mechanic that you need an oil change and the mechanic should consult with you on any choices (like synthetic vs regular) and do some basic investigation to determine if an oil change is even needed. Opposed to asking how many liters of oil your car needs, where to find the oil pan, and how to do the job. Of course those type of contractors/mechanics are quite quickly dismissed with the old, let me think about it and get back to you…
In other words, as a customer (Service Desk Manager, CIO, CTO, etc) you don’t have to be and quite frankly shouldn’t be the Ivanti ITSM/ITAM subject matter expert. The Ivanti Consultant (Contractor) needs to be able to provide you with direction, advice, and guidance based on decades of experience and many dozens of implementations and is the ultimate Ivanti Subject Matter Expert.
Furthermore, it’s the consultant’s job to ask the right questions to ascertain what the detailed scope of work is based on the customer’s requirements, scope, direction, present, and future state.
Unfortunately, that’s usually not the case. You see most so-called Ivanti Consultants (by title, not by skill-set and experience) are typically developers and possess a factory line worker mentality, as in sure we can do x, y, z without providing any consultation. With only one goal in mind. Billable hours. Those are the type of mechanics and contractors you don’t want working for you.
Ivanti Consultants are just glorified developers and worker bees with a nice title. What you really should be looking for is a freelancer that can give you advice and offer a consultative approach based on their decades of Ivanti HEAT ITSM/ITAM experience and overwhelming number of reputable Ivanti Implementations.
So forget about the paint-by-number developers and take your Ivanti Neurons for ITSM/ITAM implementation level and contact me. With 28+ years Ivanti HEAT ITSM/ITAM experience and 100+ Ivanti Implementations worldwide, including Fortune and Global 500 companies, I’m confident I can assist you!
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YOUR ITSM IMPLEMENTATION?
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- Less Overhead
- Less Status Calls
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- In fact, twice the results, in half the time, at a quarter of the budget
ITSM Discovery Session
The purpose of the discovery session is to set the wheels in motion, get to know one another, and determine the who, where, what, when, and why of your ITSM Project needs with the goal of establishing a roadmap to help you achieve maximum results and ROI by streamlining your business processes and fine-tuning your ITSM system.
Attendees should be the project owner/decision maker.
Topics covered range from Incident Management, Change Management (Change Control), Problem Management, CMDB, Hardware Asset Management, Asset Bar Code Scanning, Software Asset Management, Software Inventory and Entitlements, Contract Management, Procurement, Service Requests, Request Offerings, Customer Self-Service Customer Support Portals, Email Summaries, Reports, SLAs, OLAs, Dashboards, Analytic Metrics, Workflows, Training strategy.
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