Windows 2000 Advantage - Columns - A contractor or a consultant -- How to decide

Sometimes you need to hire both. What are the differences between these important third parties?

I am frequently asked by clients to explain the differences between consultants and contractors. Many—if not all—medium and large companies with an IT department frequently use these third parties. It's important for me to state up-front that I'm a professional consultant. That said, these differences are important for IT leaders to understand, and I hope I can shed some light on the topic.

The line between the roles of a consultant and a contractor is thin—and sometime it blurs. Some of the more experienced and business-minded contractors may be able to provide some of the services normally provided by a consultant. A consultant, however, should always be able to fill a contractor's position.

What is a contractor?

When hiring a contractor, you typically deal with one of the many "body shops" and review a handful of resumes. You then select the individuals whom you are interested in interviewing based entirely on their specific job skills. For example, if you know you need a Visual C++ programmer, you try to identify someone with Visual C++ experience.

The people you interview in this way are effectively individual contractors represented by a larger contracting agency. As their contract with you approaches its end, they are likely to begin looking for their next assignment, since they are typically paid by the hour, and only for those hours billed. Their next assignment may well be through a different contracting company.

When dealing with contractors, you will find that they typically do only the task or tasks that you assign them, leaving you in total control of the project scope, deadlines, and budget. This can be a very beneficial relationship for you, your company, and the contractor.

What is a consultant?

Now that we have taken a look at the role of a contractor, some of you may wonder, "I have people just like that who call themselves consultants. How is a consultant different?"

A consultant is a full-service, experienced professional who walks in with a broad range of skills and a good business perspective. An effective consultant is better able to advise you about different technologies, and the advantages and disadvantages of each when applied to your business situation. A consultant is able to assist you with strategic planning and goal setting, provide full life-cycle support, and help you meet your deadlines. In this way the consultant shares, and in some cases owns, responsibility for the success of the project.

Consultants should not only accomplish the immediate task at hand, but also provide a complete business solution, making your job as an IT manager easier. They may add enough value to a project to effectively put themselves out of a job!

In most cases, consultants work for a large, diverse consulting company. This gives them the technical and business backing of a large organization. This in turn enables them to draw on a substantial pool of talent, both in technical and business arenas. The relationship between you and a consultant is much more than a relationship between two individuals; your relationship extends to the entire consulting organization. This type of relationship often lasts longer and is beneficial to all involved.

Which should you use and when?

Deciding whether you should hire a contractor or use the services of a consultant is not always an easy choice. At times, you may feel that you need someone who commands a specific skill set—as a contractor does—to work on a new project when the business goals and objectives are not yet clearly defined. However, in cases like this, in which there are clearly important business decisions to make and goals to set, the services of a consultant are likely to be the most beneficial to your company.

When you have an existing system and you need a programmer to maintain it and perform minor updates to the application, a contractor is likely to be sufficient. A consultant may be more beneficial if you intend to rewrite an existing application or add extra functionality, as you would in moving an application from a mainframe environment to a Web-based environment.

Even in cases in which you feel you have a firm grasp on the business and technical aspects of a new project, you should still consider employing the services of a consultant. For example, let's say that you have already analyzed your requirements for a particular business application and have decided that you will need three Visual BASIC developers, a SQL Server DBA, and one Visual C++ developer. You may already have some of these available on staff, but could supplement your regular staff with one or two contractors. Alternatively, you may be able to find a consultant who can fulfill the role of the Visual C++ developer, and can also take a more proactive role in the overall development of your business application. In this case, a good consultant would perform the specific tasks required while keeping a lookout for potential problems and helping ensure that you meet your business goals.

In situations where you have identified a new IT project, but are unclear about which options best suit your needs, a consultant may be able to help you make the right decision for your business. Larger consulting companies partner with many of the major vendors and usually have experts in each technology on staff, so they are better able to recommend alternative solutions that meet your business requirements.

In summary, some of the more experienced and business-minded contractors may be able to provide some consultant-style services. However, a good consultant should usually be able to fill a contractor-type position. In addition, a consultant can help identify potential problems before they occur, offer superior efficiency and productivity, and take full responsibility for the success of the project.