The need for speed
There's a reason for that. IT managers, said Steve Gold, managing director of the supply chain practice at KPMG Consulting, in New York, no longer look to consultants and integrators just for objective, detailed analysis of the best technol ogy products to meet business needs. Now, he said, his clients' first priority is to get a set of preintegrated applications that can deliver business value quickly.
"Our clients are not willing to wait a year or two years to integrate a tool," Gold said. "Those days are over."
So, service providers said they'll continue to align themselves closely with vendors. It's necessary, they said, to tap into the technological resources of vendors and train teams of implementers quickly.
When deciding whether to form an alliance with a vendor, KPMG Consulting follows a set of requirements. KPMG needs to have a track record of interest in the product, with at least three large clients running it and at least 100 consultants trained on it, Gold said. He estimated that KPMG has about 40 alliances with vendors, with the top five, such as with Cisco, generating the bulk of revenues.
"We're stringent in who we want to align with, or otherwise it's just market hype," he said.
At the same time, consultants said they are not about to force a vendor on clients. Many said they specifically strive to have multiple partnerships within product categories. Most, such as Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, will align with all the top technology platform companies.
"Most consultants don't want to get too close to one vendor," Consulting Information Services' Rodenhauser said. "There's this dance that's been going on between consultants and vendors in how closely can they align to the point where the client still views the consultant as objective."
Although Cap Gemini Ernst & Young has at least 300 vendor alliances, not all are created equal. Cap Gemini Ernst & Young classifies alliances into three categories, and at the top are six premier alliances with such large vendors as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Sun.
Along with the premier alliances, Cap Gem ini has two other types of alliances: strategic and emerging, said Chell Smith, a senior vice president at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, in Chicago.
The premier group is the most select and is where Cap Gemini Ernst & Young makes the largest commitment to consultant training in vendor-specific technologies. Strategic alliances tend to be more vertical-industry-oriented, and emerging alliancesâ€" the most numerousâ€"have the least investment.
As much as consultants may stand to benefit financially through alliances, they also have an interest in retaining client trust and appearing vendor-agnostic, experts say. They have been fairly open about their partnerships, often advertising them widely. What usually is left unanswered is what the alliance means, particularly the financial arrangements between parties, Rodenhauser said. That's where IT managers need to ask the tough questions.
"We are upfront to clients about what alliances we have and in what spaces," Smith said. "This is not a hidden agenda by any means."
Ultimately, CIOs and IT managers must stay in command of projects done in collaboration with consultants, experts say. That's the surest way to catchâ€"and avoidâ€"any potential for conflict of interest.
Making yourself aware of the various integrator/ vendor alliances upfront is also the best way to learn where consulting companies have the greatest skill and expertise, said Rod Johnson, an analyst at AMR Research, in Boston.
"If you're looking for unbiased, independent advice, be careful that you do due diligence on what [the consultants] have to gain," Johnson said. "It may have less to do with the investments the companies have made, but the investments they've made in their people."
