While remote consulting arrangements can reduce costs, they also require special attention from project managers and team leads. Project managers unused to managing off-site consultants may find it a challenging endeavor fraught with unseen issues. Getting the most out of your remote consultants requires a detailed plan of action.

Adam Marcus, director of business improvement at remote consulting vendor Symmetry Corporation, offers a four-step process for assessing, selecting, launching, and maintaining a remote consulting relationship (Figure 1). 

Figure 1

Four steps for engaging remote consulting

Step 1. Define Your Requirements

If your company is considering hiring a remote consulting firm to lower costs, self-analysis is key to figuring out what kind of arrangement to secure. An honest assessment of your company’s needs and capabilities will help determine whether remote consulting is the proper path.

For example, companies that require help with a short-term technical project might be better off hiring an on-site consultant for one week, while companies looking for a long-term, service-type relationship can save money with a remote consulting firm.

“The big piece of the requirement stage is making sure that remote consulting can fit with the organization’s needs,” says Marcus. “What is the project team like? Do you have experience working in remote relationships? Who is involved? Is this an augmentation for your internal staff only? Are you supplementing an existing project involving other firms as well?”

Once you have a firm grasp of the project or operational needs to be addressed, you can begin to assess the typical remote consulting arrangements available from most providers. Some typical remote consulting offerings include ad hoc consulting, in which consultants are made available to the IT staff as needed at hourly rates, and managed services, in which some or all IT services are handled remotely. Those services are often billed at a fixed flat rate.

One of the most common mistakes companies make when defining requirements, Marcus says, is viewing the remote consulting relationship as they would a strictly technical engagement from a hardware vendor.

“I do think that customers often fail to grasp the potential of forming a team-like relationship with the consulting firm, and the added benefits that can be gained,” says Marcus.

Step 2. Select the Right Firm

Once you have decided on your requirements, it is time to assess different remote consulting firms. Marcus cites several factors that companies should keep in mind when considering firms, including:

• Remote experience. Remote consulting requires a different skill set and support infrastructure than on-site consulting, according to Marcus. Some consulting firms — including large firms that specialize in on-site consulting — will attempt to locate a remote consultant by request, but those firms are typically not structured appropriately to deliver high-quality remote consulting services.
  
  Companies should ask potential firms specific questions to assess their experience in remote consulting: How many remote consulting clients does the firm have? Has the firm created and documented procedures for handling the needs of a remote consulting client? What communication channels are available to remote clients? Are the consultants themselves experienced with remote clients? What is the process for escalating emergency issues? How deep is the experience among the remote consulting group?
  
  “There isn’t a consultant out there who knows everything. And if there is only one resource a firm can allocate for you and there’s a problem, you’re basically left empty-handed,” says Marcus.

• Time zone issues. Depending on your needs, time zone differences between your company and the remote consulting firm can prove to be critically important or utterly irrelevant.
  
  “It depends on the type of work,” says Marcus. “I think people are comfortable looking offshore if all they need is some programming — that’s not really a problem. But if there is project work involved, you may find yourself communicating with the system maintenance team with a 12-hour gap in time zones. That can be a real problem.”
  
  These issues can be exacerbated during a project scenario, as support teams at remote sites may change personnel in shifts. The team that was there during the morning might not be the same at night, which can cause problems if the latter doesn’t fully understand the technical issues with which your company is dealing, according to Marcus.

• Methods of communication. As any broken-hearted romantic can tell you, the key to a successful long-distance relationship is communication. When it comes to remote consulting, it is important to find a firm that meets your company’s communication needs and limitations.
  
  For example, your project may require near-constant interaction with the remote consultant. If the remote consultant is in a separate time zone, this can create some problems if email is not a sufficient communication channel to meet your needs. You may also wish to communicate via collaboration software such as Microsoft Sharepoint.
  
  Your company may also require formal controls over communication of requests and issues. It is important that you are aware of these restrictions before planning a communication strategy with the remote consulting firm.
• On-site availability. While minimizing travel costs is a key driver for selecting remote consulting, you may still need on-site help on occasion. Marcus suggests ensuring that on-site services will be available if necessary.
  
  “Depending on the type of firm you’re working with, they may be able to field people for on-site meetings or place a consultant on-site when needed,” he says. “People often think that remote equals off-shore, but that’s not always the case. You just have to make sure you know who will be coming if you need help. Is it the consultant or someone else? What is the turnaround?”

• Accurate billing and cost information. One of the major advantages of remote consulting is that most firms are capable of billing by the hour, rather than in 8-hour or 40-hour minimum blocks . In a stable environment, Marcus says, this can dramatically reduce the cost to the client by charging them only for what they need.
  
  When assessing a remote consulting firm, it is important to understand the available billing options and select the right one for your company’s needs. For example, hourly billing may be more expensive than predicted if the SAP environment is not stable. Reputable remote consulting firms will offer accurate predictions of cost, and will often agree to flat-rate contracts based on those predictions.
  
  “Instead of having someone on site for a year to do a month’s worth of work, you just pay for what you need. That’s a big value proposition that firms like ours bring to the table,” says Marcus.

Step 3. Prepare for Kickoff

Once you have selected an appropriate firm for your remote consulting engagement, it is critical to prepare thoroughly for the kickoff of the project or engagement. The remote consulting arrangement should be included in the initial team design phase of the project (Figure 2).

Figure 2

Designing the project team

Marcus suggests that, whenever possible, the project team include a member in the same geographical area as the remote consultant. This can facilitate communication and on-site visits.

Whether it is the project manager or another person, Marcus says someone must serve as the point person for communications among the different groups, including the remote consultants. While the project leads, management, and technical staff should be aware of the terms of the remote consulting agreement, the point person should be the primary conduit for requests and updates.

It is also important to remember that the point person serves a dual purpose. Not only does he funnel information and requests to the remote consultants, but he also carries information back to his team.

“When we have issues with one of our clients, it’s usually because people in their organization are not on the same page with what’s going on between us. That causes us grief, but it also causes the point person grief because they are responsible for dealing with the consultants,” says Marcus.

The remote consulting firm should play a role in the project kickoff meeting, according to Marcus. The meeting should serve not only as an introduction of the primary players, but also as a time for the remote consultants to clearly define the terms of the consulting arrangements for all players — to avoid possible confusion.

“When someone on the client side doesn’t understand what the arrangement is, they may ask for something that we can’t provide or have been told not to provide. So making sure everyone knows the arrangement is one way to save a lot of grief on both sides and keep things more productive,” says Marcus.

The consulting group should prepare a presentation for the rest of the team spelling out the tasks it will perform during the project, according to Marcus. Both sides should also discuss escalation procedures in case issues arise that require management input on either side.

The kickoff meeting should also result in a clear plan for ongoing status update meetings.

Step 4. Maintain the Relationship

Because remote consultants aren’t privy to “water cooler meetings” or impromptu lunch conversations, effective and repeated communication is critical to the ongoing success of the arrangement, says Marcus. An effective communication strategy will employ several elements, including:

• Status meetings. Even if there has not been much movement on a project, it is important to adhere to a routine of weekly or bi-weekly status update meetings with the remote consultant. The point person on the project team and a primary contact from the remote consulting firm should participate regularly, while other team members should join occasionally to provide further details.
  
  “You should also set up larger meetings with the whole team at least twice a year,” says Marcus. “Faces may change, and people forget things — you have to sit down and have a little refresher to make sure everyone knows everyone else and the rules of engagement. It’s well worth the effort.”

• Issues and accountability. One of the keys to effective communication is knowing who, precisely, is responsible for each task during the project. Each task or issue should be assigned to a specific team member, either on the remote consulting side or the client side, according to Marcus.
  
  Of course, those responsibilities must then be tracked. Collaboration tools such as Microsoft SharePoint or Basecamp make these assignments easily accessible.

• Documentation. Keeping a record of issues and actions is important to any project, but essential when collaborating with off-site consultants. Often, companies will work with more than one remote consulting firm, all of whom must be kept informed through email distribution lists and constant communication.
  
  Marcus recommends that clients working with multiple remote consultancies work hard to gather all parties together physically at least once before the project begins.
  
  “It’s difficult, but it’s much better to go through the initial work of getting that set up than to deal with the cleanup,” he says.

Davin Wilfrid

Davin Wilfrid was a writer and editor for SAPinsider and SAP Experts. He contributed case studies and research projects aimed at helping the SAP ecosystem get the most out of their existing technology investments.

If you have comments about this article or publication, or would like to submit an article idea, please contact the editor.