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Consultants Role in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Purpose To educate client’s on how a consultant can play a cost-effective role in their SAP product’s Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) process. Perspective Defining the parameters of TCO is just as liberal as selecting a consultant to support the process. A client?s definition can be narrow or very broad, just as a consultants experience and knowledge. TCO definitions can be generic or very specific and the measurement structures associated with them very elaborate or simplistic. So which one is right? As most consultants will kid ? it depends! A valued consultant in TCO space is not always someone who needs to design a very sophisticated technology solution but one who can directional align TCO with the client?s degree of complexity and business process needs Featured Content Role of the TCO Consultant A TCO consultant can take on several roles that range from very basic to comprehensive. A very basic role for the consultant is to provide concepts, guidance and recommendations to a client on how to initiate and monitor TCO. A more comprehensive role would be to bring in best practices and tools to support TCO measurement, performance monitoring and reporting. If a client is thinking about making a major application investment and has yet to develop a business case, the TCO consultant can be engaged to identify the impact of planning, operating, maintenance, enhancement and decommissioning costs through its life-cycle. If a client has already prepared a business case, then the consultant can be engaged to validate the business case and define how costs and cost savings can be identified and tracked as part of the application life-cycle. In cases where an application has already been implemented, the consultant can bring in best practices, cost savings opportunities and recommendations on how to lower TCO. Their solutions should more than cover their engagement cost. Also, depending upon the client?s budget and access to internal resources, the consultant can play a guiding role or a hands-on role. Expectations of a TCO Consultant There should be some fundamental requirements that a client has of their TCO consultant that evolve around TCO knowledge, accounting practices and allocation methodologies. While a TCO consultant does not necessarily need to be an expert in the client?s business or processes, they do need to be savvy enough to ask the right questions and offer solid insights and opinions that lead to an implementable solution. Selecting a TCO Consultant So which consultant is right for you? Usually it is the consultant that provides the most value at a fair price. Since no two client implementations, policies and procedures are exact, the client should select a TCO consultant that understands the broad implications of TCO and can interpolate them into client specific needs. Expectations of the Consultant General expectations are that the TCO consultant can engage at any point in the client?s application life-cycle process. In doing so, the TCO consultant must be able to easily synthesize the current state of affairs, gather client requirements, define a To-Be design and provide a gap analysis. This will require the utilization of a ?formal? or repeatable process around scope definition, deliverables and schedule. Conclusion When picking a TCO consultant the client must determine just how sophisticated a solution they need. Usually the client?s planning and design for TCO can be satisfied by one on one consulting over a very short duration. Depending on the client requirements, the building of the solution may take more time and require additional consulting guidance. Since consultants and their claims come in all shapes and sizes, a client is best served by someone that wants to build a relationship with them and not treat the engagement as a transactional iteration. They should also select a TCO consultant that has hands-on experience in defining and managing TCO for a major application investment. This usually guarantees that the TCO consultant knows more than just the buzz words and jargon, and is not learning on the client?s time. About the SAP Practice We are one of the several practices that are part of Solomon Page Technology Solutions. Our SAP Practice placed its first consultants in 1999. We consistently seek to improve our SAP footprint to grow with our clients? need through the expansion of services and the creation of strategic alliances. We have built a database of many thousands of consultants, maintain a global presence and have opened direct access to C-level executives in a variety of industries. We offer a premium service at a valued price and are dedicated to building relationships around the world. Back to SAP Practice |
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