If you’re a consultant or have ever been on the other side of the table working with consultants, you know that companies are always in a love-hate relationship with consultants.

On the one hand, there are these examples where consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Bain were like a breath of fresh air that could bring in necessary results and turn things around at P&G, Samsung & Dell.

On the other hand, there are horror stories at organizations about consultants who promised the world and delivered nothing, such as Accenture’s work with the UK’s National Health Service, Deloitte’s work with the US Department of Homeland Security, and so on.

Consulting has always been a hot topic, and whether it’s a necessary evil continues to be a topic of debate in boardrooms and among C-suite executives.

Just like how this 2-min speech on consultants by Steve Jobs at MIT opened for debates from different quarters 👇🏼

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Some consulting engagements fail to live up to their potential for various reasons including – companies not taking into account the valuable insights of their own employees and instead placing their trust in external consultants who lack understanding of the industry and company.

And all too often, companies are left with nothing more than a fancy deck of slides in return from consultants.

But… Is that the nature of consulting today?

The hard reality is – Yes.

In many cases, the nature of consulting stops at the ‘implementation’ phase with consultants refraining from ownership at the later stages. These consultants can’t differentiate the wheat from chaff and be a valuable asset to their clients.

However, engaging with our clients as consultants over the years for software quality assignments, we have been witnessing the role evolve slowly and dynamics change.

At Zuci, we believe in the idea – “Skin in the Game”, which stands strong on the foundation called – ‘immersive ownership’ where consultants role goes beyond putting together a deck that carry suggestions & recommendations.

This means that as a consultant — we have a proven track record of solving complex issues by immersing ourselves in various projects in different scenarios. we have gained valuable insights from our experience that allows us to decipher what strategies are effective, which ones are not, and why we have a vested interest in the client’s project’s success.

It reminds us of the time when one of our customers, an US-based e-commerce solution provider approached us initially for an 8-week software QA consultation which later transpired to becoming one of the lasting partnerships till date.

From our experience we could say that companies seek our QA consultants’ expertise to seek solutions in these areas: People, Process & Technology.

And though oftentimes implementing new technology may appear to be the solution to many business or product quality problems, it is crucial to consider the long-term effects.

Similar to a band-aid on a wound, technology may provide a temporary fix; however, it does not address the root cause of the injury.

Companies know the value our consultants can bring as diagnosticians in identifying and resolving complex quality problems, situations/injuries.

However, we often ask ourselves — Is it truly possible to provide solutions to problems that many times have to do with people, process and not technology?

It’s a tricky manoeuvre, but the upside is — we have the advantage of being above office politics and can provide valuable insights and perspectives from our wider field of experience. We also have the ability to break away from bad decisions and cut corners that test engineers may be forced to make, no matter what industry they operate in.

There’s one most important rule of thumb to be followed.

To be a valuable consultant or a consulting partner, one must be, first and foremost, a good listener.

Seek first to understand, then to be understood

So, what does Zuci do differently?

Vasu’s approach to QA consultation has been simple and straightforward. During his tenure, he’s also trained his team mates on how to add value to any consulting exercise by following these mantras.

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Question For You:

What’s one thing you think consultants could do better? Just curious!

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