When are the best times to engage another point of view? And Why?
Forgetting for the moment that we at Tantramar Group are your best choice in all situations :-), there are four reasons:
- A Second Opinion**
- Project or Program Management
- Intelligent Arms and Legs
- Niche Expertise*
- Item 4*: “Niche Expertise” – applies to people and teams that are specialized in a “process” as much as an “industry” or “technical area”, for example:
- in operations, working through and mapping out a process to find gaps is an example,
- ‘moderating’/’facilitation’
- professional coaching to navigate difficult conversations
- knowledge areas such as predictive analytics, contact centers, security
- Item 1: ** This comes in 2 flavors: i) you are sure you know the story but just want to double-check, or ii) you are interested in a fresh look and don’t have a pre-conceived idea. Every once in a while, you may hear something you didn’t expect!
Sample Customer Stories
Example #1: A client is looking for a project lead for 1-2 years: When the project is done, there will not be ongoing work, and the skill sets needed are not easily adaptable to the day-to-day operation of the business. Other types of people like this “maintaining” work better, and the “change agent” you want to come in and “push everyone along” to get things done may not fit your long-term culture. Short-term, however, she is a great choice for moving things along not only more quickly, but also more effectively, as she would have lead other projects elsewhere.
Example #2: A client is looking to keep a big consulting firm honest, but not knowing the industry, doesn’t know what half of the “assumptions” in the $XX M proposal mean. Nor how best to understand who should do what, nor which people being proposed are a good fit for the work, and which are “filler”. A consultant who has worked for such a larger firm in the past can identify the opportunities for tightening up the professional agreement, help to confirm requirements and scope and help you get them written down (because when things get ugly with a large consulting firm, what’s written down matters a great deal), and help confirm which people are best in which roles. This is like hiring a general contractor to supervise the plumbers and electricians and carpenters in your home; they know what’s involved, roughly what things should cost, and would have seen many of the issues before.
Example #3: A client wants to improve the productivity of their customer service function. In a short period of time, a consultant can review operations, study the numbers, and prepare a summary of where things stand relative to where things could instead be going. This type of review would typically involve a review of People, Process, Technology & Infrastructure, and it’s goal typically is to improve your bottom line by helping you to manage the middle-line (your expenses) differently, and/or help you to accomplish more with less. Often incentive programs change, new reporting is needed, and certain processes, technology and operational practices are due for an update.
Example #4: You need a new system built and aren’t sure if you need to build, borrow or buy one.
Example #5: Your start-up is struggling and you want an outside opinion on what your options might look like.
Example #6: You are getting involved with a new niche area, such as:
- Predictive Analytics & Performance Pattern Analysis,
- Cloud Services, (Cloud applications and infrastructure)
- Robotic Process Automation,
- Machine Learning and AI
And you need some smart people in your corner to help you figure what’s real, and what’s not.
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And that’s just to give you an idea.
But if you have a potential worry, concern or issue, and you want to hear how we can help, tell us about it!
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Why Tantramar Group? We’re do excellent work, just ask Our Customers.
And you’re in Good Company.
While confidential, our client list is a who’s who of North American business and we are proud to have served in both the United States and Canada to firms in Energy and Utilities, Financial Services & Insurance, Transportation & Command Centers, Retail, and Media & Entertainment to Billion $ Corporations and projects from ~$500K to ~$5 Billion.
Contact us today. Thank you.
Unpacked. Understood. Delivered.
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