Tech Consultants: How To Tell The Good Ones From The Rotten Apples

Tech Consultants: How To Tell The Good Ones From The Rotten Apples Most independent insurance agencies cant afford to keep a full-time “systems person” on staff. Yes, there is usually a key employee within the agency charged with the responsibility of maintaining the systems infrastructure, but sometimes issues come up that are beyond that persons level of expertise.

When technology issues bring your agencys operations to a deadlock, it may be time to bring in a heavy hittera technology consultant.

Consultants are everywhere and will render their services in a variety of ways. These include consultations via the Internet, over the phone and in-personoften for a kings ransom. They will work diligently at your agency for weeks on end. But, finding a good consultant? Now thats a different story.

What should you look for in a consultant? Here are some attributes or indicators of a good consultant and a bad (some might say “evil”) consultant.

Good Consultant

Certifications: Using a Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) or Certified Netware Engineer (CNE) doesnt guarantee that a consultant knows what he or she is talking about. It doesnt guarantee an instant, inexpensive or otherwise blissful solution. It does, however, show that the consultant has demonstrated at least a minimum level of expertise in a certain area.

Technology is an incredibly broad field. For example, in-depth knowledge of network functionality and in-depth knowledge of software applications are completely different. Having a non-certified consultant wing it in your Windows 2000 Server environment because she thinks she saw an article on W2K server once in a magazine is not a good thing.

Relevant Industry Client Base: Ideally your consultant will have other clients in the insurance industry. Better yet, he will have other independent agency clients using the same agency management system. My agency consultants background includes working for an insurance company for eight years and for an agency for two years. He is also a CNE, and his entire client base is exclusively Applied Systems agencies. I feel very lucky to have his expertise in my agency.

Good Listening Skills: While this may seem obvious, oftentimes consultants have their own agendas. A good consultant will actively listen so she can accurately gauge the needs of the agency. Once the needs of an agency have been identified, a comprehensive action plan can be developed to address those needs.

Bad Consultant

Know It All: When your agency is evaluating a potential consultant, and he comes across as knowing everything there is to know about everything, thank him for his time and keep looking. Generally, these people will configure your system the way they think it should be configured, regardless of recommendations from your agency management system provider.

My consultant told me, “I cant tell you how many clients have brought me in to clean up another consultants mess. The agency management system vendor makes its installation guidelines available for a reasonthey are tested and they work, but these know-it-all types dismiss these guides, if they bother to read them at all, and merrily trash your investment.”

Everything Needs To Be Upgraded: While upgrades are inevitable, be wary of a consultant who tells you all your hardware is obsolete and needs to be replaced. She may be right, and youll want a second opinion. At least test what she says by comparing what you have for workstations and server to the specifications your agency management system suggests for “minimum hardware” and “recommended hardware.” Remember, consultants have a vested interest in installing more hardware. More hardware equals more billable hours.

Buying Technology Because Its Cool: Many agencies are migrating to a paperless environment. My consultant says more than 50 percent of his clients are totally paperless. While there are third-party solutions to going paperless, my reality is that everything my agency needs to go paperless is already included in my Applied Systems technology. It kills me when I hear agencies spending over $100,000 on neat technology when they didnt have to.

Consultants can be tremendously helpful in maintaining your existing systems environment, as well as implementing new technologies. Many consultants are worth their weight in gold. Just be sure your agencys needs match up with what a consultant can offer.

Moreover, consultants should be held to the sameif not higherstandards as in-house staff in terms of cost justifying expenditures and making a solid business case for technology investments.

Sallie Knighten (salliek@isusac.com) is operations manager of ISU Francis-Pinney Insurance Services, based in Roseville, Calif. She is president of Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based Applied Systems Client Network (ASCnet), the user group of Applied Systems technology.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, May 12, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.