Choosing an Internet Development Consultant

With the Internet boom taking off in a big way in India, most

companies want to jump on the Net bandwagon as soon as possible. However,

choosing the right person or team that can deliver what you envision can be a

tricky proposition.

The following points are more or less based on my experiences

as a technology consultant. I’m assuming that you’re new to the business of

computer consultants and that you don’t have a virtually bottomless budget to

advertise for one, or to call up the most expensive one. Here, I’ll try to

tell you what to look for, the right questions to ask, and how to proceed in

choosing a consultant for your Internet business.

Look around, ask around, read around



Try to get a feel of the Internet scene. Find out about consultants working in
different areas of Internet technology. Contact lists on Websites are a good

place to start, but remember that not all good Internet consultants even do

Websites. This is only meant as a good place to start.

Ask friends, colleagues, and relatives about consultants they

know. You may find it easier than you think. Everybody seems to know someone

"doing" computers nowadays, and the companies they work for might be a

good starting point. Remember that the number of clients that a consultant has

is not as important as the number of repeat clients. This is an indicator of how

satisfied customers have been with the work done.

Read the past few issues of popular computer magazines. Look

at the types of technologies being talked about, even if you are a novice. See

what the regular contributors write about and try to find a pattern there. Do

these patterns match what you have in mind? Contact them on e-mail to establish

a rapport. Many of us may give you some free advice on certain areas, especially

if you give us some useful feedback on any of our articles.

Maintain communication



Once you have a list of possible consultants for your project, open a
communication channel with them and maintain it. Ask them what they work on,

current projects they’re handling, etc. This will let you find out the kind of

actual work they are into. Ask them for references you can look up–published

material, stuff on the Web, or even other satisfied customers. Follow up these

references religiously. Make sure that the work they claim to be theirs is

actually theirs. Even, or especially, in the Internet world, unscrupulous

persons can pass off others’ work as their own.

Choose



To choose the correct consultant, you’ll need to know exactly what you’re
looking for. Do you need someone to create your Website with 100 pages of static

text and graphics, or is more dynamism needed in the form of database access,

search engines, and the like? Or are you concerned not with Web development, but

more with security-related aspects of the Internet, because you want to open

your internal company Web server to a select few customers and don’t want any

unauthorized persons coming in? Consultants can be specialists in some areas, or

experts in many. The communication you’ve had with them should have helped you

in establishing their strengths.

If required, call each one of them to present their core

areas of expertise. Do a little homework beforehand and be prepared yourself.

For example, if it’s a Web development project, ask them about their skills

and experience in technologies like ASP, PHP, XML, XSL, XSLT, etc. Everyone

knows PERL and Java applet programming, so that’s nothing great. Strengths in

packages like Adobe Photoshop shouldn’t be a criterion at all. If the project

is on network infrastructure, the consultant should have expertise in proxies,

firewalls, IP masquerading, subnetting, virtual domains, etc. Not only will

researching some of these topics let you ask the right questions, it’ll also

help you understand your requirements better.

Brainstorming with experts



Technology consultants are experts in their fields. Brainstorming sessions with
the chosen person or team about your project plan will give you a good feel of

the technical feasibility of the project. These sessions will not only iron out

most of the holes in your plan from a technical angle, but will also let you

estimate the time and effort required. Brainstorming sessions are a very

important part of the project, and you must treat them as such. Many companies

think of these sessions as a free service that the consultant needs to give

them. Remember that the consultant is actually sharing a lot of

"domain-knowledge" with you at this point, which could potentially

save you a lot of moolah at the end of the day. Treat it as an investment.

Have a business plan ready



If you’re planning a big project, make sure your business plans are
rock-solid. That is, you should have worked out exactly what service you wish to

offer, the business-related issues that you foresee, the budget, and the

business revenue model if any. Many of the things could become clear during the

brainstorming sessions with the consultant. Make a detailed project plan for

yourself. This will reduce confusion later. Changing the specification midway

through a project will cost you time and money, and may be bad for your business

in the long run.

Contract



Make a detailed and specific agreement between yourself and the consultant.
Since most projects involve only a digital transfer of information, or in some

cases–as in the case of network setup–not even a transfer; deliverables,

measurements, payment terms, sign-off agreements, and acceptance criteria should

all be part of the contract.

Finalé



Consultants are always glad to help, most of the time for a fee of course, but
sometimes even for free. And their domain-knowledge is what makes them so

important for the success of any endeavor on the Net. Wish you all the best for

your venture.

Vinod Unny is a technology consultant at

iSquare Technologies