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Need consultancy help for your business continuity or crisis management program? Joseph Desplaines provides some advice…
All of us who work in business continuity or crisis management are faced, from time to time, with a task or project that we cannot handle alone. As a result, we turn to outside consultants for their specialized assistance and expertise.
Having worked as both a consultant and a consumer of consulting services, I’ve thought long and hard about the issues that are important to a successful consulting engagement. How does a consumer get the consultant to deliver what is needed at a fair price? Based on my own experience, and some of the experiences of my colleagues, I offer the following thoughts to consider:
Identify the parameters of the project and the time line in detail
Having an open ended or vague description of a project is going to take more time and increase costs as the client and consultant try to figure out what is expected. The project should be described in some detail with clear performance expectations. In addition, the time line for completion of the project should be set in advance with key dates for progress review.
Look for consultants with real world experience
While many consultants can ‘talk the talk,’ they may not always have as much experience as is made out, particularly when it comes to responding to an actual crisis. Finding a consultant with ‘real world’ business continuity and crisis management experience, especially in your industry, can be extremely helpful and is likely to result in a more meaningful work product. Therefore, I recommend that consultants provide examples of actual experience and references from the clients who engaged them for this work.
Make sure that the consultant understands any regulatory requirements
Some industries, like commercial aviation, banking, utilities, etc. have significant government regulation for how they must handle a crisis and what needs to be considered in business continuity programs. Interviewing a consultant and asking their view of your industry regulations will reveal whether or not that consultant understands your environment. You should plan your questions in advance, making them open ended, which will allow the consultant to demonstrate his/her knowledge of regulations and how they impact your industry and your business continuity and crisis management plans.
Get a detailed written proposal identifying the proposed work product
Consumers should request a detailed proposal which identifies the work product and the time line. The description of the work product and time line should match your requirements – the better the match the more likely the engagement is to be successful.
One note – many consultants will load up their proposal with marketing material that does not relate to your project. To prevent this, many consumers prepare a ‘Request for Proposal’ (RFP) that clearly states what is and is not to be included. The RFP can even stipulate the number of pages and the format of the proposal. Preparing an RFP takes a little more time and thought; however, it helps the consumer clearly identify the project scope and makes proposal review easier.
Pricing
The business continuity and crisis management industry has no regulation or guidelines for pricing. Little consistency exists from vendor to vendor and even project to project. While on the surface this may seem problematic, it opens the door for consumers to negotiate the price. At the very least, the consumer should have an idea of what the project is worth and also a maximum limit of what he/she is willing to pay.
A consideration that many consumers don’t think about is including financial performance incentives and penalties in the consulting agreement. The use of financial incentives helps consultants deliver work products on time and at a mutually agreed upon quality level.
Once the fee is negotiated, a schedule of payments should be developed so the fee is paid in installments over a prescribed period of time, and payments are tied to the consultant meeting performance requirements. If performance expectations are not met, the consumer should not be liable for the balance of the payments.
Have a contract document that is developed by an attorney
When dealing with consultants, the consumer should consider using his/her own contract document as opposed to a contract developed by the consultant. The contract should be developed by an attorney and describe in detail all the terms of the engagement. Special attention should be paid to non-compliance consequences and the contract should also stipulate who owns the work product. Finally, the contract should identify the terms under which the consumer will allow the consultant to use the consumers name or trademark in marketing.
Chemistry
This is often overlooked or discounted since it is difficult to measure. However, the consumer has to consider his/her comfort level with the consultant and ask questions such as:
- Do the consultant’s values match well with the values of my organization?
- Is the project staff of my organization comfortable with the consultant?
- Is interpersonal communication easy?
- Is jargon difficult to understand?
Maybe the most important question that is the most telling about chemistry is 'would I hire the consultant as a member of my organization?' These kinds of questions are best answered in a face-to-face interview. If you don’t get positive answers to these questions then problems are likely to arise.
It’s all common sense and logic; however, all of these suggestions were learned through trial and error (mostly error!). Having this concise list will benefit others in our industry that have a need to engage consultants in a project.
Joe DesPlaines currently is director of business continuity & emergency management for Frontier Airlines. He also has extensive experience as a crisis management consultant, developing and implementing business continuity and crisis management plans. He has provided risk and crisis management services to a variety of market segments in addition to commercial aviation including professional and amateur sports, entertainment, banking, oil production and Federal government agencies.
His experience includes direct, ‘hands on,’ response to eight commercial aviation disasters, several instances of workplace violence and terrorist acts including working directly with the Department of Justice (Office for Victims of Crime and Federal Bureau of Investigation) and the National Transportation Safety Board) following the 9/11 attacks.
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•Date: 1st June 2007• Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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