The Meaning of Consultant

Back in my undergraduate days, I was enamored by the world of consulting.  Being a blue-chip prospect from MIT, I had the world’s biggest and best on my heels.  Ernst & Young, Andersen (now Accenture), Sapient, Deloitte – you name it, they were there!  I must say, the life of helping clients solve business problems through technology seemed quite glamorous to me.  The travel, the perks, the pay – consulting seemed ideal.  

Having spent several years in consulting and becoming specialized in the field of data warehousing, I started re-examining the word consultant and its meaning.  The American Heritage dictionary defines consultant as “One who gives expert or professional advice.”  I started thinking back to those undergraduate days when I was being recruited as a consultant.  Was I an expert?  What sort of professional advice could I offer (other than how to ring up the cash register)?  I was a bright-eyed, young pup ready to make a mark on the world, but consulting expert, I was not.

This leads me to my advice to you.  As many of you embark on data warehousing projects, you may feel the need to hire consultants, either because you feel insecure about your knowledge of data warehousing or because of lack of manpower.  Before you sign that multimillion-dollar project agreement with PWC, you should really check out your consultants.  How much actual data warehousing experience do those consultants have?  How many of those consultants can be replaced by those within your staff.  Remember, a consultant is an expert, and you should hire those as consultants who have expertise in data warehousing.  The following are my rules for hiring a data warehousing consultant.

1. Focus on consulting expertise for positions such as a technical architect, a data warehouse schema designer or a tools selection expert.
   
   
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