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About ACM

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field’s challenges.

ACM strengthens the computing profession’s collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence.

ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.

With over 100,000 members from over 100 countries, ACM works to advance computing as a science and a profession. www.acm.org

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The Distinguished Speakers Program

is made possible by

For additional information, please visit http://dsp.acm.org/

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Who am I? My name is Albert T. Wong (http://linkedin.com/in/atwong)

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A Career in IT Consulting

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Why do people want a career path as a consultant?

Good money

The opportunity to travel

Exposure to many different industries and business models

The chance to work with many different kinds of leaders

Smart coworkers

Flexibility and freedom

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Who are the players in the consulting world?

Big 5 firms

Boutique firms

Consulting divisions of product or service companies

Self employed firms Forrester Wave on ERP Consulting

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The Wikipedia definition of a Consultant shows us;

The word Consultant comes from the Latin consultare which means ‘to discuss’,

“A Consultant is a professional who provides advice in a particular area of expertise”.

“A Consultant is an expert or a professional in his or her specific field”.

“Often a Consultant provides expertise to clients who require a particular type of knowledge or service for a specific period of time”.

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And so what is an IT Consultant?

“Information technology consulting is a field that focuses on advising businesses on how best to use IT to meet their business objectives”.

“In addition to providing advice, IT Consultancies often implement, deploy, and administer IT systems on businesses' behalf ”.

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Therefore, Consultants must be able to sell and deliver as well as “consult”.

Consultants serve as advisors who help clients identify and clarify issues, and arrive at recommendations for solutions.

– Accurate problem identification is not enough: Consultants must also develop and present viable recommendations and solutions.

– This is true in both Sales and Delivery phases.

Consultants have to be able to deliver on their recommendations– They must demonstrate the ability to implement their recommendations: be

involved in the delivery of recommended solutions.

Solution DesignSolution Design

RunRun

ImplementationImplementation

Construction Construction

Vision / Strategy Vision / Strategy

Consultant

Solution Design Solution Design

ImplementationImplementation

Construction Construction

Vision / Strategy Vision / Strategy

RunRun

Presales/Sales Delivery

© 2013 ACM10 April 10, 2023

Consulting focuses on the following key areas

Consulting involves becoming a trusted business advisor who partners with clients to create innovative solutions to their business problems.

It involves enabling clients to make faster and smarter decisions, reduce business risks, use their core competencies to their best advantage, and increase business benefits.

It involves backing solutions with a sound business case and presenting them in an organized, structured, and persuasive way.

It also involves focusing on the necessity of integrating people, strategy, process, and technology from analysis through implementation to provide maximum client value.

© 2013 ACM11 April 10, 2023

Consultants perform a variety of Job Roles

Consultant Job Roles

Application Consultant

Business Continuity & Resiliency Services Consultant

Business Design Consultant

Business Sales & Delivery Executive

Business Transformation Consultant

Engagement Manager

Industry Consultant

IT Management Consultant

Package Solution Consultant

Security & Privacy Consultant

Strategy Consultant

CapabilitiesExpertise

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How do consultants develop expertise? Here is a short list.

Technical – Profession Certifications (Open Group IT Architect, Open Group IT Specialist, Project Manager Professional)– Process Certifications (IBM Rational Unified Process, ITIL, Agile, Scrum)– Product Certifications (IBM, Cisco, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft)– Through the job

Business– Business Management fundamentals (Getting a MBA)– Case Studies (Harvard Business School Review)– Through the job

Personal – Communication and public speaking skills (ToastMasters)– People networking (User groups, conferences)– Appearance (Image consultant)

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More about Open Group IT Architect and IT Specialist Certification

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At the end of the day, make sure you provide value!