Network Computingwww.networkcomputing.com

	Issue TOC Print full article Print this page Download as PDF E-Mail this URL Flame the author     In this article Introduction Plain Vanilla Calculating Returns 'In a Cave With a Scout' On Location, Series II Personnel: Susan Hancox Personnel: Scott Ogawa Personnel: Daniel Nigrin Personnel: Kevin Murray

All that said, Hancox describes PeopleSoft's software as "world class" and says she would recommend the consultants without qualification. It's the cozy, nontransparent relationship between software vendor and consultant that she doesn't like.

"Everyone who knows the most information about the project has a vested interest not to share it completely with you," she says. "You're in a cave with a scout. If you want to get out of that cave, you need the scout. It's why none of us trusts them."

If Hancox had to do it all over again, she would have hired many more in-house staffers than Andersen recommended. "I would have tripled it up front. Just overstaff," she says. "When you're spending $14 million, don't begrudge another six months of a DBA."

AMR Research analyst Jim Shepherd suggests building in performance clauses that reward the vendor and integrator when certain performance thresholds are met. "The important point is that software vendors and consultants do this every day," he says. "They are so much better at this than the buying organizations who do this every decade or two. It's a battle with an unarmed man."

But Rob Leavitt, research director at the Information Technology Services Marketing Association, a company that helps IT consulting firms market their services, warns that consultants will want a premium in exchange for these performance guarantees. "You probably need to be willing to share the upside," he says. He thinks IT shops should set aside 10 percent of the project costs to perform due diligence on the vendor, the consultant and the ROI figures.