Business consultants are professionals who specialize in developing techniques and methodologies for dealing with the implementation and with the various problems that will crop up during the implementation. They are experts in the administration, management and control of these types of projects. Each of them will have many man-years of implementation experience with various industries
and would have time-tested methodologies and business practices that will ensure successful implementation. They will be good at all phase of the implementation lifecycle, right from package evaluation to end-user training. The only problem with them is that they are expensive - very expensive. Many of big consulting firms, having forecasted the ERP boom, invested a great deal of. money in developing a range of consulting services in this field and assigned many of their professionals to become specialists in the various aspects of ERP packages and their implementation. These firms researched the various products, developed an in-depth understanding of each product's strengths and weaknesses, worked by the side of the ERP vendors, confirmed that the vendor's package worked and learned the tricks and techniques of the trade, found out the pitfalls and mistakes that should be avoided and thus created a pool of experts who could handle the ERP implementation without failure.

Thus, consultants are people who have made the business of ERP implementation their business and have invested huge amount, of money and manpower for that purpose. So when you want to get the services of these consultants, the first question that will be asked is -"Are they going to be expensive?" The answer is a definite YES. The consultants will be expensive, so the company will have to formulate a plan regarding best optimum utilization of the money spent on cultants. If we study the statistics, we can see that a well selected, integrated ;iYstem that was successfully implemented and which successfully working, ;ld~lIy plays for itself in a relatively short period - between 10 and 30 months. If you analyze the cost break-up, you will find that the most expensive part of the implementation was the consultation charges. For a typical ERP implementation, the cost of the consultants is 1.5 to 3 times for every rupee invested in the software product. Sounds amazing; but it is true and it is also true that the software will pay for itself-the software cost, the consultant's charges and the other expenses incurred during implementation - in the above mentioned period (10-30 months). But the catch is that the project has to be the right one and the implementation has to be successful. That is why the expertise of the consultants becomes invaluable and the money spent on good consultation is never wasted. So finding the right consultants - people, who have the necessary know-how, who will work well with the company personnel, people who will transfer their knowledge to the company's employees and people who are available in case their services are required again -,is very important.
Role of Consultants
The role of the consultants is very familiar to all of us because we have seen many of them in action. The company places its trust in the consultants, that its business objectives will be achieved. In fact, it is better practice that the contract between the company and the consultants should have all the performance clauses in place. The consultants should guarantee the success of the project and should be able to show the results (quantifiable results like reduction in cycles time, increased response time, improved productivity and so on) to the satisfaction of the company management.
Consultants are responsible for administrating ~ each of the phase of the implementation, so that the required activities occur at the scheduled time and at the desired level of quality and with effective participation of all those who must participate. For keeping the promises that the consultants have made during the negotiations, they have to transform their approaches and methodologies into detailed work plans. The methodology will have to be converted into tasks and should be allocated to the right people. The time schedule for each phase and each task has to be determined and the project plan has to be finalized.

Consultants should add value to the project. They bring the know-how about the package and about the implementation - the know-how that is not included in the standard documentation. This know-how (also known as practical knowledge) is derived from their expertise which stems from practical experience. Because the consultants have seen many projects and have made or seen many mistakes, they can avoid the phenomenon of 'reinventing the wheel'. They will know what will work and what will not. Thus eliminating the trail-and-error method of implementation, and by doing it right the first time, the consultants help in saving huge amounts of money, time and effort.

Consultants should also know how to remain impartial while questioning current company processes in an effort to promote better businesses practices and better implementation results. They should strive to improve the company's business processes so that the software package can be used as its developers originally intended it. Refining the company's processes can only optimize the performance of the system and maximize future user satisfaction. The consultants are also responsible for analyzing and clearly addressing the customization issues. They must be able to distinguish between the 'must have' and 'nice to have' items and decide on the level of customization. This is an area where the consultants have t6 use their diplomatic skills, as the company people might want to customize all' the aspects. It is the duty of the consultants to present the advantages and I drawbacks of each area and reach a consensus decision, which should also be the right one. Consultants need to position themselves in such a way as to balance their loyalty to the client and the project, with that of defending the package vendor, when such defense is technically correct. This is indeed a very difficult job (like a tight-rope walk) and that is why consultants are being paid such huge amounts for their services.