This is a question I have wrestled with for many years. The term “Value” is so subjective, that often it changes from person to person, and it certainly changes from industry to industry. A perfect example is my dual life. I spend time consulting and I spend time developing and selling applications. The value in these 2 things is very different. At the end of the day, both of these exercises produce the same results. They improve SAP service management for a business or business unit. As a consultant, I either improve the system or the processes or both. As an application, I make things easier to use through code to improve the system or the processes. With either solution, you end up with a better service management experience within SAP. However, nearly everything else about the value proposal is different.
As a consultant, my value has everything to do with the number of years I’ve been doing this (in my opinion, a poor metric to judge by), the number of projects I’ve done, the features I’ve implemented, etc.. What is rarely taken into account is the books I’ve written, how quickly I can get the job done or how well I work with people. These are all attributes that help me AFTER I got the contract, but are rarely taken into consideration during the interview or analysis phase of a consultant.
The application world is completely different. The application is typically all about hard and fast numbers. How fast does it run? how much time will it save me? how much money will produce on my bottom line? All of these metrics are quantifiable. They can and should be measured. But in most cases, you do not know the developer or the idea person behind the solution. You don’t know how many years they have been doing this, and usually you don’t care. What you care about is if the product does what it says and will you stand behind it if it doesn’t work or you need new features. Interesting that consultants are not judged the same standards. You often pay far more for a consultant’s time as opposed to a piece of software. Just some food for thought… if you are ever looking for help, I’d be happy to work in a fixed bid model. I feel it is more fair for everyone 🙂
Thanks for reading,
As always, thanks for reading and don't forget to check out our SAP Service Management Products at my other company JaveLLin Solutions,
Mike