PCG FAQ

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We wrote this FAQ to answer the many questions we receive on this topic from our clients and other inquiring minds in the many electronic communities we frequent.

Essential Questions to Ask Your Computer Consulting Company

This FAQ takes an objective look at the most essential questions you can ask prospective vendors during the search for a computer consulting company. We've been asked these questions many times ourselves, and love answering them because we're proud of our corporate heritage and accomplishments. If a prospective contractor squirms, is evasive, or expresses even mild dismay about answering any of these questions, you should run, not walk, to the nearest Exit sign. What you want is a company whose principals and employees eagerly and enthusiastically talk your ear off about the firm.

On the flip side, we always use this check list when interviewing potential vendors that we hire (you can apply most of these questions to any sort of client/vendor relationship, not only when the vendor is offering computer consulting services).

1. What is your company's mission objective?

Ideally, a principal should be able to answer this question is three sentences or less.

2. Is your company a corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship?

Although many service vendors bristle at this question, it's not an invasion of privacy. You, the client, have the right to know the vendor's organizational structure. There are important legal, operational, and general "working relationship" implications. (Obviously, if there's a trailing "Inc." in the company's title this one is moot.)

3. How long has your company been in operation?

This one may seem obvious, but it's an important indicator of the vendor's background, longevity, persistence, and corporate character.

4. Who are the company's principals, and what are their backgrounds?

Always get to know the people at the top. Not just names and phone or pager numbers, find out what they were doing before they joined the firm. You may not have the time to get into these details in an initial interview, but at least get the story of how the principals came together to form the current firm, also their employment and education history.

5. How many employees do you have, and do you use sub-contractors?

A firm's employee count is easily misinterpreted. "Bigger" is not always better, and "smaller" is not always lean and mean. Rather, a company's employee count tells you one thing — what the vendor's available resources are so that your two firms can work together to properly allocate staff to your project's time line. If the vendor can hire sub-contractors in a crunch situation, this is good to know also.

6. Briefly describe the most recent project you completed.

This makes for an interesting discussion, and can give you an idea of how the vendor's representative (presumably, a principal) thinks on her feet.

7. Please provide three current client references (names, work phone numbers, and a brief project description).

Vital information, and you should always fastidiously follow these up.

8. What operating systems, programming languages, and development platforms do you use and support?

This question quickly determines how tight a fit there is between your needs and the prospective vendor's skill set. Remember, just because a vendor says "We use Windows NT Server" doesn't mean they support it.

9. What type of independent certification does your firm (or its staff) currently have?

Depending on the firm providing the certification, this can tell you something about the quality of the vendor's staff. It can also simply be an indicator of how easy it is to maintain certification status with minimal annual re-testing and the payment of a fee. Be sure to evaluate any certifications in the light of the firm that's providing the certification.

10. Please mail me your company portfolio.

A simple request, but it's always telling to see what a vendor's brochure and other collateral looks like in hand. Keep in mind that today many firms have dropped printed brochures altogether and will point you instead to their World Wide Web site. That's fine, in fact, it may even indicate such a vendor is more suitable for the type of work you have in mind.

11. What type of support can you provide for local clients?

This question begins to get into the nitty gritty of your working relationship with a vendor. If you have on-site support needs, now's the time to determine the extent to which a vendor can provide them.

12. What type of communications and support infrastructure can you provide for geographically remote clients?

More nitty gritty working relationship stuff. Here you're looking for e-mail, Internet, fax, telephone, pager, courier, etc. infrastructure information. Telecommuting isn't just a swank buzzword, it's an excellent way for vendors to keep their operating costs down, in turn yielding lower billing rates to you. At this point, ask project-specific questions to determine if the vendor has the appropriate skills for the task at hand. If all has gone well thus far, it's time to issue a contract and get to work!

The Naked PC
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