Presentation on the profession of Consulting given at Santa Clara University's Career Crossroad Conference in February 2010.

1. © 2010 IBM Corporation
Consultant 101
Career Crossroads Conference
Santa Clara University
Wolf Cramer – Business Transformation Consultant
06 February 2010

2. © 2010 IBM Corporation2
Successful consultants start by building trust…
so a little about me.
Wolf is a certified IT consulting professional with over 14 years of experience
in business analysis, project management, strategy development, process
redesign, requirements management and web development.
He is an innovative leader and team player who has worked on large cross-
functional, global teams for several years.
As a Strategy & Change Consultant on the Sales Transformation team in
IBM's CIO, his focus has been on large enterprise IT transformation efforts
specifically focused on supporting IBM’s sales channels.
Recent engagement have been related to emerging technologies (web 2.0),
requirements management, content management, and web/portal efforts.
Wolf Cramer
Business Transformation
Consultant
IBM
cramerw@us.ibm.com
http://www.twitter.com/wolfc
http://wolfc.posterous.com/

3. © 2010 IBM Corporation3
WARNING – Buzzwords ahead!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theskywatcher/2447510254/in/photostream/

4. © 2010 IBM Corporation4
What is a consultant?
Consultants primarily act as business advisors
to clients.
– Identify new opportunities.
– Accelerate the competitive performance of clients.
– Align processes to technology.
– Deliver compelling solutions to vexing issues.
Consultants provide real business benefits to
clients.
– Help them make faster, smarter decisions.
– Reduce their business risks.
– Capitalize on their core competencies.
– Increase their Return on Investment (ROI).
Key traits for
Consultants_
Trusted Advisor
Leader
Creative
Analytical
Objective
Knowledgeable
Strong communicator
Relationship builder

5. © 2010 IBM Corporation5
http://www.flickr.com/photos/srivard72/2317702136/
Advisor
Collaborator
Expert
Leader
Visionary
Developer
Project
Manager
Therapist
So you’ll need to be comfortable wearing different hats.

6. © 2010 IBM Corporation6
Consultants really have a challenging set of responsibilities.
Serve as effective business advisors, change agents, facilitators and/or leaders
who are responsive to the client's needs.
Conduct research, data collection and analysis and synthesis to prepare, present
and deliver recommendations and solutions to clients.
Use a range of methodologies, assets and work products to produce deliverables.
Create and use intellectual capital to solve diverse, business issues in innovative
ways.
Understand technology in order to offer clients recommendations and solutions
that meet their business and IT needs as appropriate.
Participate in the delivery and implementation of solutions for clients.

7. © 2010 IBM Corporation7
Are there aids to help you survive?
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One suggestion is to specialize in a particular consulting discipline.
CharacteristicsIBM Consulting
Disciplines
Leverage systems knowledge to customize package applications, to develop
custom applications that integrate with package applications or to architect
and model packaged applications or data used by packaged applications
Package Solution
Integration
Leverage knowledge of operations, networks and systems administration to
plan, design, construct, implement or operate a complex systems
environment.
IT Infrastructure
A broad range of management consulting and planning activities that aim to
help companies improve or transform across the enterprise or along specific
functional lines.
Strategy and
Planning
Provide experience, assets, capabilities, and expertise to develop value
propositions that address the business issues of the client.
Business Design
Address a broad range of activities involved in the creation and
management of application solutions.
Application
Consulting

9. © 2010 IBM Corporation9
You can also learn more about existing methodologies and
frameworks used in consulting.
Client
Problem
Accepted
Recommendation
Definition Structure
Data
Gathering
Synthesis Buy-In
Client interaction and communication
Investigate
I’ve personally leveraged IBC techniques across a broad range of efforts.
– Process Improvement (Architecture governance)
– Decision-Making Considerations (Innovation valuation)
– Enterprise Strategy Evolution (Content delivery)
– Environment & Culture (Research study)
– Application Features (Role-based portal)
Issue Based Consulting is a framework IBM consultants often use to
investigate client challenges with unknown solutions.

10. © 2010 IBM Corporation10
What’s it take to climb the corporate ladder as a consultant?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/labbit99/3397476473/

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Acquiring experience and knowledge allow you to progress your
consulting career.
Senior Managing Consultant
Consultant
Senior Consultant
Managing Consultant
Executive Consultant & Associate Partners
Skills&Knowledge
Depth & Breadth of Experience

12. © 2010 IBM Corporation12
Questions?
Thank You!