With the state of today’s technology, maintaining a streamlined, efficient, and productive system – especially one that is complicated and contains many moving parts – is crucial. The processes and systems in place with an organization are capable of achieving a business’s mission, but they must be safeguarded and optimized on a constant basis to ensure that they are operating effectively. Thus, the field of IT consulting is of paramount importance.
To keep an organization’s complex systems running correctly – as well as the protocols and standards in place that govern the system and ensure compliance – it’s important to lean on IT consulting experts who have the experience and skills you need.
One way to ensure that your infrastructure remains proficient is to incorporate a proven process. Here is an overview of a seven-step IT consulting process that has been used to provide superior Information Technology support for countless organizations.
Assess
The first step is to properly assess the situation. No progress can be made until both the consultants and the team thoroughly understands not only the status quo, or current state, but also the problem at hand and any vulnerabilities that may exist.
Create
Once the infrastructure has been properly analyzed, the next step is to create plans for moving forward. These plans vary from communication plans to protocol for addressing each specific problem or vulnerability with the resources at hand. It’s important for the business to clearly communicate their stated objectives so the plans can strategically target the mission of a company.
Implement
Once plans have been created, it’s time to implement them. This is a detail-intensive stage. There are many moving pieces to your typical infrastructure, and all must be properly addressed. Solutions have to be implemented smoothly in order for the solution to be successful, and this requires close cooperation between the organization and the consultant.
Protect
During the implementation, it will be necessary to show care in protecting privacy, sensitive data, and confidential information. This is even more critical if work is being performed on the company’s cyber-security protocols.
Test
After projects are completed, it’s essential to perform end-user testing on all builds and systems to ensure that all capabilities are working as intended and that there are no shortcomings. This is generally performed before the project is approved for final delivery to the client.
Train
Part of the responsibility of an IT consulting team is to train the client so that team members can confidently and easily use any program or application. It’s also important that the client understands what was done and how to maintain the integrity of the system.
Govern
Finally, there are standards and regulations that must be abided by, including laws, statutes, and internal policy. It’s key that the consultants understand these crucial guidelines and construct a solution that adheres to them.
IT consulting can help an organization maintain the health and operability of a system. Using this seven-step process, a solution can be confidently and correctly implemented.