Jim Holincheck

Let me state up front that this post is my personal opinion, not a Gartner opinion.  Dennis Howlett posted on ZDNet about a debate on certification of consultants.  There is a good discussion there of some of the viewpoints.  I believe certification has some value in some cases, but customers should not rely on certifications alone in picking consulting firms or individual consultants.  First, no ERP project is done by a firm.  It is done by individual consultants working with client project team members (and even third-party contractors).  So, even if a firm participates in a vendor-sponsored certification program, that does not make all consultants from that firm who have certification equally qualified.  That is kind of obvious.  However, choosing the right individuals from a firm to work on your project team is a little more complicated.

Let’s take an example where one of the roles you are looking to fill on your project is a team leader role.  Certification might include knowing a certain implementation methodology, product capabilities, technology, etc.   It would be possible to certify that someone has that knowledge.  However, they might need other skills as well.  In a large complex implementation, a work stream may be a project in and of itself (that is, part of a larger program).  So, project management certification might be useful.  That could come from a vendor or from a third-party organization.

So far so good.  The next thing you might look at is experience.  There is a difference between someone who may have worked at a customer organization and achieved all of these certifications and now is working at a consulting firm vs. someone who has work 5-10 years on multiple projects (especially if it is projects of similar complexity).  This is a cost/benefit tradeoff.  The first person could be a good fit if the customer organization had similar issues.  They would likely be less expensive.  On the other hand, the second person might be a better fit for a client that wants a broader base of experience (and is willing to pay for it).  Note, this has nothing to do with certifications.  Certifications alone does not tell you who is a better fit.  This is why I often recommend to clients that you want firms to propose specific individuals for key roles on a project and why it is important not to do just general firm reference checking, but checking references for those individuals in key roles.

Lastly, you might consider culture fit.  People and organizations have different styles and cultures and sometimes they just do not mesh.  So, an individual could have the best qualifications (including certifications) in the world for a team leader, but if their style and manner does not fit into the culture of the customer, it will be difficult for the person to succeed in the role.   Thus far I have focused on one individual role.  On a large, global project the complexity becomes much greater.  There are many more key roles that need to be scrutinized.  In addition, culture fit (and the ability to implement change in the organization) also has to be considered at the project team level.  Does the group of people who are proposed from a specific firm (and the firm itself) "fit in" at this organization?  You would be surprised how frequently this is a differentiates firms in a consulting services selection.

I am purposefully staying away from the political/relationship dimension here.  However, that adds another layer of complexity to the decision.  Getting back to the main point.  Certifications are useful in understanding certain qualifications, but there is a lot more (like understanding what is truly relevant experience and understanding culture fit) to making a good consulting choice.