Being constructed from highly-specialized information processing and storage units; designed for high density plug "n" play implementations where future expansion, serviceability, versatility, scalability and flexibility are considered to be priorities blade computing offers enterprises of all sizes many benefits. A lot of which are not immediately apparent as the actual blade units are carefully secreted away in self-contained housing units known as blade enclosures.

The Blade Computing Model

Distributed centralized specialization and resource rationalization are the fundamental tenets of the blade computing model. This means that blade enclosures such as the HP C7000 depicted in Figure 1 can be deployed in geographically dispersed locations to provide an organization with a distributed specialized central processing and servicing functionality less prone to organization-wide single-point-of-failure scenarios.

Unlike the bastion host, standard rack mounted servers or even traditional clustered servers the blade computing model generally uses more specialized units dedicated to performing fewer more specialized computing functions and processes.

To this end; many blade units are shipped with various combinations of different hardware and support systems normally associated with computers and server-class devices absent. This is because those specific functionalities are provided by the blade chassis/enclosure.

Having the blade enclosure provide many of these integral functions rather than having them duplicated by each individual blade component type saves considerably in the numbers of components incorporated into the manufacturing of each blade unit. This as you can imagine provides substantial cost savings including transport charges. In other instances other specialized blade units will be dedicated to these “missing” functionalities.

In this way many systems that have been massively duplicated and hence often grossly underutilized in the more traditional server and computing models are not to be found in the same massive numbers in the blade computing scenario. This has resulted in blades that are specialized for processing, network, storage, Input / Output (I/O) and memory subsystems.

“A blade for every function” is the phrase that comes to mind. The IBM HS20 Blade server pictured in Figure 2 has provision for two compact high-performance 2.5” SCSI hard drives.

If you need more processing power then add a blade that is loaded with multiple multi-core CPUs and oh-la-la, more processing power to brag about is yours. Similarly if it's more memory for those graphics rendering intensive applications that you require, then add a memory blade. You can even get “general purpose” blades.

Task and component specialization along with purpose-driven blade design are but two of the ways that blade computing provides greater economic rationalization and more efficient use of computing resources at all levels within the blade system.

Space and Energy Savings

The idea behind this approach is that through removing many of these over-duplicated under-utilized components considerable space savings are achievable. In addition; removing the need for at least one power supply unit (PSU) per server results in a considerable reduction in the numbers of power supply units (PSU) built into or supplied with each individual server unit.

This not only saves considerable space it also reduces the overall excess thermal energy produced during normal and stress level operating conditions. The less floor space occupied by your data center, communications, networking and computing infrastructure the less cooling it requires and the less rent you have to pay.

The result of reducing the amount of excess (waste) thermal energy production during processing is that substantial savings can be delivered on cooling solution energy requirements. This also serves to deliver the “green points” or the carbon production reduction contributions that companies are now being asked for by government, environmentalists and the general public alike.

Everyone who has placed their hand at the top rear of a switched-on ATX tower PC is only too well aware of the amount of heat that the PSU generates. Factor in the fact that the PSU is the most common component of all computers to fail and you see the sense in replacing thirty or forty cheaper PSUs with two to four more robust and reliable units.

From a big picture perspective; the fewer more expensive higher performing more efficient power supply unit solution actually has a far cheaper setup cost than the former multiplicity of PSUs solution. The HP Blade Enclosure pictured in Figure 1 only uses two superior Uninterruptable PSUs and this particular system has 16 blade servers installed.

Through the wholesale removal and replacement of older technology PSUs with dedicated leads from DC units of superior performing, less failure-prone, higher quality redundant sets of PSUs blade computing can indeed deliver considerable energy and accrued downtime loss savings.

Remember; that traditionally, it has been PSU issues that contribute nearly 75% of all IT service-related site visits. Because; datacenter downtime is the most expensive of all outage types experienced by enterprise today, reductions in this area immediately deliver considerable fiscal savings.

The Blade Enclosure

The big thing in blade computing is the engineering technologies encompassed by the blade enclosure. This is what makes it all possible. Here are some of the support features that the blade enclosures deliver:

Unit Housing - Each blade enclosure is capable of providing housing for multiple blade servers at far higher densities than traditional rack mount implementations. In fact; up to three times the number of units in the same 3D space.

Specialized Support - Blade enclosures provide housing and specialty support for specialized blade units e.g. compute, memory, storage etc.

Connectivity - The blade enclosure provides the specialized interfaces by which each individual blade units are connected (plugged into) to the chassis. As IBM make a big point of in their advertisements this can be done as a hot install without the need for attention to cabling.

The reason for this is that each blade enclosure is engineered to be preconfigured and “pre-wired” ready to accept additional post-implementation reconfiguration regardless of whether they be removals, additions or just rearrangements of the blade units housed within each enclosure.

Utility Services - The blade enclosure is usually responsible for the provisioning of redundant utility services such as electrical power and cooling for all units contained within each enclosure. I say generally since some implementations even use external power supply systems that are shared among multiple blade enclosures for additional cost and space savings.

Transformer related functionality is one aspect of power supply that does generate considerable excess thermal energy as a by-product and having this particular power supply function external to the blade does reduce the ambient temperature within each blade enclosure considerably thereby delivering additional energy consumption and fiscal savings.

Supporting Infrastructure - It is the job of the blade enclosure to provide infrastructure support such as communications, networking and various interconnects for all blade units housed within it as well as blade enclosure-to-blade enclosure interoperability.

Today this tends to be through the utilization of fiber optic networking technologies as they deliver the greatest performance, least excess thermal energy production and the greatest immunity to noise, Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and environmental aberrations. Fiber optic networking and communications technologies are also more resistant to interception than copper and RF technologies.

Physical Security - The blade enclosure provides the physical security for those elements housed within it. Compartmentalized accessibility means that to physically access any individual blade component one need not necessarily be granted automatic physical access to every other blade unit housed within each blade enclosure by default.

Platform Management - The enclosure also either links to an administrative unit or contains an administrator interface that allows for authorized authenticated administrative functionalities to be performed upon all units contained within each enclosure. In circumstances that require it; remote administration is also possible.

Blade Unit Manufacturer Variation - Different manufacturers do have different ideas of what should be included with each blade as well as what should or should not be provided with the blade enclosure. However, it is all of these elements in combination that make the blade computing platform.

Blade Computing Benefits

The benefits of the blade computing platform include:

Minimum Size Limit Restrictions Removed - Removal of the 1U minimum size limit requirement which the traditional rack mounted server platform is stuck with. This permits greater freedom and initiatives for blade system designers and increases the overall versatility and adaptable flexibility of the blade platform as a technology and each blade enclosure and blade unit as an enterprise asset.

Higher Unit Densities - Instead of the 42 unit maximum of the standard rack it is not unusual for blade systems to hold up to 100 or more individual blade units per blade enclosure. These higher densities translate into greatly reduced floor space being occupied by the data center which in turn reduces the amount of cooling required thereby producing greater energy cost savings and a far more rounded, greener, less carbon producing computing solution.

Specialization - Through blade unit specialization further additional significant size reductions are achieved and will no doubt continue to do so. These all combine; a little by a little, eventually producing massive savings organization-wide. Larger enterprises will obviously derive greater initial savings here. The rest of us will benefit from the domino effect this produces.

Improved Energy Efficiency - The “Greener IT” motivation is becoming an ever increasing influence in technology today and will undoubtedly continue to do so in the future. Not only does blade computing reduce an organization's energy costs it also represents a much “greener” computing initiative.

Organization-Wide Consistency - Through organization-wide component consistency blade units can deliver a more uniform organizational computing environment throughout a geographically diverse enterprise.

Scalability - Enterprise scalability issues are greatly simplified with blade computing. If you require more processing power then you simply install additional compute blade units into select blade enclosures throughout the enterprise or data center.

Redundancy - For mission critical functionality and the truly paranoid blade enclosures do allow for varying degrees of redundant multiplicity of systems in highly customizable configurations and arrays.

Future-Proofing - The concept of using the blade enclosure to provide infrastructure services to multiple blade units allows much greater freedom in future proofing an organization's information technology and infrastructure investments. Even when fully loaded upgrading can mean swapping out lower performing or lower capacity blade units for better performing higher capacity units. Once again real estate savings are a strong driving factor here.

Recyclability - Blade units swapped out of their enclosures can be reused in other enclosures or even in blade enclosures at different geographical locations. In this way upgrading can become more of hand-me-down oriented which does prolong the useful life-expectancy of IT resources considerably. Through reusing units already manufactured considerable carbon production savings can be realized.

Flexibility - In today's economic climate business requires its processing facilities and solutions to be built around genuine flexibility from both the hardware and the software perspectives more than ever before. Here is one area where blades can excel by using general purpose blade units for general purpose processing tasks and specialized blade units to deliver specialized processing services where required.

For example; web page retrieval and database searches do not require the advanced vector processing that many rendering applications demand. Through the blending of special purpose blade units with general purpose and storage blades all of these computing tasks can be performed within the same enclosure.

The additional administrative flexibility offered by blade computing allows the system administrator to selectively and electively assign and reassign resources between applications/customers. Physical configuration changes can be made on the fly without the need to power down every unit within the enclosure or to attend to laborious cabling issues.

Virtualization - Another technology that the blade enclosure does lend itself to with remarkable agility is the implementation of multiple virtual computing environments. The advent of massively available mainstream multi-core microprocessor technologies have played a large part in the expansion of the deployment of virtualization technologies hosted on blade server “farms”. Once again this is all about the rationalization of information technology resources usage.

Distributed Centralized Processing - Blades are particularly suited to a distributed central processing ethos. This makes them especially desirable for Web 2.0 applications, Software-as-a-Service (S-a-a-s) and cloud computing.

Thus web hosting and cloud computing service providers can distribute their resources more evenly on a usage basis. It is most profitable to have your facility in as close a proximity to your market, customers or user-base as possible without paying for highly prominent real estate or the rents these sites ask. Ideally as close as possible to the physical location of the Internet backbone would be the most desirable of all locations for a blade center.

Additional Information - Check out ServerWatch.com if you would like to find out more about various specialty servers and new developments in the server industry.

Therefore do not be discouraged if you feel you don't have the necessary skills or knowledge to become a good I.T. consultant. The trick is to identify your specific I.T. skills, and find a niche in the market place for your particular brand of consulting.

On the other hand if you are fairly confident about your skills and knowledge and know where you are going, then it can be just a case of using a sound marketing strategy. Either way this Consultancy course will be able to identify the most appropriate paths and routes for you.

Just to give you a "taste" for what consultancy can be about, have you ever seen the series Hell's kitchen on TV with Gordon Ramsey? In Hell's Kitchen Mr Ramsey provides consultancy in the business of serving up good food and running a restaurant. Gordon Ramsey is an expert in his field. He usually lets his clients know (in no uncertain terms) where they are failing and advises them how to turn their business from making a loss, into a resounding profit. He has appeared on TV many times and has written numerous books on the subject.

Although we would not use the "Gordon Ramsey" approach in I.T. (after all, swearing, such as his on his "F" word program would not go down well with I.T. business owners) he does get his message across. The underlying theme of his work is emphasised by one word, (No not the "F" word as he likes to call it!), but "Passion"! To be a consultant you need to be able to provide expertise in your chosen area, and be passionate about it. Consultancy is not for the half hearted!

I also recommend the film "Hitch" with Will Smith. He provides consultancy on dating to prospective clients. However, in the end he has to resort to NOT using his skills on his prospective partner, as in this case it was a clear case of business and pleasure not being able to mix! If you are going to be a good consultant, the underlying theme is generally do not mix business with pleasure, unless you are taking a prospective client out to dinner or for a drink and trying to sell them your services. You should always have your "business" head on in this field.

However, if the thought of working for yourself, choosing your own hours, how much you will get paid, and being you own boss appeals to you then this will all help you in your cause, and it can be fun in it's own right.

This introduction hopes to be able to assist you in answering the following questions:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of I.T. consultancy?

What are your lifestyle and earning goals?

What are the factors that go into freelance work?

How do you gain experience prior to I.T. consultancy?

We can refine this further into the "Who", "What", "Why" and "How" of I.T. consulting.

Who are your prospective clients i.e your target audience?

What skills and knowledge can you offer?

Why do you want to do this?

How do you go about it?

We will aim to answer all these questions during this part of the course.

We will now aim to see what your motivations are, and where you think your I.T. skills can be utilised fully as a consultant. We have a questionnaire and a skills grid. Please answer these as honestly as you can. The questionnaire looks at your motivation for wanting to become an I.T. consultant, and the second identifies key areas, and skills in I.T. which could potentially be used in a consulting career.

By using the questionnaire and skills matrix you can recognise your own motivations and identify key technology areas where you may feel you could benefit from further training, or enhance the skills you currently have..

The I.T. Consultants Challenge Quiz

Here is the consultants challenge questionnaire. Read each question and circle the answer (A,B,C,D or E) that comes closest to your personal feelings. Please be honest in your responses, in order to gain the maximum benefit from the analysis of your responses, which is provided at the end of the quiz.

Q1 Do you enjoy solving I.T. problems?

• A) I don't mind solving I.T. problems during working hours, but when I go home I like to forget it.
• B) I always try to delegate the I.T. problem when I can. Let's just say I am using resources available to me.
• C) Yes, providing I.T. solutions on a technical or business level is all I am about.
• D) Yes, I like solving technical or business I.T. problems, but not both.
• E) I like to think that everything works, so that I don't have to solve anything

Q2 Can you set your goals and do you have a clear vision of where your I.T. consultancy will deliver?

• A) I don't mind solving I.T. problems during working hours, but when I go home I like to forget it.
• B) Mmmm not sure about this. At the moment I do not have clear cut I.T. goals.
• C) Yes I set my own goals, but for one reason or another I don't always follow up on them
• D) My goodness, yes! My I.T. goals are as important to me as those scored by (Manchester Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, etc etc, whatever your preference!).
• E) I am efficient, and therefore my goals set themselves.

Q3 Are you a self starter, do you find yourself solving I.T. problems in your head, even when you are nodding off to sleep?

• A) I don't see myself as a self starter at the moment, but willing to learn
• B) I am not used to making my own decisions, but I do like the idea of working on my own though
• C) I am an independent self starter, but sometimes I procrastinate and put things off. Once I get started though, I am away!
• D) If I had initial assistance from someone, then this would help me on my way
• E) I don't need any motivation, I love what I do and solving I.T. problems.

Q4 Are you confident about your I.T. knowledge/skills to get the job done?

• A) Not sure at the moment
• B) I consider myself to be an expert in my field
• C) I am confident, yes
• D) Not very confident
• E) With further training and study, I could be

Q5 Do you enjoy pursuing technological challenges to completion, despite the obstacles which will inevitably arise?

• A) I am very persistent
• B) It makes it easier when you have people around you who can assist with this
• C) Usually, but sometimes I avoid tackling technology problems directly
• D) I would settle for a "workaround" or temporary solution if it gets the job done
• E) Is any problem in I.T. truly ever complete?

Q6 I.T. is rife with rapid change, more than any other industry. Can you adapt?

• A) My middle name is change. Just make sure you fill out a change request first, and let's do it properly!
• B) It's easier to adapt to good changes, which are relatively easy to implement, than bad changes which may need to be reversed out
• C) Change happens all the time
• D) As long as it does not change me
• E) It's easier when things don't change

Q7 I.T. Demands a level of logical ability, however, your artistic and creative side does come into play. Where do you you stand on creativity and innovation?

• A) Not always, it is hit and miss
• B. I need to think about that one.
• C. Just give me a pencil and a piece of paper, and you will have your solution in 5 minutes.
• D. I don't see myself as a very creative person.
• E. I don't believe in re-creating the wheel, why not just use what we have already?

Q8 In your I.T. consultancy career, you may have to deal with people at various levels. What are your views on this?

• A) I prefer to work alone, if possible
• B) I prefer to take a project, and be left alone to work on it to completion, as long as people are on hand to communicate with in case I have problems
• C) I.T. consultancy is all about working with people, and that's what makes the job so interesting.
• D) Definitely, but some people more than others, however
• E) I prefer to work with those in authority, because they are the people who usually are leading a project

Q9 As an I.T. consultant, you will come up against all kinds of people, from the easy going manager, to the demanding company director, and the programmer resistant to change. The thing is this. Are you trustworthy, loyal, honest, and above all brave!

• A) What's the next question?
• B) I have other more important qualities, which are not mentioned in this list
• C) About half of these I think
• D) Well, it's hard to live up to, but I can say I am most of these, if not all
• E) Definitely all of the above. I see my clients as potential friends, not just people I do business with.

Q10 By definition I.T. consulting should be a nice earner and a great career. Given the questions previously asked, how interested are you in going down this route, given that it might actually involve the word W.O.R.K?

• A) Not sure at the moment. Just now I like things the way they are.
• B) Would .be interested if the word WORK, was more than matched by the word REWARD.
• C) One day I am going to win the lottery!
• D) My opportunities are unlimited, and I can't wait to get started!
• E) If I box clever I am sure that I would not need to work too hard

Now you have completed the quiz, you can analyse your score as described in the next section.

Introduction To I.T. Consulting Challenge Quiz outcomes

Please analyze the scores, and see where you are at the moment with regard to your motivation in I.T. Consultancy. The questions are numbered at the side, and score for each (A,B,C,D,E) is shown in the relevant box:

Totals

Final Total = A + B + C + D + E =

Analysis of scores:

25 to 50 Points

You are highly motivated by I.T. and, have right attitude required to make it as a consultant. Once you have identified where your I.T. technical/business skills lie, we would suggest that you concentrate on marketing your ideas and your services.

1 to 24 Points

If you are not sure of making the full leap just yet, perhaps you can build up your business on a part-time basis, alongside your day job, while you add to your skillsets and build up your contacts. You definitely have the potential to become a great I.T. consultant. We strongly recommend that you study this course, understand the basics, and find out how to grow your business.

0 Points

In this category you could go either way. We recommend that you complete this course, and take the test again at the end of the course, when you will have a clearer idea of where you stand on the subject at that point.

- 1 to - 24 Points

At this stage, it is more likely that you would be better keeping your current day job, but if you are still interested, perhaps you could run a part-time consultancy to try the "water". We strongly recommend that this stage you complete this course, then at the end take this test again. If, at the end of the course, your quiz results are similar, then perhaps being an I.T. consultant is not currently for you.

-25 to -50 Points

We would not recommend that you indulge in becoming an I.T. consultant until you can achieve a higher score. That does not mean however, that you will not gain great benefits from the course, and we recommend that you complete it. Even as an employee there are ideas in this course which should assist you in improving the daily work that you do, and you will be more appreciated at work as a result.

Skills Matrix

This part of the introduction is dedicated to your current skill sets and business knowledge, and tries to help identify possible niche markets for your consultancy. It may also be used to provide you with guidance for future skills and knowledge you would like to add to your portfolio. This skills matrix consists of a list of areas in I.T. or business, which are relevant to the skills you currently have. For example, if you are a confident Java programmer, you would fill the "Java" programming box. We also include a rating so that you can rate yourself on each skill, from 1 to 5. There is no written analysis at the end. The main objective of the matrix is to provide guidance of where you currently stand in relation to your overall consultancy offerings. The matrix should be printed out and kept as a separate document, and kept up to date. It should be reviewed every few months or so..

It may be that in some areas you are partly skilled, and perhaps you can "train up" in the areas where you feel you are weakest, hence the 1-5 rating you provide. The same rules apply to this matrix as for the challenge quiz, i.e. absolute honesty is required. Otherwise there is no point in using the skills matrix as a guide to your current and potential skill sets and knowledge areas.

Please note that some sections have been left deliberately blank, and marked "Other skills" for each section. This matrix only contains a sub-set of those possible in terms of I.T. business and Technical skills, and is to be used as a starting point only. Feel free to tailor the matrix to the appropriate I.T. technical and business skills you currently have.

It may be that you need to add a completely new section to the list. Hence the reason for displaying the matrix in individual sections for each topic area, so that it is as flexible as possible to accommodate your I.T. offerings.

Some items may appear in more than one list, such as "perl" which can be used for web based programming, or general "text" handling use, so you can rate your skills by context if you so wish. E.g. You may be a rating 4 for perl on text based applications, but using it for web based applications, not as proficient, therefore in this context you are a rating 3. In this way, you ave identified an area where you might want to expand your knowledge.

Please don't just include current skillsets, but skills you would wish to have in future or to work towards. Also, include any certifications you have, or would like to have. Feel free to include as little or as much information and I.T. related topics as you like. However, it is beneficial to add as much as possible.

We have provided a few examples, to start you off. These are only provided to guide you, and is not set in stone. There will be many I.T. technical or business skills not listed in this example matrix.

Once completed, please rate each subject according to the information provided below.

Each skill/certification area is rated by the following numbers:

5 = Expert in this skill

4 = Above average

3 = Average

2 = Further training required

1 = Aware of, or interested in this topic.

If you have no knowledge or skill or have no interest in an area you just leave the topic blank.

Other areas to include could be:

Qualifications

Business skills

Database skills

Mentoring/Training skills

Specialist skills

Any other areas you feel are missing from this list, as long as they are related to I.T. in either a business, or a technical capacity.

What makes a good I.T. consultant?

The challenge quiz attempted to identify your motivations in becoming an I.T. consultant. Motivation is a quality which is required, but is of no use unless you have some kind of "expertise" to offer your clients. You should not try to take on tasks which are beyond your knowledge and experience. However, a good consultant will know how to obtain the expertise that they currently don't have, or sub-contract/delegate tasks to others due to time constraints.

It helps if you are a good negotiator, in order to gain business with clients, and to sub-contract some of the work to programmers and other consultants. There are pitfalls to involving other consultants though, as (obviously) you don't want to lose the business to a potential rival. The boundaries of any deal with clients and others who may be able to assist you in your work would need to be clearly defined at the outset.

Interpersonal skills and technical qualifications also come into play. However, knowledge of the business of I.T. consultancy is just as (if not more than) important than pieces of paper. The bottom line with I.T. consultancy is that you are providing "value for money", just as is the case with any other consultancy.

In this case value for money can mean a number of things:

• Increasing your clients profits
• Reducing expenses
• Boosting efficiency
• Increasing employee retention
• Solving communication problems
• Persuading employees who are resistant to change
• Reducing operational risk

This can be summed up in one word, "Credibility". To have credibility you will need, all or at least some, of the following factors. In order of importance these are:

1. Previous achievements., including case histories and testimonials.

2. Professional referees.

3. Skills you can demonstrate e.g. oracle programming or database design experience.

4. On the job training or experience.

5. Awards.

6. Certificates and licences.

7. Higher education.

It may be that you are just starting out from college and therefore you will not have all of these skills. However, if you are confident of your ability whereby you know more than your potential clients on a particular topic, and you can find enough of these types of client, you could always build up your reputation on a part time basis or start out with what you know. It may be that you can gain some experience in other I.T. jobs first, which is a topic we discuss later on in this introduction.

N.B. The danger in I.T. consultancy is claiming you know more than you do about a particular subject. This is fatal as you would very quickly be found out in the real world!

Numerous I.T. consultants started out as contract programmers or business analysts, and added consultancy to their roles. Therefore it does help if you have "expert" knowledge of a subject.

Do you have the x-factor in I.T. consultancy terms?

On a totally unrelated subject, if you have ever watched the "X" factor on television. This is a talent show to find the latest musical talent. How many singers have you seen on the "X" factor who think they are wonderful singers, just to find out at audition time they were not good enough. This is similar to being a consultant in I.T. You will be judged on your results and deliveries, not on your claims.

However, this is not intended to intimidate you, only to warn of the dangers. You will know what you can deliver, you will know the levels of experience and knowledge you can offer, and only you will know your target audience, although we try to assist you with this aspect in the rest of the course. If you have motivation to learn and develop, then it is possible you will become an excellent consultant without necessarily having all the required skills at the outset. What we mention about expertise here is an "ideal", but "honesty", with your prospective clients, colleagues and sub-contractors is a must if you are to succeed.

Other attributes which are essential are: confidence (not arrogance), empathy (putting yourself in your clients shoes), adaptibility/flexibility, focus and commitment. You need a positive attitude which is realistic in terms of your own objectives and those of your clients.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of I.T. consultancy?

We briefly discussed some of the advantages of I.T. consultancy in the overview. The idea of working for yourself, choosing where and how much you will get paid and being your own boss are all very appealing.

Once you become established you will be able to decide the types of client you would wish to work for, and the type of work you will undertake. All this helps to make your work more interesting. For example, what was formerly a hobby area of I.T. could become an area you now choose to work in.

Still more benefits involve the fact that you will be making a direct impact on people's lives and their businesses. This will help to give a great sense of achievement. There is also the potential to grow your business and have other people work for you and sub-contract skills you do not possess therefore providing a wider service. Although it's not an essential advantage it is possible that some of your clients could become friends in personal terms and if you don't mind being popular this can all help to boost your confidence!

If you're passionate about your work however, you will look forward to the alarm bell ringing in the morning instead of dreading it!

When we look at the disadvantages of I.T. consultancy we can see that not everyone is cut out for this line of work. As mentioned I.T. consultancy is not for the faint hearted, or for those particularly sensitive to criticism. When things go wrong very often the I.T. consultant will be held responsible, even if the problem was not a direct result of the service. It calls for a special set of skills that not everyone has. Some people are better being I.T. employees rather than consultants.

Some people make better programmers or analysts rather than consultants due to their makeup. For example, a highly skilled programmer may be very productive when producing and designing code, but may not be very good at presenting I.T. concepts to none-I.T. people. This does not mean that such a person is not excellent at what they do on a day-to-day basis.

Even if you are potentially a very good consultant it helps if you're passionate about what you do. Consultancy is hard work. It isn't just about fulfilling contracts and hopefully earning lots of money (which, in any case is not guaranteed)..At least a third of your time will be spent marketing for new prospects, especially at the beginning of your venture.You will also be responsible for your own accounting, book-keeping, and generally running of the business, in addition to performing the day-to-day consultancy work. It acquires a great deal of other skills that are not just about the consultancy work.

As previously discussed, it is not essential that you are an expert in every I.T. subject you should at least have specialist knowledge of a few topics you can use in your own niche market. This can be a disadvantage if your skill set is relatively small. It is not advised to enter into consultancy on the basis of your specialist skills in one area, unless you can find a suitable market. It is better to be a good all-rounder in I.T. on both a business and technical level if possible, but this is not essential. With experience your skills will naturally improve.

Another disadvantage at the commencement of your business will be that your initial cash-flow will be very low or non-existent as you seek out your first customers.

One of the obvious disadvantages of working for yourself in any business is that you no longer have that (in theory) secure job where you are guaranteed to be paid every month. It is usually more comfortable to have a guaranteed salary being paid into your bank account every month than it is to rely on cheques, cash or electronic payments over the Internet. When you are self employed your payments have unpredictable payment dates. For this reason it is essential that ideally you have a few months salary in the bank to support yourself, especially in the initial stages of your business. However, once your business is established this should not be too much of a problem.

Another disadvantage (but could be an advantage, if you are cunning) is that you have to be able to make the best of the economy as it stands at any moment. It is easier to generate business when the economy is sound but not so good when there are company cut-backs and redundancies. It is unlikely that some companies will be unlikely to take on highly paid consultants when they cannot afford to keep existing staff.

The way to make the best of the situation when the economy is not so sound is in your ability in being able to make companies more efficient, and thus hopefully preventing redundancies, and helping companies to survive a turbulent patch.. In some cases though, you may have to recommend cutbacks. Therefore this can make you a hero or a villain depending on the objectives you have set out. Hence, another reason for being thick skinned!

In summary then, here are briefly the advantages and disadvantages of becoming an I.T. Consultant:

Advantages

• You are your own boss
• Being in a position to choose the types of client you wish to work for
• Being in a position to decide how much you will be paid
• Decide where you will work
• Only take on the type of work you are happy with. This could be an area of I.T. you are passionate about.
• You will feel a sense of achievement
• You should enjoy your work, and look forward to the morning alarm for instead of dreading it!

Disadvantages

• Not for the faint hearted, and it helps to be thick skinned!
• You will probably need to work harder than you have ever done before, as you will not just be a consultant, but your own sales person, book-keeper, and administrative clerk in the early stages
• Some people are not cut out for I.T. consultancy. Just because you are a brilliant programmer it does not mean that you can be a brilliant consultant. Consultancy calls for a mix of all round I.T. skills and business acumen.
• The more I.T. skills you posses, the wider the range of services you will be able to offer, unless you have a niche market and a sound customer base.
• You will no longer be in that secure job, unless, initially you work alongside your main job as you build up your business
• You will need to be business-savvy when the economy is not so good, in order to continue obtaining work

What are your lifestyle and earning goals?

The goals you set for your consultancy must be realistic. Set goals that you know you can achieve. However, you should allow for your goals to have an element of challenge to enable you to grow. Setting goals you know you can easily achieve to some extent will limit potential in learning new I.T. skills.

At the end of the day, it's down to you as an individual what your objectives will be, based upon your skills your motivations and your potential client base.

It helps in the early stages if you have friends and potential clients who you know will be interested in yor services. The I.T. skills matrix we looked at earlier should enable you to decide which skillsets you are going to market, and the skills you wish to add to your portfolio.

It is always best to start small, even if your ultimate aim is to make your business into a "big fish". By starting small you will learn about how bigger consultancies operate, and understand the pitfalls before you venture in "too deep" at the outset.

When setting your goals, have a short, medium and long term plan. The range of periods for these is up to you. In this case we have chosen the next month, the next 6 months, and from 6 months to the next 3 years.

In terms of I.T. consultancy, this should take the form of a plan. By fulfilling the steps in the plan, you can see where you are going and achieve your ultimate objectives.

E.G. A typical section of an I.T. consultant plan might look like:

Short term: Next Month:

• Phone 100 prospective new clients
• Commence work on the User Guide for the new accounts system for Prezzy Ltd
• Complete the unix scripts to safely shutdown the solaris server
• Deliver 1 day training course on Microsoft Office Word at Jackson Ltd
• Resolve the "file locking" problem at Integration Corp (2 days estimated)
• Continue current contract at Technologize Ltd

Medium term: 6 Months:

• Negotiate new contracts at Jackson Limited
• Complete payroll system design and recommendations for Hull Hospital
• Fixed term contract at Sudoku Ltd (3 months). Design Entity relationship model and build database in conjunction with their I.T. staff.
• Negotiate with contract programmers to fulfill ongoing contract work (B.T.).
• Take on 10 new contract agreements with new prospects
• Learn perl programming skills, to add to portfolio
• Set up website to market services

Long term: 7 Months to 3 Years:

• Look at gaining Microsoft certification
• Complete payroll system design and recommendations for Hull Hospital
• Look at employing programmer to fulfill some of the longer term programming contracts
• Need secretary!
• Compete for the B.T. contract. Tenders deadline by end December, 2008.
• Learn Java, take Software Configuration Management course, and arrange to take Project Management certification
• Find new office premises in the next 18 months
• Go on that American holiday and buy a new car, as a reward for establishing your business, and having at least 4 employees in 3 years time!

Pricing

Where pricing is concerned you will need to do some research. You will need to find out what other I.T. consultants are charging. If you decide to undercut the competition, you may find that you are working long hours for very little reward. It is always best to aim for the middle ground. For example, if the range of hourly rates is £20.00 to £40.00 per hour for specialist skills, such as designing a database, you should aim for the middle ground, say £30.00 per hour. If you do decide to charge more than average you should always be in a position to justify this to your potential clients if they challenge you on your costs. To some extent this will rely on your own confidence in the services you are offering.

Partnerships

You may also be considering working in a partnership. This is fine as long as it is clearly specified and understood what the roles of each individual partner is. Some partnerships start on the basis of a friendship. However, these kinds of partnerships are prone to break-ups, sometimes due to the different approaches to performing tasks.

Partnering with another consultant is fine, but it is always recommended that you work with someone you know well, and can work with on a regular basis. Once again, you should clearly define the roles of each consultant, so that the "professional rivalry" which sometimes happens will not surface. Partners should work towards the common goal and end result, not be in competition with each other. Sometimes it is better to work in a partnership as you learn skills from each other.

How do you gain experience prior to I.T. consultancy?

As a general rule, the decision to become an I.T. Consultant is based upon several years experience in industry. However, even those with limited experience may have specialist skills and knowledge which would be useful in consultancy work.

In the past you may have gained experienced as a programmer or as a helpdesk analyst. It may be that you have worked for several companies gaining different perspectives in industry which could be in the private and/or the public sector. If you see yourself as an aspiring I.T. consultant but you are not ready to make the big leap yet it is recommended that is you try and gain some experience in the working with consultants, programmers and/or business I.T. specialists. Another way to gain experience of providing advise and support to others in I.T. is to work on a helpdesk. If you are still at college it would be a good idea to gain experience on a work placement. Seeing how other consultants in I.T. work will give you some idea as to what is involved. Unlike programmers and Web designers consultants usually have a better understanding of the overall objective i.e. the bigger picture and where I.T. fits in with the business.

A very useful way of gaining free knowledge and expertise is to join online forums and newsgroups where other professionals can assist you with I.T. problems. You can also gain insights into approaches that other I.T. professionals use. There are many such newsgroups available and if you wish you can also pay a small fee to join web sites which provide expertise on various I.T. matters. There are many websites offering expertise in I.T. matters. If you have a problem you wouldn't normally be able to resolve and do you know where to look on the Internet finding a solution isn't usually too difficult.

Another useful strategy is to study courses and take certification in aspects of I.T. consultancy which are used in the real world. It may be that your employer will sponsor you on courses which will take you down the consultancy route. Most learning schemes have several compulsory modules and optional modules which combine to provide certification.

Certification on its own will not provide you with experience but it should open doors to provide you with more opportunities to gain some. Examples of the types of courses you may take in I.T. consultancy are, project management, software engineering, programming languages, database design, business studies, service management.

Reminder

Have you completed the following exercises?

• Completed the I.T.consultants challenge quiz
• Completed the I.T.consultants skills matrix, and tailored it for your own reference.
• Looked up various newsgroups, and websites as recommended in this introduction

Tick each box when you have completed the exercises. Then you can move on to the assignment that follows.

Summary

1. In this introduction we have looked at the advantages and disadvantages of it in consultancy, your lifestyle and earning goals and the various factors that go into freelance work. We have also looked at how you can gain experience prior to becoming an I.T. consultant.
2. We have looked at who your prospective clients are, what kind of skills and knowledge you will need your motivations for going down this route and how you are going to go about it
3. In either to clarify your skills and knowledge you took part in an I.T. consultants challenge and filled in a skills matrix for you to keep updated. This enables you to identify at any time, the skills and knowledge, you can offer as an I.T. consultants and identify areas were, you can improve your knowledge.
4. We also looked at identifying your target market, and what you will need to initially approach this career
5. We also took account of various risks of I.T. consultancy, and the type of qualities required to survive in a competitive career.
6. Finally, we looked at planning your consultancy, and your goals for this in terms of short medium and long-term plans. We provided an example of a typical diary/plan for an I.T. consultant.