Choosing a consultant

This article will be helpful to banks and non-bank FIs facing a challenge of choosing a consultant.

The following material is based on TA Consult's experience in implementing projects in CEE countries on a wide range of consulting services.

Generally FIs utilize 3 approaches to participation of consultant in a project implementation:

• consultant is engaged for the entire life of project;
• consultant is engaged in staff training only (in the format of specialized workshops);
• consultant is engaged in the initial and the final stage of project.

Practicality of utilizing a certain approach normally depends on specific tasks, current business process condition, staff qualification and main experts' occupational level. There are examples of successful applying any of the above approaches. Own development of the project strategy and its implementation sometimes also gives positive results. The key factor that should be taken into consideration here is that any consultant despite his diversified experience and deep knowledge of credit management remains an independent expert.

In order to create and manage effective business processes structure it is necessary to carefully address the issue of choosing a consultant.

Following are the most significant criteria used to assess a consulting company:

1. Cost and timeline of project/ services rendered

   While calculating cost and timeline of a project the following factors must be considered: targets and goals to be achieved, number of staff engaged in proposed business processes, work schedule, regional coverage and branch network.

   The project on setting up and managing system-based business processes normally includes three stages:

   Stage 1: Testing and analysis of the current system and business processes, evaluation of internal regulatory documents and assessment of their compliance with international standards. Development of action plan.

   Stage 2: Consulting services on development and implementation of effective technologies, recommendations on improvement local regulatory documents on business processes management.

   Stage 3: Advising and supporting the client during implementation phase of the project focusing on introduction of new technologies and risk management issues.

   If project goes through all three above stages its timeline may range from 4 to 12 months.

   Analysing project's timeline a client should take the following factors into consideration: the scope and timeline of consulting services (period required for elaboration internal documents and procedures and time for their actual implementation, including staff training); number of consultant's work-days and the character of services rendered.

   Comparing cost of services of various companies, attention should be taken to whether the price offered includes VAT and whether it includes transport and accommodation costs of the consultant.

2. Experience of the consultant

   It is advisable to know the consultant's background: his history of operations, experience of consulting in specific areas, experience of cooperation with similar FIs. It would be also useful to check the consultant's financial sustainability, if possible.

3. Evaluation of proposed experts

   It would be helpful to assess the number and qualification of the proposed experts. The company having larger number of fully employed consultants should be given preferential status. Special attention should be taken to the relevant experience and qualification of the specialists and coaches/trainers as well as whether the consulting company has staff training programs already developed.

   The following criteria should be applied to evaluation of proposed experts: education, knowledge and skills, experience, qualification maintenance and upgrade, personal characteristics. It is advisable to make a request on previous experience of the experts comparing it to the specifics of the client's activity. The more successfully fulfilled relevant assignments the expert has, the more valuable he will be for the subject project.

4. Current projects

   It would be useful to know the main current and completed projects of consultant. It is particularly important to verify if the consulting company participated in similar projects in the past and ask for references.

5. Completed projects

   Information on the number of loyal clients of the consultant might be also significant. It would be useful to get details of key persons in the organizations where projects were completed and contact them.

6. Scope of services offered

   Comprehensive scope of services offered by consulting company is the evidence of continuous professional improvement of its experts and serous approach to this issue within the company. Advice on modification of current policies and procedures connected with introduction of new technologies and business processes could be additional service.

   Based on assessment of the above parameters a client makes his final decision and concludes a contract for consulting services.

About contract...

A few remarks about content of the contract on consulting services. In order to avoid disputable situations and mutual claims the following items must be clearly outlined in the contract: scope of services (as seen as of the date of contract execution), stages of project implementation and their timelines, cost of each stage and payment terms, mutual obligations of the parties in regard to each stage of the project, client's undertaking to allocate necessary resources for the project, detailed reporting procedures for the consultant on full or partial fulfilment of the project confidentiality and amendment clauses.

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