How your IT experts become consultants (and charge you more) [Video]

When it comes to solving big problems, chances are your in-house experts have a solution. Maybe you should listen to them before hiring outside experts who find their solution by listening to your in-house experts for you.

Credit: Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock

I’m an industry pundit (IP). I might even be a Recognized Industry Pundit (RIP). Ever wonder what it takes to achieve this exalted state of rentable wisdom?

Once upon a time I was a lowly IT manager. I say “lowly” because the IT function I was responsible for was one of those absolutely essential but utterly thankless IT responsibilities where the “invisibility index” is the key success metric.

Our story begins with IT asking for a big wad of cash (BWC). The details don’t matter, because no matter how big or small the BWC was, and how urgent the rationale, the executive leadership team just wasn’t going to fork over the requested amount.

Which is why the CIO brought …