NCN’s Custom IT Consulting Service

NCN’s Custom IT Consulting Service

NCN’s Custom IT Consulting Service Puts the PRO(s) in the Project

Most companies have a C-suite full of executives who understand the company’s mission and finances—just not the technology that keeps the company afloat. Having a leadership team that does not understand the nuances of the company’s technology is often a silent risk that keeps great companies from reaching their strategic, operational, and financial goals. That is why more and more companies that do not have a full-time Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and/or a Chief Product Officer (CPO) have begun adding NCN’s Custom IT Consulting Services to enhance their teams. 

Having a technology expert at the executive level ensures that the leadership team has a clear and consistent picture of any technology related dependencies and or impacts of key business decisions and timelines. This helps the team to set realistic and achievable plans and provide an expert view into any potential issues or roadblocks – before they become catastrophic. 

NCN has been brought in to help many clients by providing Custom IT Consulting Services. By bringing a customized team of experts together, NCN is able to deliver white-glove service tailored especially for the task at hand. Here are three examples of scenarios where NCN’s Custom IT Consulting teams have stepped in to add major value:

Small Business Start-Up – Are We On The Right Track? 

NCN was called upon to provide IT Consulting Services for a small business that was in the infancy of its start-up phase. The business was working on solidifying the product vision for its audio editing and translating application, which would be the core of its business. The business leaders had created a solid vision and drafted a budget and timeline – but they were unsure how to validate their plan, and they did want to start by making false promises on launch dates or going over budget so early in their business launch.

NCN partnered with business leaders and reviewed their vision and plans. Once we understood the current state, we built a team consisting of a Software Engineer, a Product Owner (PO), and a Project Manager (PM) – all senior-level experts at one blended team rate! The PO and PM team led the business leaders through a roadmap-building exercise while the Software Engineer reviewed existing code and estimates for future development. NCN was able to fill in the gaps, provide key documentation, and ultimately leave the business owners feeling much more confident in their go-to-market plan. 

Fast Growing Enterprise Company – What Have We Created? 

NCN was approached with an RFP (request for proposal) to rebuild a custom CRM (customer relationship management) tool. During the project scoping interview, we learned that this CRM tool was one small piece of a large integrated stack of custom applications the company had built during its early years of fast-paced growth. Our team of experts knew that to properly estimate this project, we needed to understand the entire tech stack and the dependencies and integration points between them. When we asked for product documentation of the stack, we learned there was none. Not only was there no product documentation for the over-arching stack, proper documentation had not been provided for any of the individual pieces of the stack. NCN recognized this as a risk, not only for the project that was being requested, but for the company as a whole. NCN believes that key documentation such as Business Requirements Document (BRD), User Stories, Test Plans, Test Cases, Architecture Diagram, Technical Specification Documentation and User Manuals are must-haves in software projects. In this case, instead of taking on the development project, NCN partnered with the organization and walked them through a gap analysis to identify missing information and provide advice on what standard product information should be gathered about their system before adding any additional layers. The combined skill set of NCN’s customized team of 1 System Engineer, 1 Software Engineer, and 1 Product Owner delivered best-in class business and technical analysis and supporting documentation –  and that is exactly what this company needed at this stage.

The above scenario is far too common and is sometimes referred to as a Frankensystem. Read our blog post to learn more about this and how to avoid it. 

Why Isn’t My MVP Working?

Multiple studies in recent years have found that over two-thirds of all software, projects end in partial or total failure. As a technology company, oftentimes, clients come to us with an MVP (minimum viable product) or pieces of one and say, “Help! Why isn’t this working?” This is a tough spot for a business owner – faced with the decision to fix what has been worked on already or start from scratch. This decision depends on many factors beyond just the technology, which is why a well-rounded team of experts is the best approach for seeking guidance in this scenario.

When faced with IT Consulting opportunities like this, NCN brings together a team of Business Analyst, Product Owner, QA Tester, and Software Engineer. 

The Business Analyst’s Job

Understand the Product Vision (past, present and future)

Review and/or Create Product Documentation

Consider Time and Budget constraints

Build a Roadmap 

The Product Owner’s Job

Review and/or Create User Stories

Analyze the current state of the product against the requirements

Work with Developers to explain and estimate work

Create and Prioritize a Backlog

The Software Engineer’s Job

Conduct a manual code review and quality analysis

Run automated tests to look for bugs, vulnerabilities, and security risks

Assess scalability

Estimate development efforts

The QA Tester’s Job

Review and/or create Test Plans & Test Cases

Perform Functional Testing and Log Results

Inputs from all of the above efforts are pulled together and shared with the business owners to help inform the new path forward for the application. Sometimes the team identifies that it is best to start over and build new; sometimes, the team identifies that the current application can be revived – but it always depends on the aligned analysis to reach the RIGHT decision at this pivotal point in a technological journey.

To learn more about NCN’s Custom IT Consulting Services and schedule a call, contact us today.