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Before you hire an IT consultant, put them through the checklist.


According to Forbes, 70% of technology implementation projects fail, and it's rarely the technology that's to blame. It's the wrong firm hired for the job. This whitepaper gives CEOs and business owners a practical checklist for evaluating an IT consulting firm, the questions to ask before hiring an IT consultant, and the red flags that mean it's time to keep looking.


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"Your Technology Should Be An Asset — Not A Ransom Note." 

Why This Matters Now


Most CEOs evaluate hiring an IT consultant the same way they evaluate any vendor: credentials, case studies, a confident sales pitch. But the signals that actually predict whether a firm will serve your interests over the life of an engagement rarely show up in the sales process. Websites, case studies, and reference calls are curated. The behaviors that separate a genuine partner from one that will collect fees while a project drifts, the willingness to push back, the discipline to resist scope creep, the depth to evaluate the actual work rather than manage a team doing it, usually don't surface until months in.

This whitepaper distills Brian Weekes' signature talk into a practical IT partner checklist: ten checklist items organized around three core principles, the red flags that should end a conversation, and the specific questions to ask before hiring an IT consultant.

BOSTON BIZTECH CASE STUDY

A parts distribution company hired a development firm to build their e-commerce platform. For eight years, they paid $100,000 per year. When BBT was brought in, the first week of investigation revealed that the development team had never built a real database. They had built a flat file, essentially a very large spreadsheet, to search more than 60,000 parts. Eight years and $800,000 later, the CEO finally had someone with the technical depth to evaluate the work honestly.

What's Inside the Whitepaper

Principle 1: Your Technology Should Serve You, Not the Other Way Around. This section covers the three checklist items that reveal whether a firm has your best interest at heart from the first conversation, or only after you've signed a contract.

Principle 2: Don't Rely on the Band-aid Fix. This principle explains how to tell whether a proposed solution is custom-tailored to your business or an off-the-shelf product being resold. It also addresses why proper due diligence takes longer than a 30-minute intake call.

Principle 3: Start With the Big Picture. This principle details why the right partner wants your 3-5 year business plan before proposing any technology. It also explains how to spot a firm that jumps to conclusions instead of asking questions.

This section outlines the red flags that should end the conversation immediately. It highlights the most common gap between what is sold and what is delivered, which typically involves a senior person who sells the service and a junior team who actually delivers it.

Five specific questions to ask before hiring an IT consultant, and what the answers actually reveal.

A real case study: what an eight-year, $800,000 IT relationship looked like when nobody had the technical depth to evaluate the work.

  Download the Whitepaper   Download the Evaluation Blueprint 

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Who This Is For


Built for CEOs and business owners currently evaluating an IT consulting firm, whether you're vetting a new partner for the first time or have been burned by an IT consultant before and want a reliable way to tell the difference this time.

BOSTON BIZTECH PRINCIPLES

Boston BizTech's principals, Brian and Colton, are the people who do the work. Brian has 30+ years of enterprise IT experience including 10 years as a Fractional CIO. Colton has 18 years of experience including 7 years as a University CIO. When you engage Boston BizTech, you get the people whose names are on the door, not a team assembled after the contract is signed.

PUT US THROUGH THE CHECKLIST

Ready to see if we pass?


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