Consultants – who needs them?

Consultants – who needs them?

Jan 4 · 5 min read
This might be a question or your rhetorical reflection on the value of consultants in general. Procurement teams certainly seem keen to examine vendor proposals that include consultancy fees. Sometimes, the consultancy fees are a significant up-front expense. Worse, some products require regular spending on consultants to keep a product running over time. Your skepticism might come from hard-learned lessons. There, I’ve said it. But, in some vendor organizations, the consultancy team is home to the vendor’s top talent and most experienced staff.

Some vendors, including Legito, deploy consultants during the pre-sales stage of a deal. That means you can ‘try before you buy’ – it’s a chance to see what they can do and maybe build rapport with someone you might engage. Pre-sales is a test of how well a vendor understands your needs. It’s also a chance to assess how well you have investigated the problems you want to solve. Ideally, come with a small specific MVP in mind (Google the Gartner definition).

Legito is a no-code solution designed for organizations to build and maintain solutions using in-house subject matter experts (not developers). Nevertheless, there is still a period where you start with no knowledge before building competence and confidence. That’s a period when you are impatient to make progress. You will have questions that might be hard to resolve from the training resources. You might get stuck. Ask for help. Legito select consultants are for two qualities: they know the product, but crucially, they have experience of making it work for real projects. Quick-start projects are where they can add the most value. They will save you time and help you learn on the job.

I came to Legito after 15 years using a competing product as a customer. My first project started with an intensive period teaching myself from user guides (it was a code-based product), and then I spent a day with a consultant before returning to the project. I had spent enough time with the software to learn the basics, and enough time to expose the topics where I needed 1:1 support. I knew where I needed expert input, and the consultant added much value. A few months later, I had another day with a consultant. By that time, I was ready to grasp more advanced concepts that made the solution polished. I used the first approach. It reduced my budget, and I believe it’s the best way to develop your expertise. But, it takes longer, and you will make mistakes that require re-work. We learn from that.

The second approach is good for speed, predictable timescales, and the assurance of having a successful first project on which to build. However, I don’t think you learn as much from observing rather than doing. You might still need to resort to the first approach when you move to the next project. However, at least you will build on a firm success base. Expect to pay more if you outsource the first project. You can mitigate the extra cost if you give the consultants a tight brief and a clear picture of both the ‘as is’ business process and the ‘to be’ business process. If you don’t have clearly defined requirements, the consultants will need to spend time on a discovery process. That can be economical if your internal subject matter experts are scarce or valuable resources (e.g. fee earning staff in professional services organizations).

Consultants – who needs them?

Jan 4 · 5 min read
This might be a question or your rhetorical reflection on the value of consultants in general. Procurement teams certainly seem keen to examine vendor proposals that include consultancy fees. Sometimes, the consultancy fees are a significant up-front expense. Worse, some products require regular spending on consultants to keep a product running over time. Your skepticism might come from hard-learned lessons. There, I’ve said it. But, in some vendor organizations, the consultancy team is home to the vendor’s top talent and most experienced staff.
Some vendors, including Legito, deploy consultants during the pre-sales stage of a deal. That means you can ‘try before you buy’ – it’s a chance to see what they can do and maybe build rapport with someone you might engage. Pre-sales is a test of how well a vendor understands your needs. It’s also a chance to assess how well you have investigated the problems you want to solve. Ideally, come with a small specific MVP in mind (Google the Gartner definition).

Legito is a no-code solution designed for organizations to build and maintain solutions using in-house subject matter experts (not developers). Nevertheless, there is still a period where you start with no knowledge before building competence and confidence. That’s a period when you are impatient to make progress. You will have questions that might be hard to resolve from the training resources. You might get stuck. Ask for help. Legito select consultants are for two qualities: they know the product, but crucially, they have experience of making it work for real projects. Quick-start projects are where they can add the most value. They will save you time and help you learn on the job.

I came to Legito after 15 years using a competing product as a customer. My first project started with an intensive period teaching myself from user guides (it was a code-based product), and then I spent a day with a consultant before returning to the project. I had spent enough time with the software to learn the basics, and enough time to expose the topics where I needed 1:1 support. I knew where I needed expert input, and the consultant added much value. A few months later, I had another day with a consultant. By that time, I was ready to grasp more advanced concepts that made the solution polished. I used the first approach. It reduced my budget, and I believe it’s the best way to develop your expertise. But, it takes longer, and you will make mistakes that require re-work. We learn from that.
The second approach is good for speed, predictable timescales, and the assurance of having a successful first project on which to build. However, I don’t think you learn as much from observing rather than doing. You might still need to resort to the first approach when you move to the next project. However, at least you will build on a firm success base. 

Expect to pay more if you outsource the first project. You can mitigate the extra cost if you give the consultants a tight brief and a clear picture of both the ‘as is’ business process and the ‘to be’ business process. If you don’t have clearly defined requirements, the consultants will need to spend time on a discovery process. That can be economical if your internal subject matter experts are scarce or valuable resources (e.g. fee earning staff in professional services organizations).

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Looking Back and Looking Forwards

Looking Back and Looking Forwards

Dec 28 · 5 min read

It’s time to review 2022. When you see the achievements of 2022, and the momentum of progress during the year, we hope we will inspire you ahead of 2023.

Inspiration, interaction and action was our theme for the Legito 2022 PowerUp conference. You can still catch up on the conference sessions and see the dates for the 2023 conference. We were excited to host speakers from our customers, hearing their stories about what they have achieved with Legito. By the time of our next conference, there will be another 12 months of new features and product enhancements, continuing the pace of development from 2022. Be sure to save 15th June 2023 to join us in Prague, and register for you free ticket.

As more customers adopt Legito, and existing customers expand their user base, we have invested more in our team and resources. 2022 saw us double our headcount, with many new colleagues joining the development team. 2022 developments included workflow and major enhancements for Legito Objects, digital signature options including Legito Sign, new tools to support Clause Libraries, no-code JSON integration, and a new API. If you’re not familiar with the benefit of those developments, just know that they are part of our continued quest to make Legito the only tool you need to augment and automate your back office functions. Many enhancements began with customer requests, and we already plan more customer-led features for 2023.

 

 

At a time when more people work remotely, we moved to a new European office to provide a collaborative working environment and a great place to work for our colleagues. Look closely and see that many of their four-legged friends also enjoy coming to the office.

During 2022, we published 84 inspirational articles, 2 new case studies, and 5 educational webinars. We will continue in 2023 to use every channel to share ideas, experience and news.

 

Next year, in addition to meeting Legito and our customers in Prague for the Legito PowerUp conference, you can see us in the US at the OPEX World Summit in Miami, Legal Week in New York, and the CLOC Global Institute Conference in Las Vegas. Our US team and our South America team will also be in Prague.

For many organizations, 2022 was a period characterized by recovery from COVID pandemic, but as the year draws to a close, attention is increasingly focused on the challenges in the economy, in the availability of human capital, and the changing shape of global supply chains. We will continue to find ways to make Legito impactful, agile, and responsive to the work you need to do.

 

Looking Back and Looking Forwards

Dec 28 · 5 min read

It’s time to review 2022. When you see the achievements of 2022, and the momentum of progress during the year, we hope we will inspire you ahead of 2023.

Inspiration, interaction and action was our theme for the Legito 2022 PowerUp conference. You can still catch up on the conference sessions and see the dates for the 2023 conference. We were excited to host speakers from our customers, hearing their stories about what they have achieved with Legito. By the time of our next conference, there will be another 12 months of new features and product enhancements, continuing the pace of development from 2022. Be sure to save 15th June 2023 to join us in Prague, and register for you free ticket.

As more customers adopt Legito, and existing customers expand their user base, we have invested more in our team and resources. 2022 saw us double our headcount, with many new colleagues joining the development team. 2022 developments included workflow and major enhancements for Legito Objects, digital signature options including Legito Sign, new tools to support Clause Libraries, no-code JSON integration, and a new API. If you’re not familiar with the benefit of those developments, just know that they are part of our continued quest to make Legito the only tool you need to augment and automate your back office functions. Many enhancements began with customer requests, and we already plan more customer-led features for 2023.

 

 

At a time when more people work remotely, we moved to a new European office to provide a collaborative working environment and a great place to work for our colleagues. Look closely and see that many of their four-legged friends also enjoy coming to the office.

During 2022, we published 84 inspirational articles, 2 new case studies, and 5 educational webinars. We will continue in 2023 to use every channel to share ideas, experience and news.

Next year, in addition to meeting Legito and our customers in Prague for the Legito PowerUp conference, you can see us in the US at the OPEX World Summit in Miami, Legal Week in New York, and the CLOC Global Institute Conference in Las Vegas. Our US team and our South America team will also be in Prague.

For many organizations, 2022 was a period characterized by recovery from COVID pandemic, but as the year draws to a close, attention is increasingly focused on the challenges in the economy, in the availability of human capital, and the changing shape of global supply chains. We will continue to find ways to make Legito impactful, agile, and responsive to the work you need to do.

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Thinking ahead to a Quiet January

Thinking ahead to a Quiet January

Nov 23 · 3 min read

January is an excellent time to get things done, especially if urgent tasks mean you never get enough clear time to work on your ‘someday / maybe’ list. The end of the calendar year coincides with the end of the business year for many organisations. Christmas holidays end and people go back to work in a period of relative calm in anticipation of the year ahead.

Trying new things

Another great feature of January: it’s a quiet time for you, but it’s also a quiet time for many of your colleagues. January is the ideal opportunity to run a small experiment or pilot project to try something new. The opportunity cost of a short January distraction is at its lowest, and you can harness the instinct to do something different in the coming year. If a January pilot project is successful, you could scale it in time for Spring.

If I can tempt you to do something different this January, there are one or two quick steps you might need to take in the next few weeks so you will be ready.

Think about signing up for a free trial to begin in January. Maybe get a couple of colleagues on board now – your subconscious minds can start processing ideas between now and January. If December looks like a crazy period, perhaps it’s an ideal time to observe the shortcomings in the current working patterns. Could you set aside a week in January where you avoid routine meetings or appointments that could wait, except for collaborating on your pilot project.

If you want to complete a pilot project in January, you will need to limit your focus to one deliverable, maybe two. Pick one thing that would prove the concept or sink it. The objective is to do just enough to give you the confidence to go ahead with some form of production rollout. The first production rollout doesn’t have to be big.

If you need help, ask.  In January, vendor consultants tend to have more capacity if you get stuck. New year resolutions are easier if you team up with others. Moreover, you don’t have to give up alcohol or count calories to get an exciting new venture underway.

Thinking ahead to a Quiet January

Nov 23 · 3 min read
January is an excellent time to get things done, especially if urgent tasks mean you never get enough clear time to work on your ‘someday / maybe’ list. The end of the calendar year coincides with the end of the business year for many organisations. Christmas holidays end and people go back to work in a period of relative calm in anticipation of the year ahead.

Trying new things

Another great feature of January: it’s a quiet time for you, but it’s also a quiet time for many of your colleagues. January is the ideal opportunity to run a small experiment or pilot project to try something new. The opportunity cost of a short January distraction is at its lowest, and you can harness the instinct to do something different in the coming year. If a January pilot project is successful, you could scale it in time for Spring.
If I can tempt you to do something different this January, there are one or two quick steps you might need to take in the next few weeks so you will be ready. Think about signing up for a free trial to begin in January. Maybe get a couple of colleagues on board now – your subconscious minds can start processing ideas between now and January. If December looks like a crazy period, perhaps it’s an ideal time to observe the shortcomings in the current working patterns. Could you set aside a week in January where you avoid routine meetings or appointments that could wait, except for collaborating on your pilot project.

If you want to complete a pilot project in January, you will need to limit your focus to one deliverable, maybe two. Pick one thing that would prove the concept or sink it. The objective is to do just enough to give you the confidence to go ahead with some form of production rollout. The first production rollout doesn’t have to be big.

If you need help, ask.  In January, vendor consultants tend to have more capacity if you get stuck.

New year resolutions are easier if you team up with others. Moreover, you don’t have to give up alcohol or count calories to get an exciting new venture underway.

More Weekly Articles

No code / Low code – what’s the fuss about?

No code / Low code – what’s the fuss about?

Aug 3 · 1 min read

Some automation software still requires you to use code (or a code-like script) to build a solution that can be deployed in an organisation. The scripts can look a lot like programming language, which can be a problem. It deters business users and subject matter experts from picking up the software and running with it.

If automation needs scripts, most organisations will default to seeking help from a developer. Developers are a scarce commodity, which means delay and cost. Developers don’t have the native understanding of what the solution should look like, which means someone has to brief them, and the solution isn’t built by someone with an intuitive grasp of desired results. And, you need a developer who knows the particular code. When the solution needs updating, repeat the experience. In short, code gets in the way.

Legito is a no-code solution. There is no script. You use drag-and-drop techniques to paint your requirements when you create documents and processes. To make it even easier, Legito makes intelligent guesses about what you are trying to achieve and makes suggestions to lead you through the process.

Why is this important?

No-code and low-code platforms make it easier for ‘citizen developers’ to build useful tools for their organisation without reaching out for resources from an IT team. They put the power of the features directly into the hands of people who know what they want to build, avoiding the time and ‘lost in translation’ issues of giving the work to a developer.

The advantages of no-code / low-code continue after the build phase of a project – it’s easier to tweak, maintain and evolve the solution in future.

Combined with the availability of free trials, no-code makes it easier for a business team to run a pilot project without the hassle of engaging help from scarce resources like IT professionals. It enables quick start projects. We want HR teams, procurement teams, finance teams – all enterprise teams – to feel they can adopt the same solution quickly and get results customised for their team.

Legito is a collection of tools, all designed to get work done with documents and business processes. As the number of features grows, a no-code approach allows us to put new features into the hands of users without them having to learn more complicated scripts or re-write old scripts to work with new features. No-code means one less distraction between you and your desired results.

Play with the solution. Try stuff out. Code has to be learnt, but Legito merely needs to be uncovered.

No code / Low code – what’s the fuss about?

Aug 3 · 1 min read

Some automation software still requires you to use code (or a code-like script) to build a solution that can be deployed in an organisation. The scripts can look a lot like programming language, which can be a problem. It deters business users and subject matter experts from picking up the software and running with it.

If automation needs scripts, most organisations will default to seeking help from a developer. Developers are a scarce commodity, which means delay and cost. Developers don’t have the native understanding of what the solution should look like, which means someone has to brief them, and the solution isn’t built by someone with an intuitive grasp of desired results. And, you need a developer who knows the particular code. When the solution needs updating, repeat the experience. In short, code gets in the way.

Legito is a no-code solution. There is no script. You use drag-and-drop techniques to paint your requirements when you create documents and processes. To make it even easier, Legito makes intelligent guesses about what you are trying to achieve and makes suggestions to lead you through the process.

Why is this important?

No-code and low-code platforms make it easier for ‘citizen developers’ to build useful tools for their organisation without reaching out for resources from an IT team. They put the power of the features directly into the hands of people who know what they want to build, avoiding the time and ‘lost in translation’ issues of giving the work to a developer.

The advantages of no-code / low-code continue after the build phase of a project – it’s easier to tweak, maintain and evolve the solution in future.

Combined with the availability of free trials, no-code makes it easier for a business team to run a pilot project without the hassle of engaging help from scarce resources like IT professionals. It enables quick start projects. We want HR teams, procurement teams, finance teams – all enterprise teams – to feel they can adopt the same solution quickly and get results customised for their team.

Legito is a collection of tools, all designed to get work done with documents and business processes. As the number of features grows, a no-code approach allows us to put new features into the hands of users without them having to learn more complicated scripts or re-write old scripts to work with new features. No-code means one less distraction between you and your desired results.

Play with the solution. Try stuff out. Code has to be learnt, but Legito merely needs to be uncovered.

More Weekly Articles