An application consultant helps a business get software working for it. The title covers two different jobs, and which one you need depends on whether your software came off the shelf or was built for you.
The usual meaning: setting up software you bought
Most job descriptions use the title for someone who works with packaged business software, such as an accounting, sales or resource-planning system. The consultant meets the client to learn what the business needs, helps with system analysis and configuration, trains the users and writes the support documents.[1] The usual duties include advising on how to deploy, connect and change an application, troubleshooting problems, testing the system, and reporting on how it performs after launch.[1]
That job is real and useful. If you bought a product and need it fitted to your company, this is the person to hire.
Where that job stops fitting
Suppose your software is the business. You paid developers to build it, and it never shipped, or it shipped and keeps breaking. Configuring a product and training users will not help you. Nothing was bought, so nothing is left to configure. The problem is in what was built.
The consultant you need does something else. He finds out why the software is unstable or stuck, and then says what it will cost and how long it will take to fix. Those are the two questions an owner in this position asks first, and a consultant who can't answer them in plain numbers isn't doing the job.
What the work looks like on a stuck project
It starts with a review of the architecture and the code. Software that keeps breaking usually breaks for a few specific reasons: how the pieces fit together, how the data is stored, how the system is hosted. A review finds those reasons and ranks them by cost. Often the project doesn't need a rewrite. It needs the two or three structural problems fixed that cause most of the failures.
The next step is a plan with a price and a date. The plan says what gets fixed first, what can wait, and what you will have when each part is done. You can then decide with real figures instead of another month of invoices.
After that comes the team. If your current developers lack the skills to carry the work, a consultant can interview and hire people who have them. The aim is a system that cheaper developers can maintain and that costs little to host, so that your monthly spending falls once the project is stable. Training for the people who stay is part of the same work, because a sound design only lasts if the people maintaining it understand it.
Questions to ask before you hire one
- Will you read the code and the hosting setup before you quote a price?
- Can you tell me in writing what the fix will cost and how long it will take?
- Who will do the work, and how do you choose them?
- Will the finished system be something an ordinary developer can maintain?
- Will I talk to the person who reviewed my software, or to a salesperson?
A consultant who answers these directly is easy to judge. One who answers with talk of "digital transformation" or "optimization" without a number is asking you to take the result on faith.
Talking to Moosara
Moosara is a software rescue practice run by Robert Lara III. If your project is delayed, unstable or stuck, you can talk to him directly about what is wrong and what fixing it would involve.
Sources
- Jobstreet Singapore, "How to become an Application Consultant - Skills & Job Description" https://sg.jobstreet.com/career-advice/role/application-consultant