Use Them Tactically

Many a times there is a sense of frustration and anger towards large software companies and system integrators because of their inability to act with speed; the same feeling repeats itself but multiplied by a factor, when the so called experts from their companies turn out to be mediocre. For them, solving a problem is throwing more people at it and adopting a trial and error methodology. Faced with a similar situation many years back, I came across a boutique provider who solved the problem and improved upon the solution within no time at all, says Arun Gupta, group CIO, K Raheja Group.

Some boutique providers are expensive in comparison, but most of the time worth the value. Sometime back when faced with a complex technology scenario and our inability to find the right skills across almost all the IT majors, the company finally narrowed on a boutique in EU who helped it solve the problem at hand in almost half the time, though the cost was a bit more than quoted by the top companies.

Since then, whenever working on a tricky issue or problem that appears to be a struggle with the larger vendors, Gupta has always connected with smaller specialized companies which are masters in what they do. Boutique companies typically focus on a specific area, domain, or technology and by virtue of that excel in what they do. This gives them an advantage over large companies. The big guys may have broad based skills, but not necessarily the deep expertise required to quickly seize the opportunity.

On the flip side, every enterprise has complexity arising out of multiple technologies and legacy applications that are interdependent. The boutique firm may not always be able to manage such complexity unless they specialize in exactly that. Also, scalability up or down is a challenge faced by smaller entities. In a dynamic environment, the small fish too serves a purpose like the big fish.

In the recent past, many such boutique entities have captured good business from their larger brethren. Today, many large companies are outsourcing specialized skills from such boutiques and taking overall responsibility for the project. My recommendationUse them tactically, Gupta adds.