At InfoTrust, we maintain a standard of having two consultants on each account that we service. This provides a number of securities for our clients and ourselves, including handling consultants being out of office, being busy with other work, or unexpected illnesses. In addition to these securities, two consultants provides the ability to work simultaneously and bounce ideas off one another, which helps us provide top tier service to our clients.
Whether dealing with planned vacations or the being hit by a bus, having someone on-hand and ready to provide the same standard of service is of the utmost importance. I think we’ve all been in a situation where we’re left with someone who knows nothing about a project or, worse yet, waiting until the consultant or account manager returns. At InfoTrust, by keeping multiple consultants knowledgeable about the intricacies of each account, we are able to provide the resources the client needs immediately.
Each consultant works multiple accounts at InfoTrust, which means that there are times one client must take priority for a team member due to an approaching deadline or emergency. By spreading the work across multiple members it is easier to ensure that one of the two is always available for other clients.
Multiple consultants also allows us to combine sets of expertise and work collaboratively. Everyone knows that “two heads are better than one,” so we utilize that as a way to improve our breadth of knowledge available to clients. Often times we will pair a data analyst, who excels at analyzing data and drawing conclusions, with one of our technical engineers, who can answer and handle a lot of the questions and issues that arise when data is not being reported properly. Multiple sets of eyes also ensures that the data and results we are providing is accurate and consistent.
Another benefit is that the ability to work concurrently provides more flexibility in times of high demand. Prior to major redesigns or releases, workload is often double or triple of what is required in the support phase. With multiple consultants we are able to get twice the amount of work done in the same time as opposed to having to wait far longer for once consultant to complete all of the work.
Finally, this structure provides the ability to handle knowledge transfer between new or leaving team members. When one person needs to roll off of the project, it allows for a smooth transition without having to entirely transfer all knowledge to a new team member. It saves the hassles of granting access, reviewing permissions, providing contacts, and gathering information for a new consultant. This in turn also benefits new team members, because it allows us to have the existing consultant mentor the new consultant.
We strongly believe that this process enables us to provide high quality service and analytics. There are many reasons to have multiple consultants work the same account, but we think perhaps the best one is the cultivation of a team environment. Team environments foster trust, learning opportunities, friendship, and bring a wide variety of other benefits.
