Picking the right supplier is crucial to the success of any project, and getting the right people is a vital element, so when selecting a supplier there are a number of crucial questions to ask:
Do they have people who understand the IT Sector and my area of business?
The core of our IT Sector team has either been drawn from within the sector or has wide experience of delivering projects to the sector. Our team covers all elements including hardware, software, systems integration, outsourcing, services and consultancy. As a result they understand the changes affecting the sector and the resulting sales challenges.
We feel that when building any project-team we need to keep in mind that new insights or creative options often come from people with experience beyond the IT sector, so we like to include such people to ensure we don't fall into the traps that can come from over familiarity with one business area.
Our team is lead by David Freedman, who has over 18 years experience of working within the IT sector before joining Huthwaite and who has worked on many Huthwaite projects to bring real improvements in sales results for our clients. David will be happy to work with you to ensure you get the project-team you want.
Do these people have the range of skills needed to deliver my project?
Many customers focus on the trainers in their efforts to ensure that the people delivering the training have the necessary skills and experience. Success, however, is dependent on more than just having good trainers:
- Do they have the consultancy skills to ensure the blocks to success are identified and addressed?
- Have they the design expertise to develop programmes to match the identified needs, and the writing skills to develop materials to support the training programme?
- Do they have project management skills and experience to handle the problems that are sure to arise during implementation?
- When it’s all over, are they able to evaluate the training to ensure that it is making a real difference to performance?
At Huthwaite we have built a team to handle all aspects of the project from needs analysis, programme design and materials development, through programme delivery to project management and control.
Does the supplier have sufficient resources to deliver the project within my time frame?
At Huthwaite we have built a substantial team to allow us to handle the largest projects. In addition to our specialist IT team we have built a large global network giving us over 300 people to draw on. We try to ensure that all our people gain experience of a wide range of industry sectors and most of our team will have experience of working on projects within the IT sector. So we can assemble a team, with the right blend of skills and experience, to deliver even the largest projects quickly and effectively.
As an example, we recently designed a bespoke training solution for an IT client and trained over 1000 salespeople, in over 20 countries, often in local languages, in under 12 months.
Do they have a track record for producing real improvements in results?
At Huthwaite we believe it is not enough for our training interventions to be well received by the programme delegates, they need to show real changes in behaviour and bottom-line results, if we are to count them as a success. We also believe that what gets measured gets done, so we encourage our clients to allow us to install processes to track changes and measure their impact. As a result we believe we are one of the few training organisations that can show our training courses have produced measurable changes in skills, leading to increased sales and profitability.
Can they deliver the project in all the locations and languages we need?
Huthwaite has spent 30 years developing an international delivery network, covering most of the globe from Finland to South Africa and Australia, from the United Kingdom to Japan and Korea. Our network now covers 33 countries with delivery and materials in the local languages. Our international team can adapt designs and projects to take account of local cultural differences and provide a high level of local support to any project.
