Our Tech Advisor Services

 

Now you have an opportunity to take advantage of advisory services without making a big commitment of your budget and time.  Our services are flexible and can be tailored to give you just the right amount of service without paying for what you don’t need.  When you are ready to hire new employees, contractors, a vendor, or a consulting company, you can make much better choices.

 

In an advisory engagement with you, we may make use of remote connections (telephone or conference calls, Skype video calls, GoToMeeting demonstrations), in-person meetings, onsite work, or offsite research and development.  We travel out of Southern California and New England, but we are happy to work with you remotely anywhere in the world.
 

Brief Consultation / The Telephone Q&A

 

This is the most basic engagement at an hourly rate (minimum 2 hours), where clients can explain their goals or problems, ask questions, and receive technical answers and guidance.  This will involve one or more phone conversations (or other remote connections), and may include a brief period for offline research.  These engagements can be scheduled for the minimum 2 hours, with additional time and arrangements TBD.
 

The Preview Engagement

 

This is a short engagement (usually a few days or weeks), designed to provide preliminary technical guidance before committing to a software project.  The deliverables may include technology education, recommended approaches, an evaluation of alternatives, general requirements, risk factors, and so on.  This is preliminary groundwork for a possible project, where the organization has the funding to do up-front work, such as a feasibility or cost study, but has not yet gotten approval for the project.

 

Analysis or Project Plan to Build a Proposal

 

This is a variant of the Preview, but the deliverable is a package that can be used to justify a project and convince higher management, another body, or investors to provide funding and support.  It may include a complete analysis or project plan that explains the assumptions, and makes high level projections of timelines, budgets, and resources.
 

Technology Vetting for Investors

 

This is another variant of the Preview, where the deliverable is a preliminary vetting of a specific technology for potential investors, venture capitalists, purchasers, or partners.  There are many good ideas, but it sometimes challenging to assess their real world readiness and the associated issues and risks.  Tech advisors can provide these evaluations.
 

RFP Support

 

The tech advisory team helps the organization to write a better RFP — more complete, accurate, and appropriate for the challenge — and possibly to help select companies or vendors as well.  This can save organizations that work within an RFP process a great deal of time and money.  (See the article What’s Wrong with the RFP?).
 

Project Coordinator/Program Manager

 

Here the tech advisors serve during the course of a software project as coordinator/liaison, to ensure that all interests are represented, all relevant information is communicated, risks and priorities are properly weighted, and everything stays on track.  This service is especially relevant when the organization is depending on outside consultants or vendors, but may not have the expertise to protect its interests throughout the process (tech advocacy).
 

Custom Software Development

 

Pabo Beach can provide full enterprise software solutions, and services for any or all phases of a project life cycle.  However, in so doing we honor our tech advocacy, and we recommend optimum, cost-effective solutions, and operate with full disclosure. Click here for more information.