The survey of 1,000 management professionals has unveiled the top three concerns about consultancy engagement. Topping the list at over 70%, were respondents naming cost as the primary reason not to use consultants. Lack of accountability for project success and failure to transfer knowledge to internal staff also featured highly at 35%.

When questioned on success factors for third party engagements, top of the list was accurate time and budget management (55.2%), closely followed by knowledge transfer, with transparency throughout the engagement (42.1%) ranking as the third highest factor.
 
The most popular response to “how to improve consultancy engagements” at 55.4% was better collaboration and closer relationships between staff, vendors and consultants. The second most popular answer was clear project transparency and early detections/resolution of any issues (47.9%), with the recurring theme of improved knowledge transfer for future project planning and skills development coming third at 44.3%.

Juan Manrique, CEO of eTask said: “On average, 30% of information system projects overrun, creating huge budgetary issues for organisations. Additionally, nearly a quarter are cancelled due to reasons including poor processes change, governance issues, insufficient risk management, the lack of metrics, poor vendor management and poor project management capability.”

He continued: “This survey has provided us with excellent insight into perceptions around project success and consultancy engagement, allowing us to continue to develop the eTask solution to address the issues of cost management, transparency, repeatability - to address the knowledge transfer concerns expressed - and improved collaboration with internal and external clients and partners.”