Are consultants a waste of money?

An interesting new study out of the U.K. deals with an issue that's often on the minds of CIOs--are consultants worth the money? The new study, out last week, reveals that the public sector spends more than $1 billion a year on the unnecessary and often poor use of consultants. Neil Hammond, head of IT for British Sugar, said: "If there is a specific question you want tackled or a specific, well defined project you want undertaken, then consultants can be very useful in order to supplement resource and skills or take an external perspective. But if they take over your strategic planning and program management then you're in trouble--keep consultants on tap, not on top." Meanwhile, Kevin Fitzpatrick, CIO of Sodexho U.K., added: "Though consultants can sometimes truly be 'partners' their primary motivation is revenue for their company not yours."

To learn more about the study and the response from CIOs:
- read the full article in ZDnet