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Author's profile photo Susan Keohan

FREE Consulting, no vendors will call

So let’s be totally honest here.  This was not *at all* the same as actually having a consultant sitting here, providing me with in-depth knowledge about the application area.  And there is a lot of information that is related to “X” that I still don’t know, and maybe will never know.  Then again, maybe I don’t need it.    I am not saying *at all* that consultants are not needed.  They are, they desperately are.  And when you are fortunate to have some really good consultants on your team, both you and the consultants will benefit.  You learn from them, they learn from you.  It’s a beautiful thing.  And besides, some of my very best friends are consultants, and I care deeply about them and wouldn’t want them to be put out of business, truly.    But when you have a question or an issue, and there is nobody on site (or on the phone, or in your vast network of professional friends, as was the case for me) you can try coming to SAP Community Network, and search for blogs, forum posts, white papers and more.  To me, that’s like money in the bank.

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      Author's profile photo Graham Robinson
      Graham Robinson
      Hi Sue,

      I enjoyed your blog - although in the Southern Hemisphere water goes down the drain clockwise and we think the filter panel is on the left-hand side of the search screen. 😉

      For me your blog underlines that the days of the fake consultant are behind us - and we are all pleased about that.

      To be of value to your customer a consultant needs to add value - not just tell you how to do something, or even do it for you. A good consultant brings knowledge, experience, practical thinking, and a whole lot more to their customer. They provide value above and beyond their cost and so much more than just how something is done.

      Oh - and when I mention the words "consultant" and "customer" feel free to replace then with "employee" and "employer" as appropriate.

      Cheers
      Graham Robbo

      Author's profile photo Susan Keohan
      Susan Keohan
      Blog Post Author
      Hi Graham,
      Clearly I was just trying to grab some page views when I used the blog title 'FREE Consulting' - but I wanted to underline that there is great value here on SCN.  Of course, nothing could ever replace having someone with your depth and breadth of experience (if I were ever so lucky) on site.
      But SCN has helped so many people - so many times - I wanted to highlight this. 
      Thanks for your kind comments,
      Sue
      Author's profile photo Krishnakumar Ramamoorthy
      Krishnakumar Ramamoorthy
      A nice blog indeed. Your blog reminds me of a story my grandmom told me when I was a kid. Hinduism has a god or goddess for everything. So one day, the goddess of knowledge and goddess of wealth had an argument over who was prettier than the other. To settle this argument, they went to the god of creations and asked him to pass a judgement. This was a trick question indeed and to answer this, the creator asked them to walk over to his garden and fetch him some mangoes. They did and came back after a few minutes with some mangoes. As they were eager for the answer, the creator told them, the goddess of knowledge was prettier when she went out while the goddess of wealth was prettier when she walked in. The moral of the story, it is a beautiful thing to share knowledge which in turn triggers more beautiful things like accumulation of wealth and anyone who understands this, life treats them with some sweet mangoes!!

      As a consultant, I can say that the more I have shared my knowledge, the more I have learnt and a community driven platform like SCN are a great medium for this. Thanks for bringing this  ever important topic, today.

      Cheers
      KK Ramamoorthy

      Author's profile photo Harshit Kumar
      Harshit Kumar
      Hi Sue,

      Interesting blog i must say. That's the beauty of SCN, there are people who helps the community and it remains there so that in future if the same issue is being faced people can resolve it.

      I wonder what would life be without SCN, can't even imagine.

      Regards,
      Harshit Kumar

      Author's profile photo Susan Keohan
      Susan Keohan
      Blog Post Author
      Before SCN?  There was not much around... There were some mailing lists (one of which I know still runs pretty well) but other than that...
      well, it was a very dark dark time.
      Author's profile photo Nabheet Madan
      Nabheet Madan
      Nice blog combined with nicely structured thoughts as always:)

      Nabheet

      Author's profile photo Susan Keohan
      Susan Keohan
      Blog Post Author
      Thanks Nabheet, you inspired me 🙂
      Author's profile photo Nabheet Madan
      Nabheet Madan
      Its always team effort.:):) What i was thinking was every month some one from the group should consolidate all the answered questions as tip and tricks for every forum and blog it.

      In this way for each month or each week we will have a consolidated learning:)

      What do you think about the same?

      Nabheet