What is good consultant advice?

•              Advice that is compliant with all current best practice and government rules?

•              Advice completed using only cutting edge software?

For me, it is a good mix of the above but more. And, as you may have guessed, this article will explain what I believe makes for good consultant advice.

Before that, I do like a bit of audience participation, so I have the following real-life scenario I would like you to try and solve. Don’t worry, there are no scores, and you can think about it as much or as little as you like.

Question:

You are the head of a company that provides random codes for use securing all internet traffic such as financial transactions. All quite complicated stuff. Your job is making sure your computers can provide 100% randomly generated numbers per transaction, 100% of the time. Sounds simple, yes? Only problem is that computers are not able to generate random numbers (true fact). So, what is your solution? No pressure, just the security of all global financial transactions at stake……

Answer:

So, what was the answer you came up with?

Here are a few answers people have given me before:

• Write a special bit of code that will make computers give random numbers. – Good answer but computers really can’t be random apparently.
• Employ a bunch of people to spend all day making up random numbers. – I can only imagine how soul destroying that job would be….and you would need a lot of people!
• Garlic Bread. – Come on, who doesn’t like Peter Kay?

A solution I found for this question, which is being used by a company called Cloudflare, is something that I think borders on genius. It fulfils the brief of 100% random numbers, 100% of the time, it cannot be hacked (so I believe), is cost effective and is also quite cool.

The answer? 100 Lava Lamps!

Yep, that’s right, the 1960s have returned to save the internet from hackers. Don’t believe me? Here is a picture and link to their article where they have a picture of the wall and explain this in more detail https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/learning/ssl/lava-lamp-encryption/

But how? Put simply, whenever they need a random number a camera takes a picture of the wall of lava lamps. As lava lamps move the coloured wax around in random patterns, the chance of any two pictures being the same are essentially zero.

Why am I talking to you about Lava Lamps and what has this got to do with good consultant advice?

I love this solution as it both amuses and amazes me. It personifies what can happen when someone has the freedom, skill and self-confidence to ensure their advice is right and not unduly weighted towards what is safe for them/their career.

Imagine you were the person having to present this solution to your boss or client. This is a high-tech company with highly technical people and you are going to tell them that the heart of their whole operation is going to be run off 100 lava lamps and a digital camera! Surely you would feel the close presence of your P45?

Well done that person. If you ever happen to read this article, I would love to buy you a beer.

This example sums up to me what good advice is. For me, good advice is a solution that fulfils the brief in the most efficient way possible and is not encumbered by unrelated factors such as career preservation and anticipated expectation of your client or boss.

So many reports I read from M&E consultancies will tell you that use of certain software is vital or that equipment must be replaced and often, this advice was given because it was weighted towards giving the easy or safe answer. The answer that is easy to justify to their client or boss, even if the advice ends up being poorly suited to the clients’ intentions.

Successful delivery of the brief always requires a true understanding of the client’s business, needs and their wider plan for the property. I don’t mean in basic terms such as “they need office space for 100 people”. Any M&E consultant can provide that service. I mean really understanding their needs and what their business plan is.

If a client is taking a 5 year lease and the landlord is demolishing the building post lease, why replace a fan that is technically past its notional end of life? Does it work? Can it be repaired/serviced? Can it do the required job?

I would suggest we look to service and retain it. Many people will say “you must replace it as it is past the CIBSE Guide M life expectancy”. I say, have a conversation with the client. Tell them the risks and rewards of retaining the system. Help them to decide if the latent risk of that solution works with their intended use of the building. The building is being demolished in 5 years time so for the sake of the client and to minimise future waste, let’s not install more new equipment than is 100% necessary.

Many M&E consultants are generally reluctant to make recommendations that move away from typical/best practice or the guidance from CIBSE. Why? Because making a suggestion that is outside of industry standard practice is a risk and engineers are not typically risk takers. Too many consultants think of the risk to them, their job, their company if it all goes wrong. Industry best/typical practice is something most feel is a safe area. If it all goes wrong, who can argue their solution was wrong if it follows best practice? It may not be the solution that is best for the client, but it is safest for the M&E consultant. Putting self-preservation ahead of good advice.

Obviously I have a bias. Although I do believe in what I have said, I have written this article because this is something Unova are good at. It is one of our strengths. Unova prides itself on striving to provide commercial advice. We are consultants, it’s in our name. For us, we believe consultancy means to provide correct advice tailored to the goals of our clients. If not, then why have M&E Consultants at all? A computer can tell you when CIBSE Guide M says equipment should be replaced!

We love innovation, we love design, we love surveys. We are actively involved with some amazing R&D in the world of net zero energy solutions, use of Revit for all projects to minimise onsite issues, using software to make surveys more efficient with more useful information however these are all just great tools we can use. For us, the very definition of good consultant advice has to be based squarely on an understanding of what the client wants/needs. Otherwise, we are just another M&E company with amazing software, great engineers and a well-thumbed copy of the CIBSE guides providing every client with the same, conservative advice.

So, what is good consultant advice? It is the right advice for the client’s needs. Sounds so simple but turns out to be quite hard to find!