Delivers the essential practical skills needed to consult and make sharp, well prepared interactions in a wide range of business situations This comprehensive handbook covers the fundamental skills and attitudes required by successful consultants from novice to practitioner level, irrespective of their specialist area. It untangles the key variables present in any consulting service and introduces practical ways to improve their effectiveness based upon the author's experience of helping consulting organisations to develop and excel in the marketplace. The book explores consulting ‘from the ground up' steering away from theory and focusing instead on practical application, providing a solid platform upon which to build further domain-specific competence. The Consultant's Handbook provides: An understanding of the key variables that can be addressed in order to improve one's own consulting performance A set of simple practices that can be implemented with immediate benefit to the reader Practical insight into day-to-day real life consulting interactions Confidence to implement the new ideas and approaches

A complete resource for assessing, auditing, analyzing, and evaluating any network environment With "Network Consultants Handbook, you will Learn from network audit and evaluation guidelines that aid in data gathering and analysis of network environments Work with tables and calculations that help provide near-real-time answers to internetworking issues and challenges Learn network diagramming tips that aid consultants and engineers in preparing consistent drawings for in-house documentation Discover how specific internetworking technologies fit into a design to create a networking solution for your customer Network consultants and engineers in today's industry continually face the challenge of assessing, auditing, and reviewing existing networks. Documenting, reviewing, and analyzing these changes in a customer's network is more challenging today than in the past, partly because of the explosive growth of converged applications and the Internet. Consultants and engineers often reinvent the wheel to gather and analyze relevant network information, particularly when examining a client's network while having little or no background information. "Network Consultants Handbook is a complete resource for assessing, auditing, analyzing, and evaluating any network environment. Intended for anyone who designs, manages, sells, administrates, or desires to understand various internetworking technologies, "Network Consultants Handbook demonstrates where and how to gather relevant information and how to analyze and document this information. Technology overviews peel away each layer of the network to provide a complete assessment. This book prepares you with form templates to completeduring a network audit, necessary device commands to aid in obtaining necessary information, and consistent forms to aid in documentation. Networks are like snowflakes: No two are alike. This is the challenge that network consultants, engineers, managers, designers, and anyone else involved with networks must face every day. Network Consultants Handbook provides the resources you need to evaluate and design networks, either as a desktop reference resource or in the field where the tables and calculations help provide near-real-time answers to internetworking issues and challenges. Companion Web Site The companion Web site for the book contains fully downloadable versions of the data gathering and analysis templates. These templates offer an easy-to-complete solution to gathering the data you need to complete your analysis of network environments. This book is part of the Cisco Press Networking Technologies Series, which offers networking professionals valuable information for constructing efficient networks, understanding new technologies, and building successful careers.

In an era of increasing complexity in healthcare, consultants can help organizations address inefficiencies, improve patient experiences, and set overall strategy. The most successful consultants do so through a lens of authenticity, recognizing that earning their clients' trust is key to achieving their full potential in this critical role. The Healthcare Consultant's Handbook: Career Opportunities and Best Practices offers insight into the essential role of the healthcare consultant. Author Scott A. Mason draws on more than 40 years of experience to reveal the realities of management consulting for healthcare organizations and the traits and strengths necessary for success. He looks at the common challenges healthcare consultants face and how best to overcome them. The book explores the role of the independent consultant, offers practical guidance on what to expect when working for a consulting firm and reveals what it takes to be an exceptional consultant. Various types of consulting are identified, along with types of consulting firms--profiling several prominent companies--and strategies for determining what type of firm is the best fit. Mason also provides a detailed look at: - Myths surrounding healthcare consulting - The client-consultant relationship from all perspectives - Unique elements of the healthcare sector that consultants often focus on - Differences between healthcare consulting and general management consulting - Key lessons learned from challenging client engagements With this book, new and prospective healthcare consultants will gain a greater understanding of the craft and practical insight into what truly makes a consultant exceptional.

A compendium of essential information for the modern security entrepreneur and practitioner The modern security practitioner has shifted from a predominantly protective site and assets manager to a leading contributor to overall organisational resilience. Accordingly, The Security Consultant's Handbook sets out a holistic overview of the essential core knowledge, emerging opportunities and approaches to corporate thinking that are increasingly demanded by employers and buyers in the security market. This book provides essential direction for those who want to succeed in security, either individually or as part of a team. It also aims to stimulate some fresh ideas and provide new market routes for security professionals who may feel that they are underappreciated and overexerted in traditional business domains. Product overview Distilling the author’s fifteen years’ experience as a security practitioner, and incorporating the results of some fifty interviews with leading security practitioners and a review of a wide range of supporting business literature, The Security Consultant’s Handbook provides a wealth of knowledge for the modern security practitioner, covering: Entrepreneurial practice (including business intelligence, intellectual property rights, emerging markets, business funding and business networking)Management practice (including the security function’s move from basement to boardroom, fitting security into the wider context of organisational resilience, security management leadership, adding value and professional proficiency)Legislation and regulation (including relevant UK and international laws such as the Human Rights Act 1998, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Geneva Conventions)Private investigations (including surveillance techniques, tracing missing people, witness statements and evidence, and surveillance and the law)Information and cyber security (including why information needs protection, intelligence and espionage, cyber security threats, and mitigation approaches such as the ISO 27001 standard for information security management)Protective security (including risk assessment methods, person-focused threat assessments, protective security roles, piracy and firearms)Safer business travel (including government assistance, safety tips, responding to crime, kidnapping, protective approaches to travel security and corporate liability)Personal and organisational resilience (including workplace initiatives, crisis management, and international standards such as ISO 22320, ISO 22301 and PAS 200) Featuring case studies, checklists and helpful chapter summaries, The Security Consultant's Handbook aims to be a practical and enabling guide for security officers and contractors. Its purpose is to plug information gaps or provoke new ideas, and provide a real-world support tool for those who want to offer their clients safe, proportionate and value-driven security services. About the author Richard Bingley is a senior lecturer in security and organisational resilience at Buckinghamshire New University, and co-founder of CSARN, the popular business security advisory network. He has more than fifteen years’ experience in a range of high-profile security and communications roles, including as a close protection operative at London’s 2012 Olympics and in Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. He is a licensed close protection operative in the UK, and holds a postgraduate certificate in teaching and learning in higher education. Richard is the author of two previous books: Arms Trade: Just the Facts(2003) and Terrorism: Just the Facts (2004).

Whether you’re a beginner just starting up a consulting practice, or a veteran looking for ways to invigorate your existing business, An Insider’s Guide to Building a Successful Consulting Practice is an invaluable resource. Featuring real stories from consultants in diverse industries, the book offers simple yet powerful ways to: Identify a market and narrow your focus • Make a smooth transition from employee to independent consultant • Sell effectively even if you’ve never sold before • Establish visibility through speaking, writing, and networking • Build credibility by leveraging the credibility of others • Set prices based on value • Develop a marketing strategy and divide your time between marketing and delivering your services • Keep plenty of work in your pipeline • Adapt and thrive in any market condition • And much more Complete with the results of an original survey of 200 successful independent consultants, this handy guide provides the kind of real-life advice you need to build a thriving business.

Management consultants of various kinds play an important role in the world of business, and within other types of organization. The Oxford Handbook on Management Consulting is a comprehensive overview of thinking and research on management consultancy with contributions from leading international scholars. The first section provides an account of the historical developments in management consulting research, and how current thinking has evolved from prior work. The second section focuses on disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, their diversities, areas of synergy, and parallel concerns. The following sections examine consulting as a knowledge business, consultants and management fashion, and the relationship between management consultants and their clients. The Handbook concludes with an assessment of areas of future research and debate. By bringing together a wide range of research and thinking on management consulting across different disciplines, sub-disciplines, and conceptual approaches, the Handbook provides a comprehensive understanding of both current thinking and future directions for research.

The Information System Consultant's Handbook familiarizes systems analysts, systems designers, and information systems consultants with underlying principles, specific documentation, and methodologies. Corresponding to the primary stages in the systems development life cycle, the book divides into eight sections: Principles Information Gathering and Problem Definition Project Planning and Project Management Systems Analysis Identifying Alternatives Component Design Testing and Implementation Operation and Maintenance Eighty-two chapters comprise the book, and each chapter covers a single tool, technique, set of principles, or methodology. The clear, concise narrative, supplemented with numerous illustrations and diagrams, makes the material accessible for readers - effectively outlining new and unfamiliar analysis and design topics.