E-MailAccess the Experts
Cutter Consortium's Access to the Experts inquiry program, available to Cutter Consortium Enterprise Suite clients, provides you with astute analysis and advice directly from Cutter's renowned experts. Every single inquiry is fielded by a Cutter Senior Consultant, Fellow, or Faculty member with hands-on experience addressing IT challenges at enterprises and organizations worldwide. You'll get insightful and tested answers to your questions, unlike those you'd get in any other inquiry program.
Your Client Research Manager
Every Access to the Experts client organization is assigned a client research manager who will field your inquiries, matching the right expert to your inquiry. Your client research manager will ensure that your questions are answered promptly and will handle the logistics for teleconferences. We dedicate the time to coordinating the communications, so you can concentrate on getting the answers you need.
Use Case Best Practices
Senior Consultant
Oliver Sims discussed with a team of project managers from a European quasi-governmental agency the strategy of describing the organization's existing systems in terms of Use Cases in preparation for their eventual switch to Horizon Next Generation. The in-depth inquiry covered what Use Cases are, the parameters of how to employ them with the existing system, the metrics associated with Use Cases, and what obstacles the organization might face from a project management perspective. In addition, Mr. Sims provided stories on best practices associated with Use Cases, based on his prior experiences.
CIO Mentoring
Cutter Fellow
Rob Austin and the CIO of a Fortune 500 and Financial Times Global 500 firm meet monthly by phone to discuss the latest challenges IT confronts due to the organization's rapidly changing and mission-critical industry.
How to Transition to a New Technology
Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant
Brad Kain helped a military organization determine the best way to choose a technology alternative for the current user interface layer of its Java-based command and control IT application. Mr. Kain and the client discussed which approach was best for the client's large and frequently changing application, as well as the best ways for their user interface to communicate with their Geographic Information Systems (GIS) component.
The hours you contract for are yours to use in any way you like. Use all of the time yourself. Or set aside a portion of the time for your CIO to have a conversation with the same Cutter IT strategist every month, building a rapport with this expert so he/she will develop a sound understanding of your organization's framework and how the issues you face fit within this framework. Or send e-mail inquiries on a variety of different topics. Our Senior Consultant with the best expertise in that specific area will answer your question. Or, choose a Senior Consultant with whom you'd like to brainstorm from time to time about issues that come up on an ad hoc basis.
From advice on your governance strategy from Cutter's Enterprise Risk Management & Governance expert Bob Charette, to counsel on integrating agile approaches into your existing project management methodology from agile project management expert Jim Highsmith; learning about how best to rethink XP in your organization from XP founder Kent Beck; input on overcoming obstacles to your service-oriented architecture implementation from enterprise architecture expert Mike Rosen; feedback on your security plan from security guru Mark Seiden; to advice on how to evaluate business-IT alignment in your particular enterprise from IT strategy expert Bob Benson, Cutter's team of experts is uniquely positioned to provide you with answers.
While some inquiries may be answered informally by our experts, others will require research and further conversation in order to provide the best advice. But in each and every case you'll get one of the best minds in the industry working on your problem right away.