About Darby Consulting

Darby Consulting is an independent consulting firm specializing in the needs of small organizations. Darby provides expertise in a multitude of areas:

• Information Technology
• Web Site Design and Editing
• Video and Audio Editing
• Database Migration
• Grant Writing
• Educational Services
• Other Services as Needed

Because Darby is independent, it can provide you with an objective, 3rd party analysis of your issues and customized solutions.

Information Technology Consulting has been challenged in recent years. First, there was the Year 2000 bug. This bug brought increased demand for consulting expertise as industry and government scrambled to dodge the bullet of the Y2K bug. (The Y2K bug had to do with what would happen when the year advanced from 1999 to 2000. Since many computer systems stored dates by using only 2 digits for the year, there was concern that going from 99 to 00 would cause date arithmetic errors in critical systems.) Fortunately, the Y2K bug was largely a non-issue (see the history page for details). This should be touted as a success for the myriad consultants and programmers that worked tirelessly to deal with the issue. Darby consultants were part of that effort. However, the Y2K bug left a vacuum in its wake. Companies suddenly questioned whether they were spending too much on IT, without a lot of tangible benefit. Consequently, many companies decided to cut back on IT expenditures.

Second, with cost cutting has come outsourcing of IT functions. Companies are no longer content to hire IT expertise in house by bringing in IT professionals. Companies have now outsourced their entire Information Technology department. This increases the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the organization. High priced IT skills are shared between companies. Unfortunately, IT jobs have as a result gone overseas. Places like India and China have much lower wage costs. India especially, having a native english speaking population of high tech professionals, has cashed in on this trend. But outsourcing a problem doesn't necessarily resolve it. You may discover that you still have the problem, only now it is even more complex since you have a 3rd party trying to address it. Outsourcing has to make sense, not just reduce the personel cost. Otherwise, it is only deferring costs until a later time. And those costs will be amplified by this process, not reduced.

Darby Consulting provides a multitude of services in addition to IT Consulting. We have expertise with video production, web site design and implementation, and database migration. We also have expertise in Grant Writing and various other Educational Services. Contact Darby Consulting to see how we can address your needs.