I was chatting with some folks from Trilogy at the LOMA show way back when, and in the meeting were some people from Accenture. Trilogy and Accenture had just announced a partnership. When I asked about a consulting firm (supposedly objective) being partners with a software company (clearly not), one of the Accenture guys, Mark Coleman, said, "The days of completely objective software consulting are gone."

That's telling.

Coleman wasn't saying anything that should surprise anyone. If you believed that any consultant is objective, you're pulling the wool over your own eyes. In some cases, like Accenture's, the company has a relationship with a vendor. (So asking Accenture "What software should I use?" would seem to be asking "What Trilogy product should I use?") In other cases, the consultant may simply have a grudge against a vendor, or just like doing business with one particular company-maybe he's dating someone there.