How To Succeed as a Technology Consultant in 2026

Author: Michael Pongan, Site Director, Canada

The lessons I didn’t expect to learn after 25 years of solving business problems. 

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Write good code. Build good software. Keep learning about new technologies.

Twenty-five years later, I still believe those things matter, but they’re more easy to figure out than people.

When our marketing team asked me to tell the world my secret sauce recipe to succeed as a technology consultant, I automatically assumed I’d end up talking about technology. Instead, I found myself thinking about people – and why they interact with the world in the way they do.

The people that I remember the most are the ones that taught me about how teams actually make decisions, and how people end up responding to change.

Here are a few thoughts to consider as you grow in your role as a tech consultant:

1. Every company thinks they’re different. Eventually, they all tell the same story.

This is true: every business has its own culture, history, customers, and way of working. But after working with enough organizations, their stories start to overlap.

One company struggles with communication. Another calls it change management. A third blames legacy systems. Strip away the industry, the acronyms, and the technology, and you’re often looking at the same challenge: getting people aligned around a common way forward.

Technology changes remarkably quickly. Human nature? Hmm… Not that quick.
And I guess that’s the most reassuring (yet sometimes unsettling) lesson of my career.

2. Pay very close attention to the spreadsheet everyone is holding onto with a tight grip.

I’ve yet to walk into an organization that doesn’t have a living and breathing spreadsheet that manages much more than folks let on.

You know what I’m talking about – nobody officially owns it, but everyone depends on it. Sometimes it’s even MORE important than the enterprise system the company invested millions of dollars to implement.

Earlier in my career, I saw those spreadsheets as something that needed to disappear. Today however, I see them differently: they’re evidence. They tell you where people created workarounds because the software didn’t quite fit the business. They reveal the gaps, the habits, and the institutional knowledge that rarely make it into a project plan.

Don’t replace the spreadsheet until you understand why it exists. More often than not, it’s pointing you towards the real problem.

3. Projects slow down because people stop trusting each other.

I’ve been on both sides of the table – as someone building technology from the inside and as a consultant helping organizations navigate change. No matter which side I’m sitting on, one lesson keeps proving itself: you have to trust the people you’re working with.

When people trust one another, difficult conversations happen earlier. Which means you’re actively creating an environment where people can disagree and still move forward.

That’s something no software upgrade has ever been able to deliver.

4. There’s no doubt in my mind that AI can build the code. But it CANNOT build the relationship. 

I’m fascinated by what AI can do. I use it almost every day and it’s definitely changed the way I build software and solve problems.

Clients don’t remember whether you used the latest framework or the newest AI tool. They remember whether you listened, understood their business, and helped them make difficult decisions with confidence.

Technology will continue to evolve. And that’s exciting.
Relationships (fortunately) still take time.

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Maybe that’s one reason I enjoy chess so much.

People think the game is about making the next move. But it’s really about understanding the player sitting opposite them.

Tech consulting isn’t all that different.