I can't disagree with your thoughts; to be honest it could be you occupy a specific but useful niche (just based on language; reporting, data liberation, etc.)

I can't disagree with your thoughts; to be honest it could be you occupy a specific but useful niche (just based on language; reporting, data liberation, etc.) but it is hard to say for sure on generalities. I actually have an anecdote about reporting in a piece of software we use. It's a highly customized database which then lets you design reports using Microsoft Report Server. Honestly, it's, really, a complete nightmare to use. But is it cost effective to get a consultant in to make it like, say, Gmail? That would be a dream (and if I had the decision you'd be at work on it tomorrow morning :)) but the truth is that your additions would mean re-auditing the whole thing, hiring other consultants to ensure it met data standards, retrain staff, etc. Essentially what I am saying is that while the trade off of your cost vs. the man-hours saved is probably a net gain. When you get into a largish company lots of additional costs come into effect. In addition (and this is probably a more important factor) habit breeds contempt; or, rather, if I was using this DB for the first time today I would hate it. But after 2 years it doesn't bother me any more. If you came to us with a knowledge of the software, our requirements and a proposal of how to beat it then that would probably be considered - making a pitch like that can be hard though (because how do you know what we use and how). Something with before/after figures dressed up in the kind of language managers like. Turning up with a "vague" (If you follow me) proposal to liberate databases is nice, but unlikely to hook anyone in the few minutes pitch window. Again; not to put you off. But you may well need to use a different approach to "normal" consultants to get companies involved (I really wanted to give you a suggestion here but I am struggling, sorry).