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Consultancy Jargon H1B in USA – Who is Client? Vendor ?

Many of you might know what a Consultancy is and what are the terms invovled with them. But, there are quite a few who always wonder what is the difference. Especially Students and others coming to India to work in US.

Layman’s example : Think of a situation, where you have a big plot and want to build a big housing complex.  As you cannot build on your own, you hire an engineer who can help you out. The engineer builds the plan and hires some company to do wiring, plumbing etc and construction  workers with different skills to get the job done. The small company that does wiring and plumbing uses their own people to do work. In this example,  You are the client, Engineer is the prime vendor and company hired to do plumbing and wiring is Consultancy ( The workers of the plumbing and wiring company are consultants )  and  construction workers of engineer are called consultants or implementation partners group.

Main Players in Consulting World

Consultancy :

This is the company who typically we with H1B visas work for.  These companies sponsor our H1B Visa and also Green Cards. A consultancy can be a vendor if they are big. Also it can be an implementor too.  Honestly, there are tons of Consulting companies. It is a money making machine concept. You do nothing and get paid a LOT. Thats why everyone wants to open a consultancy. I will post this info later in upcoming posts.., why people want to open their own consultancy….

Client :

Client is someone who’s work you are handling.   i.e., the company who hires people to get their work done. The origin of work and money. Without Client there is NOTHING.

Prime Vendor / Vendor :

Prime vendor  or just Vendor is some one who works directly with Client. The client has some contractual stipulations and insurance issues too when it comes to projects. So, they have their own rules to select vendors. The client has a set of preferred vendors. To become a vendor is a bit expensive and you have to show your strength.   There are many vendors out there, e.g. Cognizant , TCS, Accenture, etc.  A Vendor can also be an implementor. If the vendor bids the projects at Client and then implements using his staff, he becomes  a business partner or implementor to client. If the company just supplies professionals, then the company is regarded as just a vendor.

Consultant :

This is the actual professional, who work for the Consultancy. The consultant gets paid by the consultancy as they sponsor our Visa.

If there are no layers, it looks like this : Client à Prime Vendor  Ã Consultancy.

If there is one layer :  Client Ã  Prime Vendor Ã   Secondary vendor/ Consultancy Ã   Consultancy.

If there are two layers : Client à Prime Vendor Ã Secondary vendor/ Consultancy Ã Consultancy Ã Consultancy

Any questions about the Jargon ?

   

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