Innovation Vs Cost-Containment

Luke met with the good folks at Advanced Trading at SIFMA the other week, the result of which was this article "SIFMA: Cost Cutting, A Double-Edged Sword?" that outlined his observation on the maturity of the purchasing decisions investment banks make (or don't make!) in hiring consultants:  Level 1: Lowest dollar cost - is it really the cheapest option if it takes twice as long ? Level 2: Total Cost of Project - factor time to completion, debugging, compliance, etc Level 3: Risk-adjusted cost perspective - probability of success for the investment Level 4: Innovation - the need to bring new ideas to the table Needless to say, there is indeed a tight correlation between these levels and the timeliness/quality of the final product....