Intent note in salary portage: the guide

Writing an intent note in salary portage

The intent note in salary portage is a concise document (generally 5 to 10 pages maximum) written by an independent consultant for a prospect. It usually follows an initial meeting and aims to convince the client by outlining the main points of what the future specifications document will contain. Its primary objective is to formalize the understanding of the need expressed by the potential client and to propose the main lines of the IT consultant's intervention to address it.

What is an intent note?

Imagine you are an independent consultant in salary portage. You have approached a potential client, and after fruitful exchanges, this client is interested in your services. They wish to entrust you with an IT mission. Before you start working, you need to formalize the framework of this salary portage mission. This is where the intent note comes into play.

It is essentially a synthetic document that serves as a "header" to a larger set of commercial documents that the consultant sends to the future client:

• The commercial proposal: This is the central document that formalizes the IT consultant's service offer. It includes the key elements of the intent note (context, approach, deliverables...) but goes further in the concrete description of the service: dedicated team, detailed planning, budget by item...
• The specifications document (or functional specifications): Once the mission is validated, this document details the precise content of the work to be carried out (objectives, tasks, expected deliverables, quality criteria).
• The CVs of the participants: To win the decision, the consultant must prove that they have the right team to successfully carry out the mission. The CVs of each salary ported member of the team complement the "expertise" part of the intent note.
• The client references (or case studies): This is a key element to validate the proposed approach by presenting similar successful missions for other clients, with tangible results (summary sheets, client testimonials, or even more detailed presentations of emblematic cases).

How is the content of the intent note structured?

This part aims to demonstrate your understanding of your client's challenges, at the level of their market and specific challenges. Here are the elements that compose it, with examples to support.

Consultant's expertise: highlighting specific skills

This is where you will demonstrate your legitimacy to support your client. The idea is to showcase the "augmented consultant" that you are, with tangible elements: key figures, client testimonials, certifications, publications, distinctions... Everything that will make your expertise concrete and credible in the eyes of the client.

You can also highlight the complementarity of your skills with those of the internal teams. Your IT mission does not aim to replace them, but to provide them with a fresh perspective and additional resources. Here are the elements to highlight:

• Your specific areas of expertise related to the client's needs. Example: "Specialist in the digital transformation of industrial companies, with a sharp expertise in integrating IoT solutions and managing product data, developed x years before my 100% digital transition."
• Your achievements and past successes on similar issues. Example: "In the last 5 years, I have supported 8 connected factory projects, generating an average of 18% productivity gains from the first year."
• Your proven methodologies and tools. Example: "My approach incorporates the principles of design thinking, lean management, and agility, for quick and sustainable results. I particularly use the tools from Dassault Systèmes' 3DExperience suite."

Proposed solutions: details of responses to identified problems

This is truly the heart of your intent note. The context analysis has highlighted challenges and opportunities; now you need to present your expertise and show that you are the right person for the job. You detail how you will concretely approach it. The points to develop here are five.

• The objectives and expected results of the mission. Example: "The ambition is to make your factory a benchmark for Industry 4.0, with productivity gains of 20% and a 30% reduction in maintenance costs over 3 years."
• The main axes of the approach and associated deliverables. Example: "Our approach will revolve around 4 projects: digital maturity diagnosis, definition of the transformation roadmap, management of priority projects, change management. The deliverables will include a mapping of processes and data flows, a 3-year IoT & Data master plan, a demonstrator on a pilot line, and a training and support system for the teams."
• The macro-planning and key milestones. Example: "The project will unfold in 3 main phases: framing and diagnosis (2 months), deployment of priority projects (6 months), industrialization and extension (4 months). Key milestones will include the launch steering committee, co-design workshops, POCs on pilot sites, deployment of the first wave, feedback, and adjustments."
• The prerequisites and key success factors. Example: "The success of the project will rely on sponsorship at the highest level, alignment of all stakeholders on the objectives, regular communication on progress, and a logic of continuous improvement and empowerment of field teams."

How to make your intent note more effective?