Controlling your key IT assets in consulting engagements means including non-compete, employee piracy and customer non-solicitation clauses in your employment and independent contractor agreements. These same documents should also jealously guard your customer's intellectual property rights and properly allocate ownership of the deliverable under the engagement.

However, to insure full protection you will also use parallel provisions in your customer contracts. Respect for your own intellectual property assets as well as employee piracy should be a non-negotiable standard provision.