Why Use a Business Consultant?
It is almost certain that, if not already, there will be times when you wish you could use some assistance and advice during the running of your business. Even though some of us may be modest and prefer to deal with the issue ourselves, the extra help would be extremely welcome.
Times are changing fast in the business environment: new technology, new markets, politics and environmental issues all contributing. For your business to survive and compete, now and in the future, you need to deal with these changes almost instantly and certainly effectively.
Up to now, you and your workforce may have coped with the pressure of change, but what about the future?
There are always new and better ways of dealing with change which may be out of reach or limited by your own ability. This is when you will realize that professional assistance with the extra knowledge and capability of pushing your business forward is needed.
'Professional' is the accepted term, however, 'knowledge' is the real goal.
Although you will will learn in more detail the role of a Consultant, they work alongside the manager (this may be you) to analyze and deal with those problems (both positive and negative issues) that are troubling them. In time, the knowledge of the Consultant will be absorbed by your workforce which will be an added advantage for dealing with future problem solving.
A consultant can be called in to help with problems or issues that you have in your business. They are usually called upon to complete those jobs that rely on skills that may not be held by anyone in your business.
They also provide advice for management which can include business plans and setting targets and objectives. Your added benefit is that they bring in an outside view of your business which can offer new ideas to approach situations. Their experience of working with other businesses can also be used to help solve problems by relating the issues involved.
Consultants can be employed on a short term basis where they normally stick to the tasks they are assigned and share limited information due to the complexity of the issue. Others can be employed on a long term basis which may involve them seeing out a long term proposal or organizational change. They can also pass on their expertise to you and your employees which will improve decision making.
Every client, and every business is unique. Therefore every solution is custom designed for the specific client. However, we aim to make our solutions affordable to every client, and therefore some elements of the custom designed solution may include tools that have been previously developed, such as certain budget analysis tools, position descriptions, cost tracking tools, and other fundamentally universal business process tools.
The most common reasons why businesses seek a consultant:
- The need for specialist and technical advice for a specific problem;
- To get a task done that requires skills/knowledge that currently aren't held by anyone in the business;
- To help make changes and development within the business that requires an independent view and knowledge of how it can be done;
- The previous attempt at solving an issue wasn't successful;
- To do work that no one else has the time to do;
- Developing and implementing employee recognition and incentive plans
- A potential funder of the business has asked for extra expertise to be brought in to have confidence that it will be a good investment;
- To provide training;
- To act as a temporary Director or Executive.
TYPES OF CONSULTANTS
In the past, consultants were better known as advisors and that was their job: to advise people. Their expertise and knowledge was usually just limited to specific areas and were called upon by businesses that had related issues.
Today consultants have increased their service and competitiveness by getting their hands dirty from being involved in the actions that have been advised by themselves. Most consultants have also developed a general business knowledge so that they can be used in many areas of the business. These people now form around 90% of all consultants.
Different Consultants are used for different situations and they can be put into two main categories: the EXPERT consultant and the PROCESS consultant.
An Expert Consultant will have specific expertise in a certain field of business. This may include:
- Financial Planning
- Strategic Planning
- Marketing
- Research
- Training
- Business Planning
- Business Review
- Computing
- Integration of New Technology
- Advisory, etc
Their knowledge will be specific to the task in concern and they will usually do the job without your input. They will be employed until the task has been completed and are usually consulted to solve short term problems. For example, it may be the set up of a computerized stock control, or completing parts of your marketing plan that you have little knowledge about.
A Process Consultant will have a general business knowledge and so they can be used in most cases. They will offer and share their advice to all those in the business and will also get involved in solving the issue. Process Consultants can be employed as an ongoing long term solution to a task and so they are particularly useful for developing and changing your business.
Their service will also give an independent view of your business which will provide a different prospective of how issues can be solved. Also, with their experience of working with other businesses, they will be able to relate your issues to those they may have already encountered.
Advanced Business Consulting offers a wide variety of expertise, and employs both expert and process consultants. Contact us to discuss what type of consultant might best suit your needs. We will assign our people that best fit your requirements.