Who are Business Consultants? What Do They Do?

Whether you're a new or established company, growing your business is a never-ending job. Even with all hands-on deck, something falls short. Whether it's capital, personnel, or resources, securing sustainable growth and profit in the long run is no easy task.

That's why hiring a business consultant is the best decision you'll make. With their objective, experienced, and unbiased viewpoint, they help unlock business potential.

Read on to understand what is a consultant and what they do to help your business.

Who is a Business Consultant?

A business consultant is a professional who offers strategic advice to guide organisations. They have many business skills and extensive experience to help navigate the corporate world. They work across different industries to identify the best path for each company.

Furthermore, a business consultant assists organisations in pinpointing specific areas for improvement. They work with executives and managers to analyse business processes. During this phase, they also identify problems and develop effective solutions. Their primary purpose is to help companies grow and improve their bottom lines.

What Does a Business Consultant Do?

The work this expert performs depends on their specialisation and company requirements. It can be broad in nature, like helping companies improve operational efficiency. Or, it can be more focused, like finding solutions for a company-specific challenge with product development.

Generally, there are different stages to this process:

1. Discovery

Any business consultant or firm will first understand a business. They will meet with clients to learn about their needs and goals, review company materials, and interview personnel. During this phase, they will uncover the company's mission and details of its current operations.

2. Diagnosis

Once advisers understand your business, they move on to find the problem or changes needed. They look for causes, gaps, and issues affecting performance.

They conduct thorough analyses of a company's current state, testing its weaknesses, strengths, opportunities, and threats. Because of their objectivity and experience, they also discover unforeseen or new issues.

3. Design/Development

The next step is to form an action plan that outlines the solution or change to be made. They break down a step-by-step plan clarifying objectives and actions for solving problems. Beyond that, they also define the resources required to address the issue.

4. Implementation

Once the client and adviser agree on a plan, the consultant implements and executes it. In this phase, they also watch the plan's progress and adjust it as needed. With their vast area of expertise, they know what solution to put in place for what industry.

What are the Different Types of Services?

Business advisers operate within a wide range of roles, offering different services from corporate strategy to marketing and technology to operations.

Below, we've outlined seven different types of consulting services.

1. Strategy Consulting

One of the most popular business consulting services, it involves advising at the highest level. Strategy consultants help upper-level executives define a more productive direction to maximise profits.

Their role is to see the bigger picture and focus more on advising than overseeing implementation. They assess and advise on high-level corporate initiatives that align with the company's broader goals and vision.

Some examples of strategic consulting include:

• Assessing whether an organisation should enter a new geographic region.
• Developing a new growth plan for a company's new division.
• Helping with economic and corporate social responsibility policy.
• Offering insights into merger and acquisition decisions.

2. Operations Consulting

Strategy and operations consulting closely interlink. While the former focuses on long-term goals, the latter evaluates the behind-the-scenes operations that are more important to achieving these goals.

These experts help an organisation streamline its operations with data-driven strategies and resources. They assess all levels of operations, including sales, production, distribution, and customer service. They inform how processes improve in terms of efficiency, cost, time, and labour. They also determine steps to optimise operations for better profits and lower costs.

Some examples of what operational consultants do:

• Extract more value from a manufacturing facility or plant.
• Optimise supply chain operations and product development.
• Put in place cost-effective and sustainable manufacturing practices.
• Negotiates improved contractual terms between a business and supplier.

3. Financial Consulting

Financial consulting involves assessing a client's financial standing. With that understanding, specialists create a plan for managing finances effectively. It also involves identifying areas of higher expenses and providing solutions to address them.

Companies hire a financial consultant to help align their budgets with their short-term and long-term goals.

Some of the key areas that fall under financial consulting include:

• Risk management
• Accounting advisory
• Crisis and recovery
• Real estate advisory
• Transaction services
• Forensics and litigation
• Budgeting

They also help an organisation make better investment decisions. They help develop financial models to make sure the business achieves performance targets. They work with the compliance team to ensure the organisation conducts timely audits.

4. Information Technology Consulting

Another leading type of consulting service is Information Technology (IT) consulting. It offers expert guidance to optimise technology use for competitive advantage and growth.

IT consultants test the productivity of current software and technology. Based on that, they suggest new software solutions and help companies deploy them. Moreover, they help identify areas and departments to put in place software solutions for better outcomes.

For instance, they may see a company struggling with communication issues within departments. So, they suggest or build an organisation-centric tool to boost communication and productivity.

Apart from development and implementation, they also:

• Give cybersecurity advice to make sure a client's data is well-protected.
• Offer guidance on project management software tools.
• Develop technical manuals and IT policies.
• Maintain compliance with existing IT laws and regulations.
• Help with data analytics to assist decision-making.

5. Human Resource Consulting

Human resources consulting revolves around a company's most important asset: human capital. They provide advice and services to maximise employee satisfaction and retention.

They help the HR department to improve its recruitment phase and hire the best people for a specific role. For example, implementing new talent acquisition software or restructuring the recruitment process.

These experts assist with company-wide projects that impact HR, such as mergers and acquisitions. They help combine two distinct corporate cultures into one to ensure consistent and similar pay for a particular role.

Some of the other HR business consulting services include:

• Design and define the new organisational structure comprising HR plans, processes, and policies.
• Watch internal systems and processes to ensure policies stay updated and relevant.
• Develop techniques for conflict resolution and change management.
• Assist with staff development and training.
• Provide recommendations to decision-makers and HR executives on company policies.

Final Words

When your business is not growing as expected, it is time to bring a business consultant on board. They are well-equipped to improve your core operations and address existing issues to maximise profits.

If you're looking for one, partner with GrowthJockey for your business consulting needs. We offer types of consulting services to give you a competitive edge and carve a path towards growth.

From digital transformation to strategic consulting services and more, we'll help define your success.

FAQs

1. How do you choose the right business consultant?

There are a few things to remember when choosing the right business consultant. These include:

• Define why you need to hire a specialist. Having a purpose in mind will help you decide on the type of consulting service you need.
• Research potential business consulting firms in that service. Check their reputation, experience, and achievements.
• Check their portfolio to understand whether they dealt with similar issues.
• Meet face-to-face to understand their process and gauge their suitability.
• Get a quote from their firms and choose the one that meets your budget and other requirements.

2. How do you know when to hire a business consulting firm?

Here are some points to consider to make the choice easier:

• Facing stagnant growth
• Experiencing productivity or operational issues
• Declining profitability and rising expenses
• Unable to respond to changing market shifts
• Planning to enter a new market
• Launching a new product
• Merging with a new business

If you’re dealing with any of these issues, hiring a consulting firm would be a good idea.

3. Are business consultants worth the money?

A business consultant's fundamental role is to act as a catalyst of growth for other businesses. They have the experience and expertise to identify what issues are hindering your growth and create strategic plans to address those.

Specialists even help to pinpoint new opportunities in the market for your business. For instance, if you're a retail business, they help discover areas to open new stores to maximise profits.

While they don't take over your responsibilities, they help you perform them better and elevate your business growth.