(Newswire.net — May 25, 2018) — Business consulting services have become very popular among businesses, both big and small, over the last couple of years. According to this article, the industry is worth $250 billion and it continues to grow by the day. This is because of the numerous benefits that business consulting services offer businesses. Chief among these is the fact that businesses do not have to hire in-house teams to carry out these functions, which is usually more expensive in the long run as fulltime staff are entitled to employee benefits and other types of compensation. It is cheaper to outsource these functions as businesses only have to pay for work that is done as opposed to having staff on payroll who are paid even for idle time.
If you are not yet sold on the idea of hiring business consulting services, keep reading. This article takes a look at the common types of business consulting services and how they can benefit your business. Business consulting services are broadly divided into two categories; strategy consultancy and management consultancy services. Strategy consultancy services are the highest level of business consultancy services and are explained in detail below. On the other hand, management consultancy services encompass almost all other types of consultancy services. They deal with all sorts of business concerns and include operations consultants, tax consultants, IT consultants, HR consultants and finance consultants.
1.Strategy consultancy
Strategy consultancy involves giving organizations advice on high-level decisions which are typicallySome business consultancy firms also help organizations made at the management level. This is the highest level of business consulting and unlike other types of business consulting services, it is more about doing business analysis and making recommendations, and giving advice based on the findings, than overseeing implementation. Basically, strategy consultants strive to understand the goals of an organization, both short-term and long-term, and then help them come up with strategies on how to achieve them. Their job description also touches on economic policy and government policy.
While these services may seem redundant given that your business has a management team and probably a board of directors too, strategy consultants give you unbiased expert opinions and recommendations based on their experience in various industries. They have a clearer and wider view of the industry and economic environment as a whole, and can therefore help steer your organization in the right direction.
For instance, if you have decided to downsize due to financial difficulties and are therefore thinking of shutting down one of your branches, a strategy consultant can help you do a thorough market analysis to determine whether this is a good step to take and if so, which branch you should shut down and the best way to do it to avoid hurting your reputation. They can also tell how much it will cost your organization and how much it will save you, and so much more. You are unlikely to get such detailed information from your in-house management team, who probably do not understand the economic environment as an experienced strategy consultant does.
2.Operations consultancy
Operations consultancy entails helping organizations to improve the performance of their various operations. Some operations consultants are purely advisors and do not oversee implementation, while others do everything from giving advice and recommendations, to hands-on implementation of the recommendations. Some of the functions operations consultants help with include supply chain, production, sales and marketing, among others. They help to improve efficiency within the organization by providing solutions for minimizing wastage of time and materials, and ensuring optimal utilization of resources. It is such small things that set the top players in various industries apart from the many other businesses struggling to establish themselves and gain a share of the market.
By hiring an operations consultant, your business will enjoy benefits such as cost reduction on raw materials and other resources such as electricity, depending on the industry in which you operate. You will be able to minimize downtime and production waste, manage your inventory better, and control inventory costs with the help of an operations consultant. Operations consultants can also provide you with solutions to help you improve your product quality and this will definitely keep your clients happy. All this will ultimately increase your bottom line, enabling you to expand your business.
3.Human resource consultancy
More and more businesses are realizing the benefits of outsourcing human resource consulting as opposed to having an in-house HR department. In fact, most small and medium-sized businesses cannot afford to have an in-house HR department. It makes no sense, financially speaking. HR consultants deal with everything to do with human capital within an organization. This includes recruitment and training of new employees, running background and reference checks on potential employees, payroll administration, facilitating continuous training of employees to improve their skills and competence, retirement of employees, change of management, and drafting terms of employment, among other functions.
Some business consultancy firms also help organizations in appointing senior-level management and directors. Check out www.nomineedirectorservices.com.sg for more on this. Having a HR consultant or hiring compensation consulting services takes a lot off your shoulders and eliminates the need for an in-house HR team, while still ensuring that you end up with the best talent out there. This is why so many businesses are opting for this.
4.Tax consultancy
Tax consultants are experts in tax law and are therefore instrumental in ensuring organizations are in compliance with all laws and regulations to do with filing of taxes. Different organizations are governed by different tax laws depending on the business status. For instance, a limited liability company may not be governed by the same tax laws as a partnership or a sole proprietorship. This is where tax consultants come in handy. Tax laws are quite complex and are ever changing, so if a business does not have an expert to provide advice on how to comply, it can easily find itself on the wrong side of the law. Businesses that have operations in different tax jurisdictions are especially at risk here because tax laws and regulations vary from state to state, and from country to country.
Apart from ensuring that organizations are in compliance with tax laws, tax consultants also help businesses take advantage of tax breaks that they are legally entitled to. This can lower the taxes of a business significantly and therefore improve its profits. They also prepare and file tax returns on behalf of their clients, leaving the employees of the organization to handle their main responsibilities.
5.IT consultancy
IT consultants help clients with all their IT functions, from designing and developing their websites, to ensuring that the systems in use at the organization run seamlessly at all times, and everything in between. With the growing importance of data in today’s business environment, and the increasing availability of data, a business cannot afford to operate without an IT consultant to help with data processing and analytics.
Cyber security is also an important issue given that a lot of business in this digital age is done online. IT consultants can help to ensure that your e-commerce site is secure and that your customers’ sensitive information such as credit card details and passwords are protected and cannot be accessed by anyone with ill motives. This improves your customers’ confidence and trust in your business. Imagine if hackers got access to sensitive client information and word got out (as it always does)! This would spell doom for your business which you have struggled to build from the ground up. An IT consultant can help you avoid such unfortunate occurrences.
6.Financial advisory consultancy
As the name suggests, financial advisory consultants provide organizations with advice on everything to do with finances. Some also help with implementation of the recommendations given. Their job description is broad and can cover things such as cash flow management, accounting and bookkeeping, preparation of financial statements, management of debt, audit and tax. Some also provide advice on issuing of equity and the financial aspect of mergers, acquisitions and restructuring.
In addition, financial advisory consultants evaluate the financial performance of an organization in comparison to past performance, as well as to the performance of similar organizations. They investigate deviations from the projected performance of the company and then recommend ways in which the business can improve its financial performance in order to be more attractive to investors. Financial consultants also recommend ways in which the business can raise funds for various projects. Clearly, a financial advisory consultant is an invaluable asset for your organization.
Conclusion
The importance of business consulting services cannot be disputed. However, each business is unique and it is therefore important that you evaluate your business’s needs every so often to determine which services you may need to outsource and which ones it makes more sense to have an in-house team to provide. Outside consulting firms have their benefits as outlined above, but having an in-house team also provides its own benefits. It is therefore a balancing act where you have to determine what works best for your organization’s unique situation and needs.