Consulting: The Key to Competitive Advantage
What is consulting?
Consulting is building solid strategies for future-proof processes, businesses and societies. It is problem-solving to overcome internal challenges and facilitate change and transformation.
In today's fast-evolving world, the capacity to adapt and innovate has become vital for businesses and government, and people are demanding commitment, action and transparent communication. In this, consultants can be catalysts and facilitators of positive change.
Key benefits of consulting
Executives bring in consultants to conduct audits, carry out option evaluations, and support business planning for growth and strategy implementation. Change and transformation are often challenging but crucial for the health of the business and its stakeholders. More specifically, among the benefits of partnering with consultants to are:
Third-party research and analysis of the internal and external environment of the business or government. As external to the business, consultants bring perspective.
Unbiased and data-driven advice.
Experience and expertise from multiple sectors.
Awareness of trends and competition.
Knowledge of change and change management processes.
The consulting process
The steps involved in the consulting process depend on the project and client requirements as well as the consulting firm's methodology.
Generally speaking, they include the first phase of internal audit and external analysis of the client's environment (e.g. internal resources and capabilities, competitors, industry trends), followed by a diagnosis of existing problems and areas of improvement.
These phases include a variety of data gathering processes: independent secondary research, interviews, surveys and numeric data measurement.
Then, the consultant provides evidence-based recommendations, risk assessment and a realistic implementation timeline. Following this stage, consultants may assist the implementation process, build alignment in the organisation and facilitate team learning. While this last step depends on client requirements and the consulting firm's methodology, it is often crucial to ensure long-lasting change and commitment.
Importantly, while diagnostic capacity is one of the consultants' greatest strengths, understanding the root cause of existing issues also involves asking tough questions to managers and executives about the reasons behind certain decisions. Similarly, they will often ask for the allocation and commitment of a few staff members to the project. This allows for swifter and more efficient data gathering and facilitates staff buy-in prior to the implementation and training phases.
Areas
There are several different consulting fields – these often overlap due to the complexity of the consulting process, and their categorisation and name depend on the consulting firm's methodology. Nonetheless, the key areas are:
Corporate strategy
Business Model Transformation
Economic policy
Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)
Internal organisation and structuring (including HR)
Operations
Technology strategy and technology transformation
KINSHIP digital, as a digital transformation agency, assists government and businesses to better understand, connect and communicate with their audience online. Our consulting line specialises in digital strategy and transformation by bringing innovation and evidence-based advice.
We assist our clients in developing strong and competitive brands, tailor digital communication to audience-specific needs and support our clients in expanding on new platforms.
From digital marketing to integrations, KINSHIP digital are here to provide you with effective solutions to your modern problems.
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