CONSULTANCY PRACTICE

In my earlier post, I have highlighted BCG’s approach to proprietary approach to consultancy. So, what exactly is a Consultancy Practice, how to build it, what are the key elements of this practice? Well, this post answers all such queries. Consultancies whether big or small require certain elements in place to be managed successful. And, practices look to balance consultancy delivery to the customer against the need of developing new propositions and services. A consultancy practice may therefore be outward facing i.e. market facing or inward facing i.e. business facing.

Outward Facing:
Clients, their sectors, markets and business trends.
Knowledge of technologies and how those trends and technologies would enable or differentiates business strategies.
Alliances with key suppliers in order to gain an understanding of their products and services to provide new innovative business models to deliver business benefits.

Inward Facing:

Inward facing aspect emphasize that the consultancy practice’s key element is people. The consultancy should focus on enhancing consultant’s skills and competencies. Inward facing aspects includes:

Consultant skills and competencies including credibility, integrity, creativity and ability to influence customers.
Knowledge of markets, sectors, technologies and business trends and how to continually innovate new business models with enabling technology.
Products, models and services that allow consultants to deliver value of their customers.

I will give more insight on practices and some case studies. Keep reading.

DIVERSITY: The new FORMULA for Business Opportunity

“Diversity” is the mantra for business and seen as an opportunity to cash in. Diversity drives innovation and not only that, it drives creativity too. A culture of diversity across functions helps business to strengthen the bottomline in terms of capturing new and diverse markets. By working together, a diverse team of customer service representatives can more effectively understand and meet the needs of customers with a range of backgrounds. A diverse product development team can find ways to expand the use of a product, and ways to make the product more effective for a wider customer base.

According to IBM, workforce diversity is the bridge between the workplace and the marketplace. People tend to do business with people they believe can understand their unique needs. Companies that demonstrate an ability to meet those unique needs are going to win customers in any market. A corporate culture that fosters diversity and inclusion can support recruiting and retention efforts as well. Employees choose and remain in jobs at companies where they feel welcome and comfortable. A company that embraces diversity can offer that kind of work environment, and as a result, can attract and retain top talent with diverse backgrounds. For a successful corporate diversity initiative, sometimes, the corporate culture needs to be changed to suit the lifestyle and working style of people from diverse backgrounds. It’s a proactive and slow process which needs to be tailored accordingly and tied to the company bottomline. These initiatives should be widely focused, leverage technology and should be receptive to change. These corporate diversity initiatives should have a benchmark set and the progress should be continually monitored to check whether the organization is at a right path. Top management must ensure that the commitment to diversity has buy-in at all levels of the organization by making diversity an integral part of company success. It should be taken care that these initiatives are not single handedly responsibility of some particular department. Companies that relegate diversity to a single department miss out on opportunities to improve and integrate the diversity initiative that are offered by other areas of the company. For example, a communications department has the expertise to effectively communicate the initiative company-wide. A purchasing department that already has vendor diversity can offer insight.

When there is a diverse group of people with varied background and knowledge quotient, it gives rise to diverse ideas, and sometimes those vague ideas turn out to be innovative enough when brainstorming occurs and thought process is given. The diversity ranges from people to subjects, knowledge, and creativity, level of thinking, analytical skills, research abilities so on and so forth. That’s why a company like IBM which has a global presence and gives importance to diversity boasts of INNOVATION. So, are you ready to embrace diversity in your work culture????