Fast-Tracking Company Upgrades Through Consultants

Hiring consultants is a cost-effective way for businesses to reduce costs while achieving their goals. Consultants are experts in their field and can provide valuable insight and solutions to a wide variety of business challenges. They help companies improve efficiency, streamline processes and increase revenue.

A recent survey by Deloitte shows that over half of CFOs aim to prioritize cost management and financial performance in 2023. Only 14% see IT infrastructure as a priority this year.

The message is very clear: “Cost less, do more and sell better” for 2023. No nonsense initiatives or experiments without a clear link to improvement on those three pillars: cost, efficiency, effectiveness.

This is where using a specialized consultant that can deliver the last mile of implementation is key for an organization. Yes, ideas about how to improve are necessary, but these days the capability to bring those ideas to reality in a cost-effective manner is strategic in terms of efficiency and time-to-implementation of those ideas.

One way companies can use consultants to reduce costs is by outsourcing certain tasks or projects. Consultants can provide specialized skills that may not be available in-house, such as marketing, IT or financial expertise. By outsourcing these tasks to consultants, companies can save money reaching an improvement strategy faster and reaping the benefits of that strategy sooner. Additionally, consultants have an unbiased view of the different scenarios for improvement, unless the contract has some kind of linkage to the end results (results’ based bonus as part of the project).

By outsourcing these tasks to consultants, companies can save money reaching an improvement strategy faster and reaping the benefits of that strategy sooner.

Experimented consultants can help speed up the cost-reduction process. They can identify areas of intervention that might not be obvious to management or where other factors limit the visibility of internal analysts. Consultants can perform a comprehensive analysis of a company’s operations and identify areas where efficiency can be improved or costs can be reduced. This can help businesses make more informed resource allocation decisions and generate significant cost savings over time. 

Through a consultant, companies are informed about the latest industry trends, best practices and technologies. This can help to stay competitive and make better decisions in shorter time, resulting in cost savings that kick in sooner. In addition, consultants can help implement new technologies and processes, further reducing costs, especially if they use LCNC (Low-Code No-Code) tools that allow for an agile implementation.

Advisors can also be valuable resources for businesses as they navigate legal and regulatory environments. They can provide expert guidance on compliance issues and help businesses avoid costly penalties and fines. In heavily regulated environments, such as pharma and financial services, an experienced consultant can help a company comply with regulatory requirements in a cost effective manner. 

Some examples of what our company (e-Consulting Global Solutions OÜ) has done for small and medium consulting firms, so that they can serve better their clients are:

• Enable regulatory e-learning to save on the logistics and the workload associated with compliance.
• Help create a risk management system (policies, processes, procedures and technology) that is lightweight, taking less effort and cost from the organization to comply with regulations. ISO 31000 is a great standard, but it needs support from the right policies and processes. It sometimes requires specific technologies, like process mining, to ensure transactional compliance in the most effective manner.
• Support the small and medium consultancy field team on-site with focalized expertise on key aspects or milestones of their project with a client. (We call this line of service “second-floor consulting”. It helps transfer that expertise to the local consultancy after several projects on the same subject matter).  

In addition, ISO 20700-trained consultants, preferably with an international CMC-Certification (a competency-based certification that cannot be “studied for”; it has to be earned by being submitted to scrutiny under a competency framework designed by ICMCI – The International Council of Management Consulting Institutes) can help companies and governments hire other MCSPs (management consulting service providers), applying industry standards for the procurement of consultants, with less risk and more alignment on the purchasing of those specialized services.

Overall, hiring a consultant is a cost-effective way for organizations to reduce costs while still achieving their goals. Consultants can provide specialized skills to help businesses identify areas of cost savings, maintain a competitive edge and provide expert advice on legal and regulatory issues. 

By using consultants, companies can achieve the ROI of their initiatives faster, access the latest industry trends, best practices and technologies and receive expert advice on compliance and legal issues.