Consultants are professionals who offer expert advice. They are often considered as specialists in their particular fields such as security, management, law, accounting, marketing, finance, engineering, science, and in this case, business.

• What is Business Consulting?

The term consulting can be defined in many different ways, but if we set aside semantics and stylistic differences, it can be approached in two basic views.

The first approach is a broad and functional view of consulting. It is any form of providing help to the content, process, or structure of a task, where the consultant is helping those who are responsible for doing the tasks in the first place. The consultant is trying to change or improve a situation; however, they have no actual or direct control over how they should be implemented. By this definition, most people in staff roles can be considered consultants even if they don’t call themselves as such.

The second approach treats consulting as a special and professional service and points out a number of qualities that such a service should have. According to this approach, business consulting is an advisory service availed for and given to organizations by qualified and specially trained people, who assist their clients to identify, analyze, and implement the solutions to problems with the management. In simpler terms, consulting is the providing independent advice to and assisting clients with management problems.

These two approaches are not considered conflicting but rather complementary.  Business consulting can both be considered as a method of providing practical advice and help or as a professional service. There is no question business consultancies have developed into a specific professional activity and should be considered as such. But at the same time, it is also a method of assisting executives and organizations to improve their business practices as well as their organizational and individual performance.

Business consulting can also be described as transferring to clients the knowledge required for operating and managing businesses and other organizations. This particular knowledge must help the clients be more effective in developing and running their companies in order to provide added value.

Consulting is essentially an advisory service which means that, in principle, consultants are not used to running organizations or to take decisions on behalf of the managers. They have no direct authority and cannot implement or decide changes. The responsibility of business consultants in the Philippines and other countries lies solely on the quality and integrity of their advice. It is up to the clients to carry all the responsibilities they may face from following it.

The business consultant sector has recently undergone considerable restructuring and in this section, we will outline the main types of consultants that currently shape the market.

• Multifunctional Consulting Firms

Large multiservice and multifunctional consulting firms currently dominate the market today as a result of their growth over the past 20 years. Firms that fall in this group have grown thanks to both numerous acquisitions and mergers. These organizations also expanded through active business development supported by new staff training and recruitment.

• General Management and Strategy Consultancies

Firms focused in this area position themselves as advisers to management on key issues of business development and strategy (i.e. “strategy houses”). This is contrary to the large firms described above that provide consulting on corporate strategy and other general management issues. These firms are often being paid higher earnings per consultant thanks to the higher fees required for strategy consulting.

• E-Business and Information Technology Consultancies

Firms that provide information technology consultations emerged only a few years ago. They are dynamic and separate from others. Most firms in this group have undergone more transformation and restructuring in recent times than any other consultancies.

There is a large overlap between multifunctional and integrated business, management consultancies, and large IT consulting service providers due to becoming more integrated with one another.

• Employee Benefits Consultants

This group of large international consulting firms traditionally specializes in the field of employee benefits, including social insurance and benefits, wage schemes and salary administration, pension schemes, pension fund management, and actuarial services. They also offer services covering other activities and personnel administration systems.

• Generalist and Specialist Firms

This group can be considered as medium-sized, ranging from a few to 50-100 consultants. Founders and managers of medium-sized firms have been able to maintain their firm’s reputation with certain client groups and have been able to find a new niche despite the growing market share and power of larger firms. Successful generalists and specialist firms are considered as attractive acquisitions by larger consultancies, especially if the acquisition permits entry to new markets or if they possess specialist expertise.

The diversity of clients and markets served, services offered, approaches taken, and personalities involved reflect on the wide range of business consultants in the Philippines and in other countries. It also reflects the growing competition for major contracts and clients, as well as the history of the sector.

The two parties involved in the consulting process are the consultant and the client. In theory, both of these parties would be working together to apply the needed inputs for the betterment of an organization. However, the consultant will remain external to the organization, which means achieving a favorable outcome becomes more complex in reality.

Ultimately, building an effective consultant-client relationship is not easy. In order to achieve success, the both of them should be aware of the cultural, human, and other factors that will affect their relationship. These two should also be able to exert special efforts to avoid errors. If they were able to accomplish this, then they could build and maintain an alliance based on understanding, collaboration, and trust.

By the end of the consultation period, a business management consultant should be able to achieve valid results in the client’s organization. This part is challenging because it needs to be done without the consultant becoming part of a company’s human and administrative system. This is one of the main reasons why they must first get the client’s trust. They would also need to communicate all of their business proposals effectively so that the organization will understand the importance of implementing them in the first place. Upon providing professional advice, they must be prepared to upset some employees and be turned down by the client. After all, the client has the final say.

A manager may turn to a consultant if they need the help of an independent professional. But what kind of help are we talking about? What is the purpose of getting professional advice from a business consultant in the Philippines?

Let’s take a look at the top 5 reasons why clients often purse consultants.

• Achieving Organizational Purposes and Objectives

Business consultants in the Philippines and in other countries tend to pursue a general purpose to achieve the goal of a client—whether they are financial, structural, or even something related to human resources. These objectives may be defined in different ways, but the common denominator remains the same: Consulting has to add value to the client organization, and this value should be a measurable and tangible contribution.

• Solving Business and Management Problems

One of the main reasons why companies look for business consultants is because they know they could help out their managers and decision-makers with problem-solving. In fact, the purpose of hiring a consultant is to provide a perspective for dealing with particular issues in the organization.

A business consultant should place every problem into a larger context. This means that consultants should obtain answers to questions about the purposes of the client organizations, the focus and significance of the assignment, and the immediate benefits to be obtained.

• Identifying and Seizing New Opportunities

Many successful business corporations and other organizations have recognized that most consultants can offer much more than simply helping organizations to get out of difficulties. They usually prefer to use consultants for identifying and taking new opportunities in addition to tracking back deviations that have taken place and finding the correct reasons for them.

• Enhancing Learning

The only work that is really worth doing as a consultant is that which educates and teaches clients and their staff to better manage themselves. This idea is always present in the modern concept of business consulting. Clients turn to consultants not just to find a solution to one distinct problem, but also to acquire the consultant’s special technical knowledge.

• Implementing Changes

One label frequently given to consultants is “change agents.” This is a reflection of another purpose of consulting which is to help client organizations understand change, live with change, and make changes needed to survive and be successful.

Consulting that only aims to restore a past situation may produce significant and urgently needed results. A crisis may be avoided and the business may survive, but simply returning to a previously existing situation offers no advantages to the client. This is why good business consultants provide solutions that will change the organization for the better.

Business consultants can intervene in many different ways in pursuing their generic purposes. Most of the assistance given by a consultant to the management will be provided in one or more of the ten following ways:

• Providing information
• Providing specialist resources
• Establishing business contacts
• Providing expert opinion
• Doing diagnostic work
• Developing action proposals
• Developing systems and methods
• Planning and managing organizational changes
• Training and developing management and staff
• Counseling and coaching

Business consultants can provide an excellent service to entrepreneurs and managers, who need strict personal feedback and a relaxed friendly advice on their leadership style, work habits, weaknesses, behavior, relations with colleagues, and personal qualities.

These are only some of the ways business consultants in the Philippines and in other countries provide their service to their clients. By providing most of these specified services, a company or an organization is sure to see a substantial improvement in their management.