At a Glance
- Traditionally, large firms dominate the consulting services industry but there is still plenty of opportunity for specialist consultants to provide service and expertise in niche areas such as Renoir Consulting.
- Consulting is more than just giving advice and numerous studies indicated a shift in the focus of consulting services, with change management and organisational change at the forefront.
- Many clients, despite receiving sound recommendations, face challenges in implementing and integrating them and therefore, behavioural and cultural change methodologies are critical in implementing solutions for sustainable results.
The consulting services market is expected to reach USD 323.88 billion this year, with a projected market size of USD 431.89 billion by 2029. This growth forecast indicates a growing demand for consulting services, a trend driven by executives seeking industry-specific specialists and subject matter experts for various purposes.
The consulting industry is further segmented based on a range of services, including strategy, advisory, management, operations, human resources, and financial advisory. Positioned as a high-skill, high-value sector, competition within the industry is based on expertise rather than price.
While large firms dominate the sector, there is still ample opportunity for specialist consultants to deliver exceptional service and expertise in niche areas. Renoir Consulting is an example of this, with a team of change management experts.
Why are consultants in demand?
The development of the consulting industry is closely linked to global economic developments. During periods of economic prosperity, organisations often enjoy increased revenues and budgets, resulting in increased spending on consulting services.
Companies engage consultants for other reasons, including cost reduction, improved efficiency, and innovation to remain competitive in an intense market environment. The use of consultants can help companies make business improvements to achieve these goals.
In addition, regulatory or sector-specific changes are contributing to an increasing demand for consulting services. This demand is driven by the need to ensure compliance with evolving regulations and to mitigate the risk of violations that could lead to abuse or fraud, thereby protecting companies from litigation and fines.
More recently, the surge in demand for consultancy services can also be attributed to the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has accelerated the ongoing process of digitisation. As business growth increasingly relies on the digital promotion of products and services, the need for consultancy services has soared.
Meanwhile, companies that have completed their digital transformation are now looking to invest in cloud and AI-powered technologies, further contributing to executives seeking consulting services to help manage these processes.
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Advantages of consultancy support
When discussing the use of consultancy services, common questions arise. These questions often include:
- “Why should we engage consultants?”
- “Why can’t we establish a team internally to address our challenges using our internal resources and expertise?”
- “Can we consolidate all the relevant data and formulate recommendations for management internally?
The simple answer to these questions is yes, you can. However, it is important to recognise that consulting engagements provide a more balanced perspective and insightful analysis of gaps within your organisation. This can be challenging if the tasks were delegated to internal staff due to resistance to change.
Here are the advantages of seeking consultancy support:
- Streamlined business processes
Outdated processes are replaced with improved methodologies, systems and processes, generating intangible benefits that contribute to improved business performance. - Improved performance management
Appropriate strategies will be implemented to identify gaps and challenges to optimise the performance management system. - Leverage best practices, tools and techniques
As consultants are subject matter experts or industry-specific specialists, they would ‘hand-hold’ your people during the implementation of the solutions by providing training and support. This is to ensure that your people can adopt the new tools and techniques for sustained efficiency long after the project has been completed. - Independent and provocative thinking
Consultants bring different perspectives and, combined with their previous experience of dealing with the challenges or problems your organisation is currently facing, they are able to bring new and innovative solutions that organisations may not be able to see on their own. Ultimately, consultants prioritise business needs through independent and objective viewpoints.
Change management consulting services on the rise
Consulting is more than just giving advice. This statement is supported by numerous studies that point to a shift in the focus of consulting services, with change management and organisational change at the forefront.
Unlike the traditional engagement of consultants solely for analysis and recommendations, clients today have a more nuanced understanding of the broader capabilities of consulting services. This awareness has led to a surge in demand for change management consulting services.
The reason for this increase is that many clients, despite receiving sound recommendations, face challenges in implementing and integrating them. A major factor contributing to these obstacles is often employee resistance to change.
At Renoir, our team of change management experts support clients to achieve their goals and overcome disruption with practical solutions. Our proven bottom-up, end-to-end approach means we work with you as partners, from blueprint to execution, making us accountable for results, from start to finish.
We take projects through to full adoption using our behavioural and cultural change methodologies, because implementing solutions and sustaining results through behavioural change is a critical, but often overlooked aspect of driving performance improvement. Our approach ensures that we leave your organisation and people with the ability to continue to add value long after the project has been completed.
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