More than ever before, we’re looking for expert advice before we engage in an expansion – or, indeed, any other costly or consequential process.
Let’s take a look at some of the forces behind this shift, and see whether consultancy firms are worth the hype.
Rapid technological advancement
The boom in consultancy is, naturally, tied to a series of technological booms. The world of information is changing, and so too is the way we engage with it. Terms like ‘machine learning’, ‘dataset’, and ‘cryptocurrency’ are being bandied around in a way that, just a decade or so ago, would have been inconceivable.
Of course, no business can be expected to navigate all of this complexity while still maintaining a grasp of day-to-day operations. This leaves a void that the right outside expertise will happily fill.
Globalisation and market expansion
According to some experts, the era of globalisation is coming to an end. Whether or not this prediction bears out, it’s fair to say that the way we do cross-border trade is changing. Businesses, eager to make themselves resilient against sudden market shocks, of the kind caused by wars and global pandemics, are spreading across different territories, and thereby spreading their risk.
The right consultant can help here, by guiding how to operate in more than one country, while still staying on the right side of the regulations and top of any tax obligations. There are also cultural differences from one country to the next, which must be accounted for.
Evolving regulatory landscape
Regulation doesn’t just vary from place to place; it also varies over time. This is something that’s driven, in part, by technological change. Once businesses gained the ability to collect and store vast amounts of personal data, regulators began to take an interest. For an example of this, you need look no further than the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and the UK’s Data Protection Act.
It’s highly likely that, as AI-related technologies become mainstream, we’ll see regulators intervene to keep things under control. This is another area where consultants can help. They’ll not only provide insights into the current regulatory environment but into future changes, too.
Strategic decision-making
Big data can present many opportunities. But leveraging your data and using it to inform your long-term strategic decisions isn’t always easy. There’s a risk of drawing the wrong conclusion – which might be worse than not conclude at all.
An experienced consultant will have dealt with a range of different situations and might have a completely different take on the information that’s presented. This perspective might, in the long term, be invaluable.
