As both a provider and consumer of consulting, I’ve found that hiring consultants can either be worth every dear penny that it costs or an expensive waste of resources. Here are three specific reasons to hire consultants, and one compelling reason not to.
1. Competence
You may have a great team, but they don’t have the specific skill set needed to get your big project done. This could be because the team hasn’t developed the skills yet or you don’t need those skills enough to justify full time hires. In either case, this is an opportune time to go find consultants with the deep experience and long track record of successfully doing what you need done.
Examples of projects where outside competence is needed range from new ERP or AI / ML implementations to full corporate strategy exercises.
2. Capacity
In this case you have the needed competence in-house, but those people don’t have the capacity needed to execute on the big project.
A great example of this that I have experienced is getting help for Post-Merger Acquisition (PMI) work. Before the merger was announced we all had full time jobs. After the merger we needed to keep going on those full time jobs AND put together two large companies.
Given that most deal value is often lost in failed integrations, our management wisely brought in a large team of consultants that specialized in PMI. We still had a lot of work to do, but we were supported and led by people who knew what to do and how to do it (competence) and were willing to work long hours alongside us to get it done (capacity).
3. Confidentiality
Sometimes in business it’s good practice to keep secrets. For example, if your business is considering a strategic pivot or an acquisition you don’t necessarily want staff, investors, customers, competitors, or others to know about it until the time is right.
You may have the competence and capacity in-house to do the needed work, but it would be better for a trusted third party to confidentially step in and assist you, i.e. it’s a good time to use consultants.
One Reason Not To Use Consultants
It may seem obvious, but don’t use consultants if they can’t do what you need done!
Test their Competence. Can they give you references for where they have successfully executed other big projects like yours? Can they let you talk to the consultants who will actually be doing the work, and when you do, can those consultants, through conversation and certifications, demonstrate that they have the experience and expertise to get the job done well?
Test their Capacity. Can they give you the names and profiles of the consultants who would work on your project if it started next week, or do they need to go build a team over the coming months as people come free from their other assignments?
Test their Confidentiality. Will they tell you the name of other clients who needed confidentiality? Hint: if they do, they probably don’t have the level of confidentiality that you need!
Final thoughts
With apologies to the old Mastercard ad campaign: hiring consultants is expensive, hiring the right consultants is priceless. Finding people who can bring the 3C’s, (competence, capacity, and confidentiality) to your business will make a material difference in the success of your big project.
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The written content was 100% generated by me with AI generated editing suggestions provided by Claude 3.5 Sonnet. Any editing suggestions that were taken from Claude were implemented using my own words.
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