Consultants are subject-matter experts that offer professional advice to individuals or companies in exchange for a fee. Consultancy firms are usually industry-specific, and hired to find solutions to business issues, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of business operations, revamp a department, or review a company’s processes to reduce operational costs. With so many established consultancy firms such as McKinsey & Company, Accenture and Deloitte Consulting, competition is fierce. The process of selling consultancy services is made even harder because companies may not even be aware that they need a such services, so it’s up to you to market your consultancy services effectively. The vendors you would need for your consultancy firm depends on the industry that you are in. To kickstart your consultancy firm, here are some of the main vendors that you should consider hiring for a multi-industry consultancy firm.
Network specialists
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, network specialists are very much in-demand today, as evidenced by the number of network specialist job openings available in the market. The number job openings for network specialists is expected to rise by 20% between 2012 and 2022, highlighting the importance of this role currently and in the future. This is hardly surprising as almost all businesses – big or small – require the expertise of a network specialist to manage their IT networks. Network specialists also known as computer support specialists, and their tasks involve setting-up, supporting and maintain local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and other networking systems. These professionals also install routers, switches, firewalls and network-related software programmes. Other common duties of a network specialist include monitoring networks, documenting network problems, and providing technical support for company personnel. Network specialists are needed across all industries and can offer their expertise to a variety of companies.
Copywriters
Copywriters are essential to any business as they are the gatekeepers and originators of marketing content. Established organisations and start-ups are both just as likely to employ the consultancy services that copywriters offer. Good copywriting has the ability to make potential customers sit up and take notice, so it’s important to hire good quality consultants with many years of experience for your consultancy firm. Copywriters write with the goal of promoting a product or service, or providing essential information to a target audience. In the case of a consultancy firm, copywriting consultants specialising in B2C copywriting can offer clients a boost in publicity for their product and service offerings, while B2B copywriting consultants can highlight or strengthen your client’s’ brand and image. The consultants you hire should understand the client’s business and the background of its industry, and be able to translate this knowledge into content that can raise the profile of the client’s business and entice potential customers. It also helps if they have excellent language skills, which are needed when writing blog posts and website copy.
Social media strategist
According to the Social Media Examiner, 90% of all businesses indicated that their social media efforts have generated more publicity for their businesses. This tells you that it’s imperative to having a social media strategist onboard your consultancy firm. Almost all businesses today have a presence on social media, and they will want to fully utilise the publicity and outreach that it provides to grow their businesses. Among the responsibilities of a social media strategist include designing social media strategies to achieve client marketing targets, curating and publishing content on social platforms, and acting as the administrator for a client’s social media accounts, ensuring that the content within is up-to-date. When hiring a social media strategist, it’s important to select someone who is good at search engine optimisation (SEO), capable of identifying the preferences of target audiences, and has the expertise to create the right content.
Website developers
Naturally, website developers are a must-have if you are running an IT consultancy firm. However, it might be a good idea to have one even though you may not be deal exclusively in IT consulting. Almost every organisation today has a website, and while some have in-house website developers, others may opt to outsource this role. Sometimes, companies enlist the services of a consultancy firm not to develop their company websites, but to revamp the look and functionality. A functional and user-friendly website is very important for businesses as it is the first point of access to information about a company and its offerings. A user-friendly and attractive website is even more important for eCommerce businesses as it functions as the storefront and the checkout facility simultaneously. The role of a website developer in a consultancy firm may involve a range of tasks from sorting out website issues and improving user experience, to handling the database technology that helps to keep a website running smoothly.
Operations consultant
An operations consultant supports clients by offering advice and implementing best practices to improve the efficiency of company value chains. Among the services offered by an operations consultant include developing and implementing target service delivery models, executing cost reduction programs and optimising business processes. Operations consultants also design and implement business transformation programs across a company’s primary and secondary business functions. Some examples of support services that operations consultants offer include growing sales figures, improving procurement and supply chain processes, revamping customer experience efforts and other office-wide initiatives. Operations consulting services represent the largest segment within the global consulting market, holding a 30% market share, which amounts to approximately US$63.6 billion. In the next two years, the operations consultant market is estimated to grow at a rate of approximately 5% per annum.
Selecting the right vendors for your company requires a lot of time and search, thus if you are looking for some head on over head on over to ThunderQuote where the best minds of Singapore are there to help you with all your business needs and simplify your work!
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