Flexibility in your consultant teams – Post-Covid

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_custom_heading text=”Les sociétés de conseil qui vont gagner après la crise sont celles qui vont créer leur pool de consultants freelances” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][image_with_animation image_url=”10120″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]

If this article could have been written before the covid-19 crisis, the latter has had a major impact on the organization of work, and it is becoming more urgent than ever to react: the consulting companies that will win after the crisis are those who will be able to create a competitive advantage around the flexibility of their talents. Pessimists on the subject of flexibility and remote working of talent were forced to work this way during confinement and were able to realize that it works much better than they hoped. A return to normal, to “business-as-usual” is not possible when 73% of French employees hope to continue teleworking. How can we turn this shift into a competitive advantage that should enable us to work with the best talents and better position ourselves in the face of competition from other consulting companies? Several major trends at work in the world make this transformation inevitable. This change is a real opportunity to work with the best talents in a more agile and economical way by creating your internal platform of freelance consultants. However, you need to be well organized and equipped for this advantage to materialize quickly.

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1) 4 major trends are pushing service and consulting companies to review their internal organization

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][image_with_animation image_url=”10127″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]Lorsque les planètes s’alignent pour envoyer un message, il est difficile de fermer les yeux devant une telle évidence. 4 grandes tendances viennent confirmer qu’il est nécessaire pour toutes les sociétés et plus encore pour les sociétés de conseil et de services de revoir leur base de talent et de créer des équipes plus agiles qui font du travail à distance une force plutôt qu’une difficulté.

1a) The economy is increasingly volatile

The economy is always more volatile and less readable. Uncertainties about the scale of the Coronavirus crisis are very high. In France, the current situation is compared to the post-war period. The French recession promises to be the strongest in the entire Euro zone, particularly for structural reasons linked to the management of unemployment. Many apprentice sorcerers have been announcing a crisis since…2015. Obviously a reversal of the cycle was to be expected, but who thought that a health crisis would bring the world to its knees? No one envisaged a crisis more violent than that of 2008, and yet... This volatility and this lack of reading is not new, but the scale of crises and their speed in spreading across the entire planet are new factors . In 2008, we thought we had experienced the crisis of the century, but 12 years later, it seems that the scale of the pandemic crisis will be even greater. Every company must take this volatility into account and adapt its model to be able to better absorb shocks. Bringing more flexibility to your teams by integrating external talents is the best possible approach.

1b) Talents increasingly want to work as freelancers

At the same time, a shift that is not new is accelerating: the scarcity of talents seeking permanent contracts. In the USA, more than 35% of the working population is already freelance. Before the pandemic, it was expected that this would rise to 50% in 2025. But the crisis seems to be further accelerating this phenomenon. The cohorts of young talents laid off en masse by Airbnb, Uber and Lyft, when asked about their future, indicate that they aspire to sell their skills independently and remain in control of their career. This shift also continues to grow in France, which already has more than 15% of freelancers among the active population.

1c) Skills evolve faster and faster

The transformation of professions driven by technology is drastically accelerating the development of skills. Consulting companies must prepare for this, because they will be on the front line in responding to the needs of their clients. According to a popular estimate, 65% of children entering primary school today will work in a profession that does not even exist yet when they leave school. In such a rapidly changing environment, putting planning and skills management at the heart of a consulting company's strategy is essential. But it is impossible to recruit talent that covers all skill sets, and working regularly with external talent is an excellent option to address this issue.

1d) Customers demand ever more specific skills

Customers also have a more demanding approach than before when it comes to requesting specific skills to respond to their problems. With a plethora of independent talent now within their reach, particularly thanks to the emergence of consulting platforms, it becomes necessary for consulting companies to review their approach from the perspective of their teams. Many choose to internalize their more generalist talents while creating a pool of external or expert talents, which allows them to always have the right resource to meet client needs while providing more specialized skills that promote project success. and the long-term growth of these consulting companies.

Ces tendances existaient avant la crise, mais celle-ci ne fait que les accélérer. La hausse rapide du chômage partiel confirme qu’apporter plus de flexibilité à ses équipes avec un pool d’externes a énormément de sens. Les nouveaux diplômés déclarent pour 47% d’entre-deux vouloir travailler en tant qu’indépendant plutôt que de chercher un emploi dans une société. Le choc du confinement accélère la digitalisation des sociétés et l’évolution des compétences qui l’accompagne. Il en découle des besoins plus spécifiques en termes d’expertise recherchés par les clients des sociétés de conseil.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]

2) Many advantages of creating and working with an external talent pool for consulting companies

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][image_with_animation image_url=”10122″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]Les sociétés de conseil qui adoptent la flexibilité en mixant des talents internes et externes sur leurs projets sont mieux à même de gagner face à la concurrence. Il faut pour cela créer une structure organisationnelle qui repose sur des consultants internes qui forment la base et apportent les compétences les plus régulièrement demandées pour répondre aux problématiques des clients. Cette base de consultants doit être complétée par un pool de freelances experts qui apportent des compétences beaucoup plus techniques et spécifiques. Des compétences moins régulièrement demandées mais qui permettent de mieux innover pour résoudre les problématiques des clients. Sans jamais venir en concurrencer les consultants internes, ces experts sont appelés à collaborer avec les consultants lorsque leur expertise s’avère pertinente sur un projet.

Flexibility in your teams in this way, by mixing internal consultants and external talents, has many advantages:

2a) Innovate more quickly and better respond to customer issues

By having the ability to immediately source the expertise necessary to respond to a problem, the speed of innovation offered to clients of consulting firms is multiplied. But innovation is the main source of growth for a society. In a study, McKinsey analyzed the performance of 3,000 companies to understand what causes a company to fail and disappear. The study shows that 92% of the companies that remained alive during this 32-year study had average growth rates of around 20% or more. This growth is overwhelmingly created by the capacity for innovation that only companies with access to the right skills and expertise are capable of deploying.

2b) Reduce risks and generate savings

Financially, this approach to creating hybrid teams has many advantages. First, working regularly with a base of independent external talent provides resource flexibility that helps absorb growth shocks. The increasingly volatile economy requires identifying ways to reduce risks and this approach is one of them. Especially since the massive use of partial unemployment and the long-term impact it will have on the country's debt could lead to reforms intended to reduce the dependence of companies on the government. Furthermore, in the event of shock and layoffs, there may be sometimes significant restructuring costs. During recovery periods, recruitment costs can also be high. The approach recommended here both avoids the risks associated with lack of flexibility when activity drops suddenly, and significantly reduces the costs associated with restructuring the organization.

2c) Better engage and retain talent

La création d’équipes hybrides permet par ailleurs de concentrer ses efforts pour engager et retenir les talents embauchés. En faisant appel à des externes pour appuyer les équipes internes sur certaines tâches, il est plus facile d’offrir des missions intéressantes et formatrice à ses équipes internes. Leur permettre de se concentrer sur les tâches à plus haute valeur ajoutée afin de les intéresser davantage mais aussi de les faire monter plus rapidement en compétence sur des sujets clés, comme le management de projet et la gestion des clients.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]

3) What are the steps to make your workforce flexible and create your pool of freelance consultants?

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3a) Build a pool of experts

Moving from an internal workforce to hybrid and agile teams requires gradually creating a “pool” of external talents with whom your company will have privileged links, frequent exchanges and with whom you will work regularly on projects. Whether your pool has 10, 50 or 500 experts, it is important to create it as quickly as possible. Identifying these external talents has become very simple: whether on LinkedIn or on the various external consultant platforms, you can find serious and qualified freelancers who you can put to the test on one or more projects. Once you have confirmed the good performance of one of these external talents, integrate them into your “pool”, and make sure to use them as much as possible when their skills are necessary to respond to a client's problem. . Over time, he will adapt better and better to your processes and working methods, develop better proximity with your internal teams and the performance of his work will only increase.

3b) Monitor and manage your community of external freelance talents

Once your external talent pool has been created, you must animate it, in order to continue to build relationships and make them want to prioritize your projects. Leading your community of freelancers is less complicated than it seems. The number one expectation of these talents is of course to have sustained activity. Give them visibility on upcoming projects they might be working on. Some companies send “job boards” via weekly newsletter, others do it with their resource management and monitoring solutions, such as Stafiz. Once the project is completed, it is also important to evaluate the freelancers you work with. Tracking evaluations in the solution resource planning thus makes it possible to confirm the alignment of the planned skills with reality. Finally, leading a community of external talents with whom you work regularly also requires bringing them together once or twice a year and mixing them with your internal teams. Some consulting companies invite their external talent pool to short seminars, during which they can meet the firm's management and interact with internal consultants. This proximity promotes the commitment of these external talents and pushes them to choose to work with these companies when it is necessary to decide between several possible projects.

3c) Save money by automating management

Si le travail avec des talents externes présente énormément d’avantages financier grâce à la flexibilité qu’il offre, gérer un pool de freelance peut créer du travail supplémentaire pour les équipes financières voire RH. Gestion des contrats, suivi des temps et des frais, facturation et paiement : suivre l’activité des talents externes peut vite virer au calvaire si vous n’avez pas les bons outils. Il est donc nécessaire de s’équiper d’une solution qui vous permet de gérer aussi bien les ressources internes que les externes. La solution ERP et de gestion des planning Stafiz permet par exemple de proposer à ses talents externes, par workflow, de participer à des projets, d’automatiser la gestion des contrats des sous-traitants, de gérer les temps, le planning et la facturation directement dans l’outil. Le gain de temps et la clarté que cela apporte permet de générer des économies importantes puisque le temps alloué à la gestion des externes est considérablement réduit. Par ailleurs, en « intégrant » la gestion de votre pool d’externes, vous évitez de payer la commission aux plateformes de freelances qui peuvent aller de 10% à 25% de commission appliquée aux Taux Journaliers Moyens, ce qui peut vite coûter très cher.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the crisis caused by the pandemic will therefore have accelerated an inevitable shift which requires the management of consulting companies to adopt a more flexible approach in their internal organization to be better armed and better positioned for the future. Coupling a broad base of internal consultants with its pool of external consultants appears to be an excellent model for creating solid competitive advantages.

This model seems so relevant that all major consulting companies are adopting it.

The Big Four have already created their internal platforms of freelance consultants: they thus draw much more easily from Data scientists, cloud architects, DevOps, Scrum master, etc. skills that require specialization. Deloitte launched Open Talent last September, PwC launched its PwC Talent Exchange platform and KPMG its KPMG's Freelance Portal pool. The trend is still timid in France, but is much less so in the Anglo-Saxon countries which are further ahead on the subject. So Deloitte Australia works with 15% to 20% freelancers on each of their projects. ( find the Consultor article on the subject )

Toutes les sociétés de conseils ont un réel intérêt à créer leur propre pool de talents externes. Non pas pour concurrencer leurs consultants internes, mais pour toujours mieux répondre aux problématiques des clients et adopter le bon virage vers le futur du travail. La flexibilité, l’agilité et les gains financiers que cela apporte est la cerise sur le gâteau ![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]

An interview with the Calyans consulting firm

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