How does technology help consultants build a sustainable business?
Introduction
Consulting firms advise clients on how to best leverage technologies to improve their businesses and performance, but consultancies themselves sometimes struggle to implement digital transformation to improve their own working environment daily.
Professional services operations require cumbersome processes such as time and expense tracking, resource planning, sometimes complex billing processes, on-site and remote work. These operations, if not approached with the right technology, can generate a lack of efficiency and frustration within teams. It is essential for professional services organizations to be equipped with the right technology to improve their operations, increase profitability and increase delivery times.
According to a study conducted by the Zigurat Business School, most consultants mentioned innovation and business model change as one of the benefits. Another exciting benefit of digital transformation is improved customer experience.
The definition of consulting is changing rapidly. The difference between management consulting and technology consulting is blurred at present. More and more companies are trying to integrate management and technology to create a new digital approach. The approach to problem solving is now data-driven. The assessment of the business model and customer journey is quantified in order to deliver value to customers.
How can AI and automation help consulting firms?
If technology is leveraged correctly, consulting firms can gain insights that can help them grow.
Consulting firms such as Tata Consultancy and KPMG have used technology to improve their overall services.
Data gathering
The biggest advantage is the ease of data analysis. AI has given the ability to analyze massive amounts of data faster than humans. The insights provided by this data help consulting companies give valuable advice on improving their clients' sales, supply chain and operations, etc.
This data analysis helps them provide a variety of different services to their customers and increase their ROI. AI and automation are helping consulting firms and creating value for their clients.
Case Study: Deloitte Helps Yamaha Drive Customer Engagement
Yamaha is known for selling high-end musical instruments. It leverages Salesforce to provide customer support worldwide. The problem Yamaha faced was that it didn't know how to use the data generated by Salesforce to improve its customer service.
Deloitte stepped in to help the company create a 7-week transformation plan to shorten the customer journey. Deloitte helped Yamaha create a social media-like platform to access all relevant information from each customer. This has led to improved customer service efficiency.
Yamaha was able to access customer social activity, updated customer information, and other information from the social platform. The company has also implemented a peer-to-peer communication service to speed up response time and satisfy customers without delay.
Automation of administrative tasks
The most boring part of being a consultant is handling paperwork (client invoices, pay stubs, etc.). It also takes a lot of time and forces consultants to stray from their tasks. Through process automation, ERP software designed specifically for consulting companies like Stafiz (add website link) facilitates a wide range of tasks. Consultants can save time with consulting ERPs that can help them issue invoices, plan projects, create reports, and more.
High-end AI devices like RPA (robotic process automation) help consultants by making business decisions on their behalf. These devices have the ability to make logical judgments or ensure that regulatory forms are completed without there being fines for non-compliance.
Increased productivity
Financial ERPs like Stafiz help consultants plan their meetings, track their daily processes and activities. The data presented by Stafiz can be used to improve productivity. There are also a variety of other software like google drive, mailchimp and zoom to automate their daily operations.
Automated advisory solution
Consulting services are expensive and SMEs find it difficult to cope with them. However, thanks to new technological tools, the consulting market is striving to provide automated solutions at lower costs. But this automation comes with challenges. AI loves data and it predicts, makes decisions based on big data. Real-life data is filled with various variables that allow judging the profitability of a business in different ways.
Unlike humans, AI does not have the analytical skills to evaluate raw data. Additionally, AIs cannot predict human behavior. This makes it even more difficult to automate advice. The human touch is needed everywhere to judge, analyze and provide solutions in the consulting process.
What is technology consulting and how can it drive growth?
This is one of the services offered by most consulting companies. Technology consulting emerged in the consulting field when businesses sought to innovate and use technology to achieve their goals. Today, technology consulting is crucial for business development in different sectors and has created a need for IT consultants, technology advisors.
Technology consultants help businesses stay up to date with new tools to increase customer acquisition and engagement. They help businesses digitally transform and optimize business processes efficiently.
Adopting these new technologies is a challenge for companies, as they must rely on their internal teams to achieve this. Partnering with technology consultants will make the process easier and improve their operations. Technology consulting companies help their clients integrate new technologies, train their staff, and create new communication channels with their clients. At the same time, they provide a set of tools to analyze data and improve its growth.
Final thoughts
Consulting in the digital age has helped consulting firms expand their services and solve their clients' technology problems. This development has also changed the consulting model for more than a century. This digital transformation is like a double-edged sword: consulting firms and clients are undergoing this transformation together. In this trend, consulting firms are focusing more on strategic data and technologies. Firms use this data like oil to advance their clients’ business.
We'll have to wait and see how consultancies integrate data and technology to engage the workforce, collaborate with clients and partners to solve real-world business problems.
