Business consultant
Business consultant entails those professionals who impact some influence over how business entities are managed, but do not have direct powers for implementing any process or any program in these businesses. Their duty entails only advising the management about the strategies they opt to employ to enhance the performances of their businesses.
Business consultants are often professionals who are well knowledgeable about broad range of businesses as a result of working with diverse enterprises and also their long term of services. It is the their long term performance history that makes them very valuable personnel as it enables them to possess great vast of knowledge in their field of specializations.
Functions a business consultant
Business consultants are associated with a number of functions which include identification of likely problems and possible opportunities, Business analysis, recommending appropriate measures, Implementation and assessment of the recommended options (Wiley, 1999).The first thing that a good business consultant does is to understand the business in question.
Since the owner is the one who is well conversant with his/her business than any other person, the consultant takes this opportunity to learn about the business from the owner, department heads and chief employees in the company. After the business consultant understands the necessary details of the business, then the consultant identifies appropriate problems and opportunities within the business.
The business consultant takes into account the problems and opportunities that he/she learns from relevant business stakeholders and also tries to discover other problems and opportunities that these stakeholders may not pointed out. As business consultants are well experienced and knowledgeable they bring fresh ideas and experiences in the businesses ( Goley, N.d).
Once the business consultant identifies the business problems and opportunities, the consultant then synthesis the collected data so that to establish viable solutions and plans for the future business.
The consultant takes a micro view of the business and offers answers for macro outlooks. The consultant helps in refocusing the company’s strategies so that to realize immediate problems while still taking consideration of future business opportunities.
The next steps involve the engagement and implementation process that entails applying the recommended plans and strategies. Most projects initiates with training programs, where relevant individuals who are directly affected by the proposed changes are equipped with appropriate skills.
The implementation process is generally overseen by the line manager, but in stances where there are considerable transformations, the consultant is also involved. The consultant is only involved in the staff meetings or training sessions ( Goley, N.d).
The next phase is the Extension, Recycle or termination phase. During this stage, the management together with the business consultant assesses the success of the changes implemented.
When the change process results to enhanced performance, a decision to extend the change process to other departments within the organization can be made. Where the change implemented failed to give considerable improvement in the performance, there may be a need in terminating the engagement.
In instances where the change implemented brings excellent performances, it offers a great learning opportunity to both the business owner and consultant and future engagements are guarantee (Wiley, 1999).
Consultants are known to embark on those tasks that entail high internal coordination costs for clients, like organizations major transformations processes such as the implementation of information technology in organizations.
Their wide experiences in gathering data globally and across industries, equip them with great knowledge that make their services more economical and efficient. Business consulting can be grouped in various specializations which include; the Human resource consulting, information technology consulting and virtual management consulting among others (Wiley, 1999).
Reference List
Goley, F. (N.d) What Does a Good Business Consultant Do? Retrieved from http: www.bussinessconsulting.com
Wiley, J. (1999). A Guide to Getting Your Expertise New York: Inc Flawless Consulting