A consultant is a "doctor" who is a specialist, can diagnose and provide emergency treatment with long lasting and positive long-term effects
Sometimes consultants have a negative reputation. This happens when there is no balance between cost and benefit or the work results in stacks of PowerPoint slides or when the results are more or less archived into a digital or other storeroom and the untested processes that not explained, integrated or embedded
Agreed. There are some business consultants that are "masters at reinventing the wheel". This is especially true when the submitted recommendations are not implemented. If management claims that the actions in the recommendations were not beneficial and don't reflect day-to-day business realities and after a thorough assessment of the situation, requirements throw out the recommendations and mutual agreement.
Interim role
The most impactful role that consultants can play is to substitute a staff member and satisfy the companies short to medium-term staffing requirement. These needs occur due to a variety of factors such as downsizing or expansion, sickness, parental leave etc. There is an ardent need to plug the hole so that a major issue does not arise due to the lack of staff.
Consultants are also used to reach the desired conclusions with sufficient cover if things go wrong. The manager can tell the board that after all we implemented the XYZ's recommendations to the letter.
But these are isolated situations, so let's look at the brighter side:
- Consultants have the rare privilege of providing best practices across industries and functions
- Consultants that have experience in serving multiple clients in the same sector can provide solutions that are second to none.
- Experts that have served multiple clients facing similar problems across different sectors can also recommend practical solutions that management never had the opportunity to address.
GRC niche to give results
When we at Copenhagen Compliance provide GRC assessments as a part and parcel of any assignment the comment we always receive is 'Thanks for the fresh perspective. Our CERP (Clear eyes review process) provides the necessary value, observations and insights on the project.
Every consulting project we undertake requires substantial client interaction as a major ingredient to ensure that the work is integrated, embedded and eventually automated. This is because perhaps 10-15% of the work done is to educate clients on necessary knowledge, skills, and mindsets.
Influence on what the stakeholder wants
Lot of regulations seems to be written more in grey rather than black ink and the many oversight authorities have never been accused of being precise;
- What constitutes fair executive pay when dealing with 'say on pay'?
- The distinction between Market-Making and proprietary trading in the financial services industry?
Copenhagen Compliance is a GRC and markets practice business that helps global businesses of all trades to understand and implement new rules and regulations, avoid problems, or spot them before oversight or stakeholders do.
We are the opposite of influencing oversight or examiners of any sort; instead the consultant should influence the client in terms of what the stakeholder, oversight or examiner wants it to do and help companies implement the rules.
