The Case For Consultants In The Post-Covid Comeback
Spring has sprung, the weather is suddenly summer-like, three million people are being vaccinated daily and optimism abounds. Not surprisingly, business activity is bouncing back. The Institute for Supply Management just announced that US service providers delivered the fastest March growth ever. This surge has left many companies scrambling to ramp up capacity in order to take advantage of this burgeoning business trend.
The speed and intensity of this post-Covid comeback has caught many companies shorthanded because of all the lay-offs, furloughs and job shifting that had to be done in order to survive the impact of the pandemic. In addition, with the recovery accelerating, many overworked employees that had been nervous about switching jobs will likely be more comfortable making the decision to get ahead by going to another company.
Businesses are now faced with two options for filling this urgent resource gap. They can aggressively work to recruit, hire and train new full time staff. Or, they can quickly research and hire consultants with the expertise and bandwidth needed to take full advantage of this significant business opportunity.
If you choose the consultant route you have the option of working with one of the behemoths (McKinsey, Bain, etc.) or a smaller firm that specializes in your specific category and/or business needs. In general, the smaller firms provide a more intimate, collaborative approach that uses boots-on-the-ground senior experts. The big firms usually staff client accounts with green MBA graduates, while more senior partners focus on client management and finding new projects.
For those clients that prefer being involved in the whole process, a boutique firm will likely be a better fit. In this scenario, the partners would actively work alongside your senior executives to deliver customized solutions. In addition, your staff will benefit from having direct contact with experienced business professionals who will provide the expertise and guidance required to deliver the requested work. Not to mention, smaller consultancies are typically more agile and less expensive than the larger firms.
The Benefits of Hiring a Consultant Over Full Time Staff
1) Speed - Finding and attracting top talent is always a difficult and time consuming process. Consultants come pre-loaded with experience and are ready to hit the ground running, no training is needed. This will significantly improve your speed to market.
2) Value - “You get what you pay for.” Deliverables and terms are negotiated with the consultant and documented in a concise Scope of Work (SOW) agreement. You decide how much a task is worth and only spend that amount. In the case of full-time employees, they will receive their paycheck on a regular basis no matter what. According to a recent Inc. Magazine study, it was found that the “average employee is only productive for 2 hours and 53 minutes per day.”
3) Flexibility/Lower Risk - Since consultants are contractors and not employees you have much more control over conditions and costs. The terms of engagement can be tailored to your specific business needs. In addition, since consultants aren’t considered employees, your company does not bear full responsibility for their actions.
The pandemic is starting to wane, creating room for the economy to grow again. Speed to market is going to be critical for companies that want to take full advantage of this opportunity. However, Covid driven lay-offs and furloughs have left many businesses without the internal resources needed to quickly develop and execute successful strategies. Hiring a boutique consulting group to play this role will set your company up for short and mid term success.