Consultancy, by its very nature, is a multifaceted job. It requires a huge array of skills for a project to be completed successfully and on time - and with all the involved parties satisfied. As the consultancy industry has become more competitive, consultancy firms have been put under pressure to offer a more comprehensive service that will ensure they continue to win new business. This has further broadened the scope of the consultant, who is now expected to manage increasingly complex projects and offer even greater knowledge and support to the client.
Clients are, naturally enough, demanding and want to see a clear return for their investment. And equally naturally, consultancy firms try to meet those demands. But with the pressure to win new business higher than ever, and the prospects of a recession causing everyone to re-examine outlay on professional services, it is all too easy for a consultancy to fall into the trap of promising more than it can deliver. As a result an uncontrolled, and unhelpful culture of ’you say jump we say how high’ develops.
Initially this approach is very attractive and in the short term it keeps clients happy. But the long-term prospects are far less sunny, and it often becomes a counterproductive mantra, as demands on the individual consultants involved in a project can quickly escalate out of control.
These individuals often then find themselves having to invest more of their time in mediating and managing client relationships rather than getting the job for which they are well trained and highly qualified, done. They can easily become overloaded with issues to solve which are unrelated to the original project, unnecessarily pulled away from their primary role by potentially conflicting interests, and dragged into the client’s company politics.
When this happens, it can dramatically affect the smooth running of the project and the amount of time needed to push things through to completion. Ultimately, when a consultancy over commits to a project and fails to manage its client’s expectations properly, it can easily start risking the profitability of the project.
In order to avoid the hazards of over servicing, it is essential to manage every single step of the project lifecycle very carefully, whether it is a short-term assignment or long- term, embedded project. Being able to create budgets and manage cash flow, plan resources and monitor project progress is essential in order to improve overall performance and profitability.
Project management tools, including technology, can track and monitor every aspect of a project, from planning the timeframes and costs through to recording any significant notes so that all consultants on that project can see immediately the status of every element. Such tools also mean that project profitability can be measured against a baseline budget. This ensures that client deliverables are kept within the outlined scope and cost parameters, which helps to prevent both budget overruns and over servicing, and provides full project control.
These tools enable consultants to work smarter at every step of the project lifecycle, virtually eliminating any possible areas of confusion or discrepancies. They enable project managers to identify and address over-servicing issues before they become a real problem and drain on profitability. They provide an essential benchmark if clients raise questions about the scope of the work, or attempt to redefine agreed goals and deliverables.
The right tools can also help a consultancy manage its resources, providing detailed, historical evidence on how long a project is likely to take and how the correct resources should be allocated before the job even starts. They therefore give consultants more time to focus on the value-add aspects of the job and less on administration and unnecessary client management issues. Research has shown that 65 per cent of companies using project management software were able to increase staff utilisation, which resulted in a greater number of billable hours.
Project management software cannot work in isolation, however. Right from the start of any project there needs to be absolute clarity around the precise role of the consultant. Laying out some boundaries on how much time and influence a consultant has on a project is very important. A consultancy’s value lies in its people rather than a product and an age-old problem for consultancies has been how to measure this. Setting clear objectives with the client provides a perfect opportunity to clarify value and worth.
If the consultancy commits to defined goals at the beginning of implementation, tightens up the service offering and stipulates agreed boundaries with the client its consultant’s working on the project can concentrate on delivery rather than being engulfed by internal politics and mediation.
Today’s consultants need to combine strong client relationship and management skills with a professional service supported by robust project management. This may sound straightforward enough but when the going gets tough, consultants can often find themselves caught up in internal disputes, hindered by over-demanding clients and suffering from project fatigue. Even the least complex projects can result in an individual consultant juggling far more balls than had been planned for at the outset. It is this juggling act that most frequently leads to over servicing. But with the correct tools at their disposal, consultants can be free to focus on the job – where they add most value - and therefore stand a much better chance of ensuring none of those balls gets dropped.
