Professional services and consulting involve providing expertise to a customer or client. There are many types of consultants in the professional services industry, such as marketing consultants and IT consultants, which can be grouped under the broader umbrella of professional services. Consulting services refer to the provision of strategic advice that is presented for consideration and decision-making. Large firms that are considered pillars in the strategic consulting community worldwide include McKinsey, Bain and Boston Consulting Group, as well as other firms such as FirmsConsulting. For instance, a company may hire a consultant with specific functions to solve an issue of inefficiency in the exchange of information and data within the entire organization, or an industry-specific consultant to help optimize the workflows of a department associated with a particular sector, such as optimizing financial projects in the finance department.
Management consultants are typically former senior executives with years of management experience and often collaborate with internal business strategists to create a comprehensive plan that defines long-term management objectives. IT consultants encompass a wide range of experts working in many different areas, all of which can help a company to better utilize its IT infrastructure. Strategy consultants typically work with high-level executives, including the CEO, CFO, COO and CIO, to ensure that all long-term objectives, financial goals, operational projects and components of IT infrastructure align with the business vision. Industry-specific consulting is associated with many different types of practices within the consulting ecosystem. In other words, while consultants usually act as groups of experts and theorists (offering advice and information on what to do to solve a problem), implementation consultants actually help the company carry out the suggested solution and provide detailed information on how to solve the company's problems. Consulting firms and consulting experts offer companies a unique “group of experts” resource that allows them to take advantage of their years of experience and technical knowledge. A non-consulting service provider is someone or an organization that is hired to provide services other than consulting services.
A brand consultant can help a company discover new ways to present its assets to the public in the most attractive and advantageous way possible. Implementation consultants are a subtype of general consulting and can help a company with various implementation projects, including IT projects. Legal consulting firms will send experts who can better assist your company when faced with a particular legal problem. The ultimate goal of management consulting is to optimize the management methodologies used to make the company work more efficiently. Management consultants often use strong management consulting frameworks and case studies to help managers better understand industry best practices and the most effective management methodologies.
