Business-Orientated Consultancy: How can it help an SME

Its been an interesting few months! Innumerable new providers appearing to exploit the panic created by high fee rate first tier consultancies who saw GDPR as a new vein of gold ore to mine. Meanwhile, many in the SME community just thought “where do we start”

Thankfully, much of the panic has been replaced by pragmatism. The ICO always said that all companies should take data protection and information security seriously – take note DCW and FB. ICO added that if good systems were in place and the appropriate processes, procedures check and balances, including training and organisational culture, to protect personal data were implemented and pursued then no-one need panic

All the smoke, mirrors, fluff and bluster around GDPR set me thinking about whether and how consultancies, big and small, bring value to small and medium sized enterprises

Obvious candidates are the provision of soft staff to meet peak loads and the appointment of experienced interim managers to address a particular vacancy, a sudden crisis or to introduce new products and services into new and old market segments. Beyond the obvious however exactly how do consultancies benefit the SME community?

Let me start by saying “I am biased”, I own a small business-orientated consultancy and believe we really do help our clients whether they are in the Public Private or Third Sectors. We do help businesses grow, change and protect their own and their clients data. We do this by by helping them address a wide-range of areas including: information security, programme, project and portfolio management as well as those very hard soft skills around culture, commitment and capability development that are essential to any business improvement.

But back to the question! so how do consultancies help SMEs? There is an old saw that says “hire a consultant they’ll ask for your watch and tell you the time” quickly followed by the presentation of an invoice for a day’s work even though they perhaps gave your company an hour’s thought.

Lets go back to the first part of the adage. Often in a small organisation the owner and their senior team are focussed on realising the bottom line, turning round bad debts and keeping on top of their operational costs. Consequently, they miss the bigger picture; where is our growth going to come from, how do I maximise the income on individual products and services, what are the risks to success, can we manage the growth ourselves or do we need financial, technical or other help etc.

So when a business-orientated consultants asks for the “owner’s watch” its because we can also see the potential of the business but with eyes that have the time and inclination to scan the broader horizon, as well as the insight and intuition that can map a structured way forward for the business. Hence, the client’s “watch” becomes the metaphor for creating awareness within the client of the true potential of their enterprise.

To realise the real potential of an enterprise, however, you need so much more than the understanding of what could be achieved. It is at this point the consultant’s skills move towards the appraisal of the business’ readiness to realise their potential. In this segment you will find many process reengineers, ISO auditors and purveyors of model one-size-fits-all solutions pitching their expertise and wares to the business.

If however, the SME engages a business orientated consultant they will work with the client to understand which, if any, of these diverse approaches is the most appropriate for today’s need and tomorrow’s aspiration. it is only by working with the client and being sufficiently skilled to fully appraise the whole business that the consultant can truly offer a way forward that meets the clients needs. Even then the business-orientated consultant will adapt their approach to remain in tune with the culture and competencies within their client’s business and the needs of their client’s customers.

Creating awareness of a business’ potential and appraising the fitness of the business to overcome today’s need and realise tomorrow’s aspiration cannot be the end of the engagement. To really help the SME to achieve all that they can the consultant must also assist in the development of the enterprise’s action planning towards their vision and goals. Whilst such planning may require the consultant to do the project and programme legwork any successful action plan must be: co-created with the client, has to “feel right” for the business, should be something the business would create for themselves and ultimately must be implementable, measurable and affordable in both financial and non-financial terms. The final step through which the consultant can help the enterprise is by providing an independent assessment of the fitness of the business against the most appropriate best practice, market peers and established standards

The assessment phase is where the consultant must truly facilitate. They enable the business to benchmark themselves against established performance norms for exceptional organisations and in doing so the consultants help the owner and their senior team reach and exceed their vision and goals by helping them to:

1. See the bigger picture and opportunity it presents
2. Increase the leadership team’s confidence in the business
3. Help the enterprise realise the aspirations of staff, owners and customers
4. Provide a strong and robust basis for performance improvement and
5. A rigorous, much improved understanding of the organisation’s culture, capability and commitment to achieve

So can business-orientated consultancy help and SME meet their current needs, achieve their longer-term aspirations and deliver for staff, customers and stakeholders?

If the consultant follows the holistic approach described, works closely with the client as a colleague not an instructor and ensures that any change whether it be processual, procedural, cultural or structural is compatible with the business, their staff and the customer base then the answer is a resounding yes!