80% of clients satisfied with management consulting services
According to research among private and public sector consultancy buyers in the UK, 8 out of 10 clients are satisfied with the work carried out by management consultants. 84% of the clients polled by the British association of management consulting firms said that they use consulting services when they are in need of strategic, transformation or change support.
The study found that 81% of the respondents believed that the delivery of consultancy services had met or exceeded their expectations. Additionally, more than half of respondents said that consulting work provided had consistently exceeded or substantially exceeded their expectations. At the other end of the spectrum, less than 9% felt that money spent on management consultants was not worth the investment.
Based on the results, UK’s consulting association – operating as the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), the counterpart of the BDU in Germany or Consult’in France in France – concludes that across the board, the quality of management consultancy services in the country has grown in the past years. Main reasons for the professionalisation include growing competition spurring the need for maturity, technology-led innovation which bolsters service propositions and quality assurance and more scrutiny from clients on who they hire and for what.
However, critics of the study accuse the industrial representative body of bias, drawing an analogy with a butcher who is inspecting the quality of his own meat. The MCA however rebuffed the accusations of bias, pointing out that the survey was conducted by an external research agency, ensuring an impartial methodology and set of results.
“We’re encouraged by the feedback from business leaders about the value of consulting,” said Tamzen Isacsson, CEO of the MCA. While the study didn’t look into the hard return on investment of consulting spend, the UK association did conduct such a study a few years ago, finding that clients were getting a return of £6 for every £1 invested. In the recent report, 16% of respondents listed value for money as an aspect of engaging consultants they especially appreciated, however, non-monetary aims were more important for consultancy buyers. Top reasons cited as to why management consultants were hired include independent thinking and transformational outcomes (49% each), and knowledge transfer and achievement of project goals (35% each).
When asked for which services they typically hire consultants, business transformation came on top by some distance. This is mainly due to the changing environment in which organisations operate, with aspects such as heightened competition, tech-led disruption, a changing workforce and more demanding consumers leading the need for change. In order to adapt to these and other forces, organisations need to revamp their business strategies and operating models, meaning that larger business transformation efforts are required to remain successful.
Not surprisingly, digital and technology ranked second, with nearly all companies nowadays looking into how emerging technologies can benefit their business. In manufacturing, Industry 4.0 holds major promise for operational improvement, in aviation, the internet of things will be crucial for smoother maintenance & operations, while in automotive, robotisation is becoming key to streamline production lines. Technology also can massively benefit the public sector, including areas such as communication with inhabitants and entrepreneurs, as well as internal processes.
Functional areas of management consulting that remain in high demand are strategy, finance, project management and change management.
Looking ahead into 2019, efficiency is the top businesses challenge clients will seek to hire consultants for, at 47% of responses. Not surprisingly, Brexit ranks high – the UK and EU still are working on ways to settle Brexit by the end of March, and in its slipstream the impact on businesses and governments. Digital implementation and crafting strategies to deal with digital disruption round off the list of top priorities.
For more information on the study, see the article ‘8 out of 10 UK companies hire consultants, and are satisfied’ on Consultancy.uk.
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