01 Jun What is Consulting as a Service?
See if you recognize this scenario: you have an operational issue or project in need of attention but you have a knowledge or skill gap within your current business to address it. You are now faced with a decision. You can try to bridge the gap with internal resources or you can bring in an external resource with expertise in the area to do it for you.
If you picked the second option, you now know the basics of Consulting as a Service.
Now, if you’re thinking “this sounds exactly like what I just call consulting.” This is a fair statement – one we would agree with. It is consulting. But there can be a couple key differences between a traditional consulting model and a Consulting as a Service (or CaaS) practice.
The Traditional Consulting Triangle
Traditional consulting, from our personal experience on the inside, tends to operate out of reach for a lot of businesses.
For one, not all businesses can absorb the cost. Traditional consulting companies tend to aim towards government and corporation contracts. These companies have large and stable cash flows to match high price points. High price points that allow executives to maintain wide profit margins by using junior resources to staff projects. Such contracts and companies are money spinners for the networked few (and, let’s be honest, we all want a piece of that spin if we can).
For two, not all businesses require a long-term full-time agreement nor want one. Traditional consulting companies angle for the long-term when selling their service products. A longer term means more money being earned from the work of junior resources and potentially the acquisition of more work so more resources can be assigned. It means the opportunity to bill more and make more whether value is being returned or not.
And for three, not all businesses have clear projectized needs. They don’t always know what they need or want (hello!) and maybe are only looking for some honest, actionable advice or direction from an expert. Traditional consulting companies offer little beyond broad sales pitches that can speak to their scalability and agility for smaller businesses. The sale is the focal pivot; the rest you can have later after you sign. However, the work needed to know what a business wants/needs to be sold is sometimes exactly and only what is required.
Consulting as a Service Change-Up
Now all of what we just said can apply to CaaS practices as well. Uh oh! But, like we alluded to earlier, there can be differences between the two.
First, CaaS can offer more flexibility by offering an as-needed engagement model. This can allow for a greater range of pricing and service associations to entice a larger pool of potential clients.
Second, Caas can collapse overhead requirements by being scaleable to each business. Long-term and/or full-time agreements are not a fit for all and that is a-okay. This should not dilute or lessen the expertise or knowledge a consultant could bring to your business. Nor should the length or cost of an engagement impact the quality or value they create.
Third, Caas is meant to be adaptable to changing needs and decisions by just being available. Think of it as an “however, whenever, wherever’ approach. This can lessen the lead time for an engagement and reduce the stress of a business feeling like they don’t have enough work, time, or money to engage a consultant.
Our CaaS Practice
For us, CaaS is about being customer-focused rather than product-engaged. Consultants should merge seamlessly with your business to meet your goals and just as seamlessly separate once complete. That’s our informal motto when we take on consultant roles – get in, get it done, get out.
We know that each business and organization, from time to time, needs help to hit their goals. We certainly do! You might not have the right tools in place. You may have broken processes or you don’t know what you’re doing and need a thinking partner. Or you have a project that is failing and you don’t know why. Maybe you want to start a new project and need some motivation to begin. All these scenarios are natural and healthy and are being experienced by more people than you can imagine on a daily basis.
With these scenarios in mind, we offer our expertise, knowledge and skill via flexible and adaptable arrangements we would like to access ourselves.
We recognize there is a vast middle ground between a specialized service for a specific detailed issue (e.g. install new CRM software) and a long-term meandering engagement. This is the ground we aim to cover.
Our services are designed to show you it is possible to get senior-level expertise in process improvement, operations support, and project management without stressing (too much) about the HOW.
As for the WHAT, we want to make miracles from peanuts, castles from bubbles, horizons from chewing gum. If you do too, consider us for your next great collaborative partner when looking to supplement and strengthen your team.