We reflect on today’s biggest business challenges and how this new model provides companies what traditional consulting cannot.
Many major traditional consulting firms have begun a race to broaden their model and adapt to a new style of consulting: agile consulting. But why is agile consulting gaining ground over traditional consulting?
First and foremost, today’s business environment presents unprecedented volatility.
Market disruptions are occurring faster and more frequently than ever before. Change is already part of today’s business environment, present in new developmental constants such as digitalization, the transition to a sustainable model or internationalization. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
In the last year alone, our global community has been impacted by the war in Ukraine, the emergence of metaverses and a radical shift in the post-pandemic workforce, among many other issues. In the present we are witnessing the beginning of the AI technology revolution, global changes in the face of an incipient recession and a complete rearticulation of international energy geopolitics.
Today more issues than ever determine a business’s success, and many companies are turning to consultants to support them on all these fronts, helping them mitigate risks and generate opportunities. However, these very same companies are looking for immediate results in a world of constant change, thus prompting the race to adapt to the agile consulting model.
In the context where real-time adaptability is more critical than ever, agile, fast and flexible consulting becomes the logical evolution to fulfill these emerging needs.
The most recent approaches of large consulting firms include adding new services to their portfolio and even increasing their staff, both which can hardly be supported by the preexisting structure of their model, nor do they achieve the characteristics of real agile consulting. And now, the why: How is the agile methodology different from traditional consulting?
Traditional consulting is a marathon. It employs a structured approach where a team of consultants comes in, assesses the current situation and develops a plan to solve a problem. These consultants work at large scale and may spend weeks or even months analyzing data and making recommendations, which concludes with a report that lays out a long-term strategy. It is a very costly approach that seeks to achieve long-term development.
Agile consulting, on the other hand, occurs in large sprints. It operates in real time, being more flexible, immediate and specialized. It combines the strategic dimension of a traditional consultancy with the specialization and dynamism that comes from relying on external specialists from a marketplace. Instead of spending months gathering data and studying the company as a whole, it locates and partners with specialized experts to meet specific, high-impact objectives. The great advantage of the model is that it provides a huge cost-effective boost to meet a business’s goals whether in project delivery, decision making or strategic planning.
Agile consulting is gaining momentum in the business development industry because it is designed from the ground up to meet the emerging needs of its clients, when they need it.
Traditional consulting can still provide a long-scale strategy for investing in long-term growth. However, in today’s climate, many companies are looking for adaptability and rapid momentum for their specific projects, which makes agile consulting the most effective option. This is why, upon understanding the opportunity the model presents, large consulting firms have moved on to pursue the complicated goal of delivering innovative agile consulting from their classic traditional model.
At Gain we understand that agile consulting is still a new concept and we have a long way to go in the sector; nevertheless, we are also firm in our belief that growth begins at the finish line, and our path will be made by walking the walk.
