There are different kinds of business consultants elevating companies in various areas in multiple industries. Not all consultants are generalists. Generalist consultants provide all types of consulting services. Whereas, specialized consultants concentrate on a specific industry and business area and help businesses to grow and prosper.
Any company can face difficulty in a particular field of work. When business owners or entrepreneurs cannot find a way out they seek guidance to channel their business operations in the right direction. On the other hand, some companies face difficulties in multiple business areas, and in the end, the whole company and its systems break down.
Consulting is a versatile field and the consulting business ideas tend to be highly scalable. If you are planning to start a consulting business or you are about to start the business then you might need a consultant to get effective recommendations.
No consultant is an expert in everything, it is important to find a niche depending on your background and preferences. Narrow down your services and target the most relevant audience in different ways.
Successful consultants usually build a strong background by working in a specific role or industry for several years. They are well aware of the challenges and advantages in that particular role and industry.
Don’t worry the consulting industry is one of the most diverse markets within the service industry. Thus, you will manage to choose a suitable type or genre of consulting for yourself.
We are here to mention and describe 15 types of consulting services so that you can read and evaluate to choose one or two types of consulting services for integrating into your business plan.
However, it is important to discuss a couple of things about the core aspects of consulting with relevant statistics and proper reasonings. We will also provide a clear picture of the consulting industry in India. So without wasting any more time, let’s explore.
Current Scenario of Consulting Market in India
Before heading towards building a business, conducting thorough market research will help you to determine essential elements. It is important to know the current trends and scenarios of a market. Based on statistics you can take the steps that are intended to land the foundation of a business. So what is the current scenario of the consulting market and industry in India? What do the statistics say? Is it the right time to start a business in the consulting industry? Well, finding out the statistics will help you get an idea of the current scenario.
Over the years, the consulting industry in India has seen substantial growth in terms of size and service offerings. The demand for specialized consulting services has increased among Indian customers.
Due to consistently increasing demand, there are now over 10,000 big and small consulting firms in India. Most of them are in the four metropolitan cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. The country has 2000 R&D institutions and laboratories for supporting consulting firms in India.
Researchers have identified certain advantageous traits in Indian consulting firms.
- Low investment business models.
- High-profit margins.
- Integration of advanced technologies.
- Diverse consulting projects.
- Constant scope of exploration and improvisation.
- Industry quality solutions.
- High adaptability.
- Availability of a wide array of consulting services.
- Global connections.
- High turnover.
The Core Concept of Consulting Services
Consulting firms acquire projects and work with their clients to address and resolve issues in organizations. They observe, collect and evaluate a company’s information to offer the best course of action. The consultants are hired usually to solve problems, tackle challenges and grow a business with suitable advice.
Consulting Industry in India
We have broken down the layout of the consulting industry in India into 3 different sections and these are ‘Purpose’, ‘Strength’, and ‘Trends’. This will help the readers to get in-depth knowledge in a simplified manner.
Purpose of Consulting Industry
The consulting firms help organizations in the following ways:
- The consulting firms help organizations identify and grab the scope of opportunities for business expansion.
- Some consulting services are designed to diagnose the issues and challenges faced by the companies.
- The consultants help businesses to enhance their performance by improving business operations.
- Consultants also help companies to innovate products and services.
Strength of Consulting Industry
The demand for consulting firms in India is already growing. Some strengths are mentioned that set consulting services apart from others in India.
- Low-cost service and structure.
- Professional competence.
- Focused approach.
- Expertise in diverse areas.
- Usage of knowledge management tools.
- Accurate data generation.
- Applying best practices.
- Strong interpersonal skills.
- High rate of acceptability to customers’ requirements and expectations.
- A constant process of learning.
- Flexibility in handling complex projects.
- The great capability of understanding businesses.
Trends in The Consulting Industry
Every country has its own trends. Three major trends in the nation will redesign the consulting industry in India.
- Rise of digital transformation and integration of automated technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) etc. The consulting firms in India are grabbing the scope of growth by progressing in technology and science.
- The demand for short-term employees and contractors has increased. That is why consultants are offering solutions for smaller projects with fewer objectives at reasonable fees.
- The consulting firms are working in order to provide value for money. That is why they are acquiring projects that have performance-based payments.
Why are Consulting Services Important?
In simple words, businesses want consultants on board whenever they need to take a new step. Business owners are prone to avoid any sort of uncertainty to reduce the chances of risks and they want assurance for making changes. Consulting services are the best for receiving navigation that can keep an organization out of trouble and on the right track.
15 Types of Consulting Service
Now it is time to know the 15 different types of popular consulting services that are available in India. We will discuss those consultants and their services so let’s begin…
1. Strategy Consulting
Strategic consultants give strong perspectives from a new point of view. The services are developed to align the company’s vision by proposing various strategies. The service is one of the broadest divisions in this profession. Although, there are options to choose a specific sector or role.
The requirement to become a strategy consultant varies depending on specialty and the issues. The services focus on strategic topics for implementation purposes. Strategic consultants provide upper-level executives and managers because they are the highest-paid consultants that have a broad spectrum of subject matters.
2. Marketing Consulting
This type of consulting service is designed to enhance brand recognition and increase the revenue of entities. The marketing consultants suggest different sorts of marketing strategies, techniques, and campaigns. They help to determine the right channels for running marketing campaigns efficiently. As a result, businesses build a strong ability to communicate with the right target audience.
There are tons of areas in the field of marketing. They provide useful metrics to identify and understand consumer behavior. The demographics help to understand competitors as well, which makes running campaigns easier. The marketing consultants are considered the thought leaders, and experts to grab the market.
3. Business Setup Consulting
Business setup consultants provide unique kinds of services. The services encompass the installation of physical infrastructure and legal procedures for different locations. To build a business there must be essential elements to create a well-structured business foundation. Business setup consultants usually get hired by the new businesses who are planning to arrange the right kind of setup.
The necessity occurs in the initial stage of building a business. Sometimes existing companies plan to relocate or spread their branches in different geographic locations, and at that point in time business setup consulting services are required. These consultants also help in choosing the right legal entity that will suit their clients’ business model, products, and services.
4. Startup Consulting
Startup consultants especially work for startup businesses. The startups are their targeted clients because these consultants are specialized in building and supporting startup businesses. Startup businesses need eminent innovative factors which require a lot of investment. Startup entrepreneurs are usually risk-takers and innovators to introduce new concepts and launch new products and services.
In most cases, startups do not have a proper existing market for their innovation, so sustaining this type of business is often challenging. That is when the need for startup consulting services rises. The startup consultants deliver methods that help startups to sustain in business while experimenting.
5. Financial Consulting
Financial consulting services simply help businesses to make better financial decisions. Financial consultants have expertise in improving the financial planning processes of a business. Big companies have complex financing factors and that is why it is confusing to handle all the financial aspects accurately. By hiring a financial consultant a business can maximize and protect its profitability.
These consultants help big corporations to navigate a specific difficult financial situation. Financial consultants specialize in several roles like fundraising, economics, accounting, investment consulting, and many more. The consultants must have analytical capabilities with a strong sense of finance. Overall, the financial consultants manage the finance of a business by providing recommendations.
6. Operation Consulting
The operation consulting services are meant for improving and adjusting business operations that happen daily in an organization. The improvement of business operations naturally escalates the productivity level. The service is also taken by the businesses for quality check, to keep control over the quality of the products and services. The operation consultants suggest ways that increase the overall efficiency of an organization. Cost-effective business operations are also suggested by operation consultants.
A business may have a gap in skill, knowledge, resources, or workflow. In such situations, operation consultants bring new methods and processes for carrying out business operations. As a result, the overall performance increases in an organization. The operation consultants conduct thorough research of a business and take out necessary data to find out the existing issues.
7. HR Consulting
HR consulting is also known as Human Resource consulting. Remember, management consulting and HR consulting are two different types of services. It is because the HR consultants only look after the human resource department of a company. The consulting service involves improving the recruitment process of a company. Although the primary focus is to bind together all the employees of a company to enhance teamwork.
A company must have understanding and cooperation among employees to avoid disruption within an organization. Working in a synchronized manner is really essential for carrying out day-to-day business operations. In simple words, the HR consultants get hired to enhance the human resource department for meeting its objectives. The service helps businesses to transform work culture and improve talent management.
8. IT Consulting
IT consulting services are created particularly for the Information Technology industry. The consultants provide industry-based services. The IT consultants majorly focus on technological advancement. With suitable solutions, the IT consultants bridge the gap between the practical application of technology and the strategic objectives.
These consultants are hired by the IT companies to evaluate the efficiency of the software and technology. The professional experts suggest changes to ensure all the systems are functioning accurately. The IT consultants also help businesses to build and implement strict security systems to protect the networks and systems in the field of cybersecurity. These consultants are great in computer technology and science. Some major roles are:
- Software implementation consultation.
- Cyber security consultation.
- Technological advancement consultation.
- Fixation of technical error consultation.
9. Career Consulting
Sometimes career consultants are referred to as career coaches. These consultants are usually not for businesses. The consultants mostly deal with careerist individuals who are seeking guidance in building a career. Career consultants help their clients to identify their skills and passion to guide them in their careers.
Aspiring entrepreneurs also seek for career coaches to build a successful business or choose a beneficial profession for themselves. It helps individuals to walk in the right direction in order to build a successful career in the near future. Some clients do hire them for enhancing their personal life as well.
10. PR Consulting
The term PR stands for Public Relation. It is quite a popular profession these days so most people will be familiar with it. Public Relation consulting services mainly concentrate on improving a brand’s reputation and image. The presence of a brand carries an image, the PR consultants provide strategic solutions that help to build and protect a positive brand image of an entity.
The services shape the way the audience views a company and its products, services, employees, and owners. It is done by writing press releases, building effective campaigns, and conducting surveys but consultants only offer suggestions and their role is to determine the right ways and focal points in such tasks. As a result, the reach of a company’s brand presence extends.
11. Management Consulting
People often get confused between management consulting and HR consulting. There is so much misleading information on the internet. HR consulting particularly focuses on the roles of Human resource management and no other form of management of a business. Management consulting looks after the overall system and process of a business. It also includes consultation on inventory management.
The management terminology is quite broad and every business has different aspects to be managed. Consultants with vast practical experience in management involve themselves in consulting business for managing different areas and concerns of a company. The services are developed to focus on all sorts of organizational concerns from strategy to various elements. It can also include human resource management as the term ‘management’ refers to all things in businesses.
12. Leadership Consulting
The term ‘leadership consulting’ is self-explanatory. Every business has a hierarchy on which an organization regulates. The individuals usually at the top of the hierarchy need to have strong leadership skills. For example, the Founder, CEO, CFO, head of a department or branch, and senior and managing heads. Without proper leadership skills, it is impossible to maintain satisfactory business operations and results.
Consultants usually work with various companies and they hold expertise in certain subject matters. Consultants have leadership skills and that is why they are able to give expert advice to the businesses. For all these reasons, companies hire consultants to get leadership consulting services. The leadership consultants act as mentors to executive team members for building leadership skills in them.
13. Compliance Consulting
Companies need to adhere to various kinds of laws and regulations for keeping a presence in the industry. They often struggle to follow complex methodologies and processes. To avoid any legal error companies hire compliance consultants. The services help businesses to go through the complicated and lengthy legal registration process and permits easily. Compliance consulting services keep companies away from legal trouble.
14. Business Consulting
Business consulting services often get confused with other forms of consulting services. The business consulting services can be considered as the assistance to build a business so that the enterprise can thrive in the industry. Business consultants take care of all the aspects of a business to achieve its long-term goals and short-term objectives. The consultants provide a wide range of solutions in different areas of a business. They assist in optimizing internal workflow to get the best outcomes.
15. Sales Consulting
Sales consultants provide services that help to increase a company’s revenue. More sales means more earnings. These consultants have expertise in interpersonal relationships and negotiation. They evaluate the sales process from the perspective of customers and develop strategies that can boost sales. They encourage the sales team to deliver better performance. The service involves researching previous sales funnels and suggesting effective changes in the elements.
Conclusion
This last section will summarize the whole article. We have discussed a lot of things so let’s make some points for simplification. So we have covered:
- Overall introductory brief on diverse consultants and consulting services.
- Current scenario of consulting market in India.
- The core concept of consulting services.
- Purpose of consulting industry.
- Strength of the consulting industry.
- The trend in the consulting industry.
- Importance of consulting services.
- Types of consultants and their services.
Now readers have gained an overall idea about the industry, service, and the profession. It is your time to choose the best-suited consulting career for yourself. Good luck to you all!
