Is there a future for consultancy as we know it? - Re engineering the Advice Giving Industry – 1

In my blog of Tuesday, 31 May 2011 (see archive for details) I shared my personal conviction that the management consulting business model will be radically changed by “digitisation”.  Since then I have been keeping tabs on a number of “digital consulting solutions” in an attempt to spot trends and understand the developing market.  What I am learning is challenging me to deconstruct and rethink the processes for requesting and providing advice.   This short blog is the first in a series that will examine the future for the advice giving industry.

So first up, the big question is, should all consultants sleep safely in their beds and ignore the impact of the new digital capabilities?  Absolutely not.  Why?  Because of the growing wave of new digital service providers who are looking to link up those in need of advice or support with those capable of providing it.  These new providers are developing some unique and compelling propositions that could spell the beginning of the end for some of the traditional cosy consulting models by offering a potentially better quality of advice at a better price point than can be gained through the standard "request for proposal" avenues.  

New Models include:

1.       Ask your own digital network – (facebook, twitter, linkedin, google+ etc) – cheap as chips and can provide some good answers if the question is simple enough and straight forward enough e.g. – “Does anyone know of a good tool for doing process mapping?” – if your network is big enough the “wisdom of crowds” concept can come into play.  The challenge is being able to articulate a simple enough question - not as easy as it seems.

2.       Ask a specialist advice giving site – these come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes from the brilliant and addictive fivesquids http://www.fivesquids.co.uk/ where people will provide you with all manner of advice and services for just £5 to the much more sensible Know How Mart http://www.knowhowmart.com/ which hooks up business executives who want to chat through a challenge with a relevant global expert.  It’s a kind of cross between ebay and match.com. Sites such as Know How Mart are generally better able to provide better advice when the problem is ill defined and in need of refinement.   The big advantage of these sites is that they can make use of global experts who are keen to work on a portfolio basis rather than full-time.

Now the intriguing thing about these models is that through the use of digital media clients can now  access truly global experts and purchase their “expertise” in micro packets of time.  I can’t believe that this won’t become an increasingly popular way of purchasing advice giving services over the next 5 austere years.  So, going back to the big question, "how will the traditional consulting companies (who run the risk of being disintermediated by these new sites) respond?"  Watch this space

More in the next blog