Originally published July 28, 2016 , updated on September 13, 2024
The consulting industry is delightfully complex. Perhaps that is what makes it a highly sought after career for so many people with expert knowledge of any particular business field. In fact, aspirations of becoming a management consultant may even be the driving force behind the quest for knowledge and constant learning.
Management consultants are highly sought-after by hundreds of companies spread across several industries. There is one simple reason for that:
They offer much-needed advice that can turn a business from drab to fab (in a financial sense, of course).
Top 5 Types of Consulting
There are 5 major fields in management consulting that are highly sought after. Understandably, Fortune 1000 executives are only willing to part with their hard-earned funds for specific types of information.
The following are the consulting fields that executives are investing in most frequently:
1.Strategy:
BCG, McKinsey and Bain are three of the most well-known consultancy firms specialising in strategy. In its purest form, people know strategy consulting as “management consulting”. Consultants in this particular branch of the field work closely with the CEO and senior management members to solve specific strategic problems. For example a decline in profitability, hiccoughs in growth strategy, flimsy market entry, overly slow product development, or responding to competitive threats.
2. Operations Consulting:
Operations consultants focus on helping clients to improve existing operations. In the same vein, they tend to work on projects relating to supply chain management. This would include simplifying and improving procurement as well as boosting manufacturing efficiency.
3. Information Technology:
Organisations are almost constantly looking for digital solutions that will certainly help them compete in an increasingly competitive, technologically advanced environment. IT consultants have the skills required to develop bespoke software solutions. So they improve efficiency and performance.
4. Human Resources:
It comes as no surprise that the biggest expenses in many firms are their wages. Of course, employees should be viewed as a company’s biggest asset… and therein lies the conundrum. Balancing expense and value isn’t something that occurs automatically. And that is where HR consultants come in. HR consultants help organisations to attract the right sort of applicants and then continue the process by selecting, training, compensating, and assessing employees after the initial application is complete.
5. Economic:
Government and law firms generally hire economic consultants. Their goal is to provide economic forecasts and expert evidence, according to the client’s requirements, based on statistical analysis and econometric models.