Consultant

This article is about professional consultants. For senior physician consultant, see Consultant (medicine). For other uses, see Consultant (disambiguation).

"Consultancy" redirects here. For companies, see Consulting firm.

A consultant (from Latin: consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also called Expert, Specialist) who provides advice and further purposeful activities in an area of specialization.

Consultant Peter Block defines a consultant as "someone who has influence over an individual, group, or organization, but who has no direct authority to implement changes." He contrasts this with a surrogate manager who is a person who "acts on behalf of, or in place of, a manager." The key difference is that a consultant never makes decisions for the individual or group, whereas a surrogate manager does make decisions.

Role of a consultant

The role of consultant outside the medical sphere (where the term is used specifically for a grade of doctor) can fall under one of two general categories:

• Internal consultant: someone who is employed by and operates within a client-organization; or
• External consultant: someone who is employed externally to the client (either by a consulting firm or some other agency) whose expertise is provided as part of a contract for a fee or rate.

Business case of a consultant

Traditionally, by hiring a consultant, clients have access to deeper levels of expertise than would be financially feasible for them to retain in-house on a long-term basis. Moreover, clients can control their expenditures on consulting services by only purchasing as much services from the outside consultant as desired. Additionally, consultants are key persons in creating strategies, leading change (e.g. digitalization), leadership coaching, interim management, etc.

Consultants provide their advice to their clients in a variety of forms. Reports and presentations are often used. However, in some specialized fields, the consultant may develop customized software or other products for the client. Depending on the nature or mandate of the consulting services and the wishes of the client, the advice from the consultant may be made public, by placing the report or presentation online, or the advice may be kept confidential (sometimes under a NDA), and only given to the senior executives of the organization.

Qualifications

There is no single qualification to becoming a consultant, other than those laid down in relation to medical, psychological and engineering personnel who have attained this level-degree in it or professional licenses, such as Chartered Engineer.

Consultants may hold undergraduate degrees, graduate degrees, professional degrees or professional designations pertaining to their field(s) of expertise. In some fields, a consultant may be required to hold certain professional licenses (e.g., a civil engineer providing consulting on a bridge project may have to be a professional engineer). In other types of consulting, there may be no specific qualification requirements. A legal consultant may have to be a member of the bar or hold a law degree. An accounting consultant may have to have an accounting designation, such as Chartered Accountant status. On the other hand, some individuals become consultants after a lengthy and distinguished career as an executive or political leader, so their management or government experience may be their main "credential", rather than a degree or professional designation. This leadership-transition often also leaves a personnel gap, where interim consultants provide services.

Accreditation

Various accreditation bodies for consultants exist today:

• The International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI)
• International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC)
• FEANI - European federation of professional engineers
• CIMC - Chartered Institute of Management Consultants (US)
• CMI - Chartered Management Institute (UK)
  • IC - Institute of Consulting (UK)
• Institute of Management Consultants (IMC USA)

Delivery of service

The range of areas of expertise covered by the term "consultant" is wide. One of the more common types is the management consultant. Consulting and the means by which the (external) consultant is engaged vary according to industry and local practice. However the principal difference between a consultant and a temp is generally one of direction. A consultant or temp is engaged to fulfill a brief in terms of helping to find solutions to specific issues but the ways in which that is to be done generally falls to the consultant to decide. An information systems or project management consultant is also referred as just a consultant who manages constraints such as budget and resources agreed with the client. An external consultant, on the other hand is normally fulfilling a non-employee role that usually exists within the organization and is helping to bridge a gap caused by staffing shortages, skills and expertise. They are directed by the normal management structure of the organization. There is, however, a hybrid form where a consultant may be hired as an interim manager or executive, bringing a combination of specialist expertise to bear on a role that is temporarily vacant (usually at a senior level).

A second difference is that temp is generally used for labor-oriented work whereas an external consultant is generally used for service-oriented work. Consultants and temps are those that work for clients. Both of them are non-employees of an organization and both work on the basis of contract terms. Some companies have employees of the company act as internal consultants and they provide cross-team advice. In most cases, however, employees of a company titled as consultants are those that work with the clients of that company and are external to the client. A manager at the client company, to whom the consultant or temp reports, does not have direct authority or responsibility over the outcome of the consultant's work because they are external and are providing a service to that company. As long they are external to the company/team they are consultants, but as soon as they join the company/team they become employees/team members and are given job titles based on their skills.

Some consultants are employed indirectly by the client via a consultancy staffing company, a company that provides consultants on an agency basis. The staffing company itself does not usually have consulting expertise but works rather like an employment agency. This form of working is particularly common in the ICT sector. Such consultants are often called "contractors" since they are usually providing technical services (such as programming or systems analysis) that could be performed in-house were it not easier for the employer to operate a flexible system of only hiring such technologists at times of peak workload rather than permanently.

While many consultants work for firms, there is also an increasing number of independent consultants. Many of these professionals also join networks or alliances that allow them to find collaborators and new clients.

Code of Ethics

Accredited associates in all field (incl. medical) can be bound by a Code of Ethics or Code of Conduct.

Guidelines

For management consultancy services, ISO 20700 standard has been available since 2017.

Work location

Though most of the research and analysis occurs at the consultants' offices (sometimes called back-office) or home-offices, in the case of smaller consulting firms, consultants typically work at the site of the client for at least some of the time. The person at client location is sometimes called a Resident. By spending time at the client's organization, the consultant is able to observe work processes, interview workers, managers, executives, board members, or other individuals, and study how the organization operates to provide hers or his services.

The governing factor on where a consultant works tends to be the amount of interaction required with other employees of the client. If a management consultant is providing advice to a software firm that is struggling with employee morale, absenteeism and issues with managers and senior engineers leaving the firm, the consultant will probably spend a good deal of time at the client's office, interviewing staff, engineers, managers and executives, and observing work processes. On the other hand, a legal consultant asked to provide advice on a specific property law issue might only have a few meetings at the client's office, and conduct the majority of his work at the consultant's office and in legal libraries.

Similarly, the growth of online, highly skilled consultant marketplaces has begun to grow. These online platforms provide consultants with experience working for typical consulting firms to easily transition into freelancing. This means that many consultants have become much more flexible in where they can work and the nature of their work.

Consulting areas and types

There exist various forms, types and areas or industries of consultants. The following list provides some examples:

Business (general)

• Business transformation consultants - Specialists in assisting business stakeholders to align the strategy and objectives to their business operations.
• Human resources (HR) consultants - Specialists who provide expertise around employment practice and people management.
• Interim managers - Often independent consultants who act as interim executives (CxO) with decision-making power under corporate policies or statutes. They may sit on specially constituted boards or committees.
• Process consultants - Specialists in the design or improvement of e.g. operational processes in specific sectors, e.g. medical industry
• Marketing consultants - Advisors around areas of product development and related marketing matters including marketing strategy.
• Public-relations (PR) consultants - Experts with public relations matters external to a client organization and are often engaged on a semi-permanent basis by larger organizations to provide input and guidance.
• Performance consultants - Consultants who focus on the execution of an initiative or overall performance of their client.
• Sales consultants - Professionals who focus on all levels of sales and marketing for the improvement of sales ROI, moving share from competition, etc.
• Strategy consultants (more generally known as Management consultants) - Professionals working on the development of and improvement to organizational strategy alongside senior management in many industries.
• Financial consultant - Providing financial advice and services to clients (individuals, small companies, large corporations, financial institutions, etc.)
• Project Management Professionals (PMP) and related (e.g. Program Management Professional, Risk Management Professionals) - Certified experts in project planning, execution and management.

Technology

• Engineering consultants - Engineering-Specialists (certified or years of experience) providing services such as design, supervision, execution, repair, operation, maintenance, technology, creation of drawings and specifications, etc. in various fields such as chemical, aerospace, automotive, etc.
• Information-technology (IT) consultants - Experts in Computer-technology disciplines such as computer hardware, software engineering, or networks.

Construction

• Architects - Specialists in building and constructions, e.g. Skyscrapers, Bridges (Structural engineer), etc.
• Property consultant - Advisor in property investments, buying/selling, etc.

Other areas

• Educational consultants - Assist students or parents in making educational decisions and giving advice in various issues, such as tuition, fees, visas, and enrolling in higher education.
• Immigration consultants - Help with the legal procedures of immigration from one country to another.

Legal & Politics

• Notary
• Political advisors
• Solicitors

Types of consultants

• Archaeological consultant
• Biotechnology consultant
• Cloud consultant
• Consultant (medicine)
• Consultant pharmacist
• Creative consultant
• Consulting psychology
• Design consultant
• Diversity consultant
• Digital consultant
• Educational consultant
• Elevator consultant
• Employment consultant
• Environmental consultant
• Faculty consultant
• Financial consultant
• Franchise consultant
• Foreclosure consultant
• Heritage consultant
• Hospitality consultant
• Human resources consultant
• Image consultant
• Immigration consultant
• Independent contractor
• Interim managers
• Information technology consultant
• Lactation consultant
• Legal nurse consultant
• Loss control consultant
• Lighting consultant
• Magic consultant
• Management consultant
• Market entry consultant
• Media consultant
• Medical practice consultant
• Museum consultant
• Performance consultant
• Political consultant
• Process consultant
• Professional engineering consultant
• Public relations consultant
• Sales consultant
• Statistical consultant
• Supply-chain consultant
• Tax advisor
• Theatre consultant
• Trial consultant
• Urban planner

Further reading

• CMI - Management Consulting Journal
• CMC - Management Consulting Journal
• Nissen, Volker, ed. Advances in Consulting Research: Recent Findings and Practical Cases. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2019. Print.
• Seebacher, Uwe G. Template-Based Management: A Guide for an Efficient and Impactful Professional Practice. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021. Print.

See also

• Adviser
• Contingent workforce
• Economic consulting
• Interim Management
• Project management
• Procurement
• IRS Reclassification
• Management consulting
• Permatemp
• Political consulting
• Public consultation
• Umbrella company