In the globally interconnected economy of today, companies across the spectrum of industry and business are consistently exploring ways to become more profitable and efficient. As per Kavan Choksi, one of the best ways to achieve this goal would be to hire a business consultant. These professionals have the knowledge and expertise required to develop strategies designed to help organizations grow and succeed. Companies of varying sizes and types across the world depend on business consultants. Right from organizations that have been around for decades to startups just getting ready to launch, business consultants can help companies at any stage.
Kavan Choksi provides insight into the role and duties of business consultants
The role of business consultants can be fairly expensive in nature. They may find ways to improve the cash flow of a company, or work on an organization-specific challenge with on-boarding new employees. Overall, the day-to-day work of business consultants can significantly vary depending on the specific needs of their clients. They typically:
- Facilitate meetings and workshops
- Manage projects
- Roll out change initiatives and monitor their implementation
- Conduct research, analyse data and prepare forecasts
- Design new products, solutions or services and create budgets
- Develop strategies and recommendations for improvement for the business
- Offer training, on-boarding, resources and ongoing support to staff and leadership
- Provide fresh perspective to the business and be the unbiased pair of fresh eyes
- Identify growth and progress blockers, and subsequently devise actionable solutions to eliminate them
Business consultants try their best to take time and gain a good understanding of the specific challenges faced by their client’s enterprise. They keep abreast of broader industry trends and conditions, and try to empower the clients with strategic solutions over short-, medium- and long-term horizons. For instance, in case a client’s company is undergoing a major pivot strategy like launching a new product or entering new markets, business consultants shall provide impartial and invaluable advice to ensure the success of the initiative. The nature of the role and duties of a business consultant often changes and evolves over time, based on the scope of the engagement, the phase of the project, the needs of the clients and more.
In the opinion of Kavan Choksi, business consultants often address common challenges like miscommunication and misaligned goals within organizations. Such issues typically come up due to the departmentalization of teams, leading to fragmented objectives that do not always connect seamlessly with the overall business strategy, which is typically focused on increasing revenue and maximizing profit. Even when a team leader maintains a strong focus on the big picture, other team members may not share the same perspective. This misalignment can hinder productivity and impact overall success. To resolve this problem, business consultants make use of various strategies to bridge the gap between team-specific goals and company-wide objectives. They facilitate better communication and ensure that everyone is working towards the same end goal. Business consultants also might provide guidance on selecting the right tools to streamline workflows and, more importantly, help shift mindsets in order to create a more collaborative environment. They try to identify dysfunctional areas in a business and subsequently transform them into functional, productive components.
