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What is the difference between business consulting and management consulting?
A consultancy is a popular option for businesses that could use short-term expertise in a particular area without wishing to commit additional staff members.
A common question that clients have when considering hiring consultancy input is whether to opt for business consulting or management consulting. Although the two roles have similarities and overlaps, they are different.
Business Consulting
Although some people use the terms’ business consulting’ and ‘management consulting’ interchangeably, it tends to be the case that business consulting relates to business processes (which might include production, HR, finance, or buildings maintenance), whereas management consulting will focus on people and the less quantifiable parts of the business (for example, culture, vision, strategic objectives, delivering change, planning, managing expansion, and growth).
Some of the key characteristics of business consulting are:
- Business consulting is often used during the early phases of a business start-up or when a period of growth is planned. A business consultant can ensure that the right processes are in place to enable a company to work effectively, legally, and in an organised manner. When growth occurs, a business consultant can assist the organisation in developing the capacity needed to deliver it effectively.
- Consultants delivering business consultancy frequently have expertise at an operational level and significant technical knowledge. This means the assistance they give is tailored to the needs of each business.
- Business consultants can objectively appraise the current systems and then develop ways of improving them, often without spending significantly more. Suppose you need an individual to check your Health & Safety compliance, ensure that your systems can handle Data Protection correctly or that your marketing is as good as possible. In that case, a business consultant can make it happen.
- Business consultants may also work with business owners rather than senior managers. They bring a broad, well-informed view of the market and external variables, enabling them to advise owners on what direction might yield the most significant profits.
Management Consulting
Management consultants often work with the senior management team, helping them plan the organisation’s future and work out how to keep core values intact, despite expansion and change. There is frequently a significant strategic planning element to the work of management consultants. They may assist in developing strategy at the corporate level or simply developing a plan to deliver a particular project.
Some key characteristics of management consultants include:
- They often play a crucial role in risk management. While there is a need to reduce risk at an operational level, management consultants will tend to concentrate on the risks a business might face at a corporate level. They assist senior managers in identifying and managing risk, helping to equip the business with the resilience it needs to survive.
- These consultants often have a training and coaching role while with an organisation. This may involve working with individual managers or entire workplace teams. Particularly when an organisation is attempting to embed a new culture or way of working, management consultants will frequently facilitate a suitable training plan to ensure everyone ends up on the same page
- Although it’s not absolute, management consultants tend to work with larger organisations. This is usually because steering a larger company is more complex and multi-faceted than managing a smaller business. Larger organisations may also need more assistance in embedding new systems and processes. These may require significant investment, so ensuring they’re fit for purpose is a priority!
