Success Factors for Consulting Services

1) Knowledge capital
Nowadays, renowned consulting firms have built massive knowledge assets to conduct their business effectively and efficiently. These firms all have a powerful consulting methodology (as examples, Deloitte's value-driven approach and Capgemini's Collaborative Business Experience), which is believed to be one of the core competencies of being successful in the consulting industry.

These intangible assets are comprised of three elements. The first includes general consulting methodologies, models, and tools that allow consultants to build requirement models and implementation plans accurately and promptly. Another is the industry knowledge that aids in having a better understanding of customers' businesses. And finally, there are the project management experiences that reduce project risks and ensure on-time delivery.

2) Human capital
Consulting is probably one of the few industries that rely on human capital development the most. It's not a surprise to see how actively the top consulting firms compete to acquire the most talented people, and to provide sophisticated programs to help employees to grow.Some consulting firms are working creatively to develop their people. In 2007, Accenture published a book titled Return on Learning, which tells the story of how the company reignited learning for a whole new generation of its people, including details about its award-winning study and demonstrating the return it makes on its learning investment. "Your Accenture Education experience begins the first day you walk through the door, and continues each day of your career. Every step of the way you're learning, growing, and building yourself—getting ready to meet the next challenge that comes your way," [1] states the training and development section on the company's web site. Nevertheless, the highly competitive work environment itself is already a great place to learn and grow.

3) Creativity
IT plays an important role in how companies manage their business in response to instant changes. In today's business environment, simply adopting an ERP system associated with predefined best practices may improve operation performance, but may hardly confer competitive advantages. The value that a consulting firm brings to its clients should not be limited to regular project planning and delivery. The ability to inspire clients to practice better but different ways of doing business and to support those differentiations through ERP implementation has become the dividing line between good consulting firms and mediocre ones.

The first time I visited a global consulting company's Toronto office, its kindergarten-like appearance didn't allow me to make a connection between the company's image in my mind and what I saw. Later on, after participating in a brainstorming session, I had to agree that this ambiance did help people to think more freely and differently.