Lila OurariThe past year has brought its share of disruption to most industries, and the consulting profession has not been immune. With the health crisis accelerating the use of new technologies in the workplace, consultants have been forced to adapt to their clients’ data, digital and strategic needs to survive amidst the chaos.
The BRIDGR Insights team was honored to speak with four consulting industry experts about the impact technology is having on the profession in an ever-changing world.
The job of a consultant!
The consultant or advisor is an indispensable companion to any professional who wishes to achieve ambitions for which he or she does not possess the necessary tools.
According to Ghani Kolli, CEO and founder of HumanYo+Impact, a design and strategic alignment firm, this profession, like all others, comes with its share of daily challenges.
Everything is a challenge in our business. We encounter discomfort from our clients, in general, when faced with ambiguity and uncertainty. At the beginning, this creates a period of turbulence, but it is necessary for new ideas to emerge, new horizons of possibilities. We hope, however, that this discomfort becomes a normality and that is precisely what we do: equip entrepreneurs and business leaders to be at ease with uncertainty and comfortable with ambiguity.
Ghani Kolli, CEO and founder of HumanYo+Impact
The acceleration of technological progress puts many business leaders in this uncertainty, even if it is not the only cause. The new developments and especially the wide variety of options available to them make them feel helpless and often incomprehensible.
That’s why many advisors like Mr. Kolli work hard to offer their clients the best options to help them succeed. By doing so, they ensure they are always on top of things and make digital transformation their ally.
The consultant facing the digital transformation
Many consulting firms never thought they could ever operate 100% remotely and through technology. However, today I see it with my own company. We are able to work as before and with the greatest of ease because we have managed to tame the digital and make it a strength!
Louis J. Duhamel, President of LJD Conseils inc.
In addition to surviving “remote work” and making it a strength, many consulting firms have also transformed their operations and processes to best meet the rapidly changing needs of their clients. This is what Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, an accounting and tax consulting firm, has done.
We are an accounting firm at heart. Everything related to accounting services is changing and we have integrated several digital tools into our operations to support the execution of mandates, the transfer of information and client contacts. We have also implemented a new ERP in the last few years to support our operational processes. We are also looking to integrate advanced business development tools. And this, while remaining concerned and integrating technologies to protect data.
Nancy Jalbert, Associate, Management consultant, Raymon Chabot Grant Thornton
On the other hand, Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton has relied on technology to develop multiple services to support its clients in achieving their business objectives. Whether it is to reflect on their digital plan, select and implement tools, develop artificial intelligence models or protect their data. The company also supports its clients in assessing their digital maturity and determines a game plan with them.
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A forward-thinking role
Consulting firms that specialize in digital transformation have to present themselves as catalysts that are always on the lookout for technological and strategic innovations. This is often not an easy task in a world that is carried along by technological advances.
Générateurs d’Envies is a firm that accompanies its clients in their digital transformation throughout their value chain.
Digital transformation is sometimes a complex subject, which we approach mainly through the technological axis and business use cases. Technological progress is perceived by the Générateurs d’Envies teams as progress, expanding the field of possibilities each time.
Pierre-Yves Mathon, Associate Générateurs d’Envies
Firms with the same mandate as this one offer to be scouts for their clients. Their main goal is to analyze all the possibilities that technology can offer and make it a major asset in the success of their projects.
Technology, an ally of the consultant?
Today, digital tools are developed to assist humans and make their work much more enjoyable.
With this in mind, BRIDGR has created an intuitive digital maturity tool based on artificial intelligence. This tool provides advisors with a complete diagnosis of their client’s technology level as well as a set of recommendations and actions to follow to improve their level.
The experts are talking about it:
Using a digital maturity tool with our clients allows us to quickly detect where they are at and to quickly take action to accelerate their transformation. RCGT is at the heart of Quebec’s economic development, at the heart of SME development. An analysis tool allows us to be at the forefront of their transformation.
Nancy Jalbert, Associate, Management consultant, Raymon Chabot Grant Thornton
The principle of questioning allows us to bring our clients to understand themselves the technological challenge of digital technology and its impact on their business and their organization. The use of a tool like this during our workshops has already allowed us to bring out concrete avenues of improvement or innovation around the “products and services” couple.
Pierre-Yves Mathon, Associate Générateurs d’Envies
Read also: Now is the time to update your technologies
Ghani Kolli adds that in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty, it’s reassuring to know where the client is now, especially in terms of its digital transformation. This allows the consultant to capture, quickly and simply, a freeze-frame while projecting into the future to see where the client wants to go or should go. The tool allows, especially if several members of the same organization complete it, to tell the “movie”, the “storytelling” of the transformation to be undertaken with the client. Obviously, the human side of technology is the one that interests the consultant the most. Mr. Kolli and his colleagues realize that any digital transformation project that is not based on the human side of things is unlikely to succeed. They take up the challenge of accompanying them on this essential, if not indispensable, aspect.
In conclusion!
The advance of digital technology has allowed us to lower all the barriers that were holding us back from doing better before the crisis!
Louis J. Duhamel, President of LJD Conseils inc.
The current context has allowed the consulting profession to spread its wings, which were previously bound by ways of doing things to which humans had become accustomed and which they found very difficult to see disappear for fear of losing control.
Technology has restored the image of consultants, who have found in it a friend, an ally on which they can rely to strengthen their activities and especially their client relationships.
In the future, will technological progress continue to be an ally or will it represent a threat to this indispensable profession?
Meriem-Sabah Ferroukhi