The Covid-19 pandemic has severely hit all businesses, and the consulting industry has not been resistant to it. It is said that many current business decisions are being made by companies pulling an idea out of a hat without the proper planning or analyses to create more accurate results. This is why consulting is essential since it allows an experienced and outside eye to help dictate the potential outcome of a choice that is required to be made. However, consulting firms also need to change up their systems to keep up with the changing times of many businesses going online. This can be seen as the basis of Consulting 2.0.
What Is Consulting 2.0?
Through his analysis on Consulting Centrale, Hassan Fadhil Al-Shama mentions that “[Consulting 2.0] can be made with artificially intelligent and smart technology.” This can mean that Consulting 2.0 is a blend of new technology with old school consulting. It can allow consultants to work from all around the world with the tools, methods, means, and access to companies that many freelance consultants do not have. Working remotely allows the professionals to be more flexible as well as for the firms to have a wider reach in terms of potential income. Plus, the firms can also expand their employment reach, allowing for a diverse and international collection of employees.
Another side of consulting before using the methods of Consulting 2.0, according to Hassan Fadhil Al-Shama, Founder and President of HYLMAN and Consulting Centrale, “the stress of working day and night sometimes has determination and ambition side effects.” This can mean that many full time and long term consultants end up feeling worn out due to the influx of consulting projects they have to do at the same time. Doing a lot and often under strict deadlines or conditions can have adverse work outcomes. This, in turn, can lead to clients becoming unhappy with the results, creating a type of catch 22, where the hard works do not pay off.
Therefore, and as indicated by Hassan Fadhil Al-Shama in his piece on Tomorrow’s Generation Corporate Environment, combing the new with the old would allow the professionals to be “their own boss” where the quality of work and solutions are more important than the amount of work that one does. Here the consultants would have more time and resources to figure out potential outcomes and scenarios of events with a substantially higher level of efficiency and present possible solutions in greater detail.
The Future is Now
While the current time seems uncertain, it also makes it a great moment to move forward and use Consulting 2.0. Technology has opened the doors for diversity and gave more attention to time and clients. Consulting 2.0 is also able to reduce employee’s stress and anxiety, making them want to stay in the firm autonomously for longer. As explained by Hassan Fadhil Al-Shama in “Resolving Obsoletism for the Effective Consulting of Tomorrow,” people in normal firms would quit after a short period, especially young graduates of today, because they are not well-equipped to handle the workload and inflexibility any longer. A happy and experienced workforce could yield more positive results.