A consulting agency or consulting company is a company whose employees have expert knowledge in the field of certain business processes and are ready to provide them to clients for a piece or fixed fee. There are also many private specialists working here, they can provide services as a general management and some specialized consulting.
A consulting company can provide services to everyone (they are called external or independent) or work with a limited number of clients. In the second case, such firms are called internal, as most often they are a structural subdivision of a corporation or a group of companies.
As for the process of cooperation between a consulting firm and a client company, it consists of the following stages of work:
The first stage is familiarization and preparatory. In the course of it the representatives of the client tell about their goals and problems, which they would like to solve with the help of consulting. Often for this purpose they fill out a brief, and representatives of the consulting company make a presentation of their capabilities and advantages.
After a preliminary interview, experts and clients conclude a contract, which specifies a detailed list of services provided, the responsibilities of both parties, the terms of work, the terms of early termination of the contract and other nuances.
At the third stage, the experts of the consulting company collect and analyze data about the client company and its business processes. This helps them to identify existing problems and find ways to solve them.
The fourth stage of cooperation is considered the main one, during which the experts work on solving the identified problems and achieving the goals set by the customer. The plan of action at this stage directly depends on the chosen method of consulting: for example, in addition to finding solutions, experts can be engaged in their implementation and training of employees of the client company.
At the final stage, the experts of the consulting agency provide the customer with a report on the work done and jointly summarize the results of their cooperation. If all activities have been performed in accordance with the terms of the contract and the customer is satisfied with the result obtained, the companies make final financial settlements and finalize their cooperation.