What is Consulting 2.0?
At the pace of modern innovation, to maintain a competitive edge, companies need on-demand access to specialized expertise. It’s no longer sufficient to throw smart, but inexperienced, people onto a complex problem. Digital connectedness, combined with the rapid migration of top talent into freelance consulting, allows business leaders to find someone who’s already solved their exact problems before.
Welcome to the era Catalant calls Consulting 2.0. It’s a modern, digitally-enabled approach to solving complex business problems, giving leaders (even those outside of the C-suite) direct access through a technology platform to the expertise of business professionals who have the skills required to drop in on demand and execute strategic work.
Consulting 2.0 unbundles work and democratizes access
Consulting 2.0 is agile, flexible, and driven by technology. Projects are right-sized to fit the problem at hand. Unbundling traditional consulting enables companies to move more quickly. Clients are utilizing Consulting 2.0 in three key ways:
- Independent consultants on scoped deliverable work
- Project managers and interim executives for functional expertise and transformation work
- Custom teams of independent consultants specifically tailored for your scope of work. Teams are led by former MBB senior consultants supported by experienced operators with relevant industry expertise.
Utilizing a technology platform enhanced by experienced senior project advisors, matching algorithms scan over 100,000 business consultants to identify prospective candidates within 24 to 48 hours. These consultants are former senior operators, consultants, and SMEs who have solved your specific problem before. Accessible even beyond the C-suite, many leaders within an organization are empowered to leverage Consulting 2.0 for precision problem solving.
How Consulting 2.0 offers more value to clients
Consulting 2.0 is a digitally enabled form of consulting, suited for an interconnected world. It’s access to professionals who are not just “career advisors.” Former consultants, operators, subject-matter experts, academics, and classically trained project leaders are all in demand in a world where having solved a particular problem before brings tremendous value. How does this value translate to clients?
1. It’s flexible
Consulting 2.0 allows companies to find and hire just the amount of expertise needed, whether that’s 1 person for a week, 10 for a year, or anything in between. Short or long, large or small – it’s all possible.
2. It’s fit to need
Consulting 2.0 takes an unbundled approach. Breaking down a problem into component parts means being able to find specialized experience for each aspect of a project. You can find a former consultant, someone who has worked in an operating role, or a specific SME who has solved a similar problem to what you’re facing.
3. It’s fast
In a fast-changing world, speed is the differentiator that exceptional companies possess. With access to a consulting network, vs. being locked in with a single firm, you can find someone within hours and have them working on your problem the next day.
4. It’s fair and transparent
With an unbundled, networked approach, most of the money goes straight into the pocket of the person doing the work, reducing the feeling clients often have of paying junior resources for ‘on-the-job training’ or lining partner’s pockets.
What is Catalant’s role in the movement?
Over the last ten years, Catalant has built an industry-leading platform to quickly pair highly experienced independent consultants with companies to solve precise problems. We’ve vetted tens of thousands of former consultants, industry operators, and boutique firms who have the business acumen and experience required to manage a Fortune 10 transformation project or a niche market analysis.
Today, as the leader of the movement, more than 30% of the Fortune 500 and the top private equity firms and their respective portfolio companies trust Catalant to fill in when a lack of in-house expertise prevents them from moving work forward. Learn more about Catalant’s leading position in the movement to Consulting 2.0 in this recent Forbes article.
Can consulting firms operate this way, too? They can! Dozens of the world’s leading consulting firms lean on Catalant as an expansion joint for their teams. They use Catalant to augment their teams with specialized spot expertise or an extra pair of experienced arms and legs, or when they want to build or scale a new service offering and practice area with the right talent and expertise.
Not sure how to shift from Consulting 1.0 to Consulting 2.0? Our specialists are here to help. Contact us today!
Learn more about Consulting 2.0.
Get in TouchConsulting 2.0 shifts the value driver from brand prestige to on-demand access to specialized, proven expertise. According to Catalant, this approach democratizes access to elite talent beyond the C-suite, allowing leaders to solve precise problems with experienced operators. By unbundling traditional service packages, organizations can right-size engagements, ensuring that investment is directed toward specific outcomes rather than the high overhead and junior-staff training associated with legacy firm structures.
Unbundling allows businesses to separate complex problems into component parts and assign specialized subject-matter experts to each specific segment for maximum precision. This agile methodology eliminates the inefficiencies of the generalist model. Consequently, companies can move faster, utilizing tailored teams of elite consultants and industry operators to execute strategic work with higher accuracy and reduced lead times.
Consulting 2.0 ensures that clients pay for senior-level execution rather than the “on-the-job training” of junior resources typical in legacy firm pyramids. By leveraging the Catalant community of vetted professionals with an average of 20+ years of experience, firms gain transparent access to former executives and subject-matter experts. This transparency builds trust and ensures that the expertise applied to a transformation or market analysis is commensurate with the project’s complexity.
