Why Every Consulting Firm Needs a Virtual Talent Bench

Updated March 25, 2025

The global business landscape has experienced dramatic shifts in where and how work gets done, both at the individual and the organizational levels. In order to adapt to these accelerating changes, leading businesses and consulting firms have been compelled to transition to a more agile approach to accessing talent and getting work done. Agility is a requirement for firms that want to use ongoing change as an opportunity to meet client needs, gain a competitive edge, and grow. For consulting firms, this means infusing agility into traditional benches to establish a virtual talent bench. 

Catalant has a phrase that encompasses the future of the industry and the emphasis on agility: we call it Consulting 2.0.

What is “Consulting 2.0”?

Consulting 2.0 is a flexible, fit-for-purpose approach to accessing expertise that extends and augments your team to respond to any client need. It enables consulting firms to:

• increase their resources of talent when demand is high or when a certain practice area or demand for specific expertise is growing, 
• optimize and right-size operational costs and full-time staffing via a flexible combination of permanent and on-demand talent, and 
• flex talent/human resources to better accommodate evolving market demands.

The Challenges Confronting Consulting Firms

Four converging trends are impacting consulting firms today:

1. The need for agility 

In a landscape of accelerating change, one marked by economic/market volatility, new regulations and complex compliance demands, shifting customer expectations, rapid technological evolution, and more, firms need the capacity to move faster than ever. Today’s only certainty seems to be disruption. Business agility refers to an organization’s ability to quickly and cost-effectively respond to market changes and emerging opportunities. These include industry trends, technological advances, customer needs, competitive threats, revenue opportunities, and workforce demands.

Planning cycles, therefore, need to be shorter, as the days of the multi-year plan are replaced by the need for “sensing and responding” to market changes. To survive and thrive, organizations simply must have built-in agility at both the strategic and structural level, including when it comes to accessing talent. 

In addition, you need to innovate on delivering value to your clients. Moving faster (and smarter) than your competitors becomes a competitive advantage and a key differentiator for your consulting firm’s brand.

2. Increased demand for cost efficiencies 

The days of making big-ticket, long-term financial commitments that may or may not deliver their expected value in 3-5 years are over. Leaders are constantly under scrutiny for their investment decisions. When outcomes are uncertain because change comes so quickly, it’s better to shorten the planning horizon and/or take an iterative approach marked by pilot programs: it’s far better to “fail small” and take wins and lessons learned to the next cycle of iteration. 

Betting big and losing big not only sinks careers, but whole organizations. An agile approach works best in a business environment of uncertainty and accelerating change.

3. Preferences of top talent

People, especially top talent with relevant subject-matter expertise, actually prefer to work in more agile ways that enable them to have more control over where, when, how, and with whom they work. There’s a growing pool of independent consultants who have left the big firms – expertise that you can tap into as needed. 

Instead of absorbing the heavy and inflexible operating costs of hiring full-time employees, consulting firms can now find and work with the on-demand talent they need, when they need it, for as long as they need it.

4. Technology as an enabler 

Tech is increasingly an enabler of business agility. To respond to workforce demands, on-demand talent can more easily collaborate with firms from anywhere (i.e., become part of a distributed team). Moreover, “on-demand talent platforms” (such as Catalant) are available to help firms identify and onboard pre-screened, pre-qualified talent to accommodate their ongoing project needs. These platforms are increasingly creating “plug and play” access to exactly the right expertise at exactly the right time, with full transparency around costs.

So agility is now a requirement for consulting firms, which means infusing the agility of Consulting 2.0 into your traditional talent bench to establish “virtual” talent benches.

Benefits of a Virtual Talent Bench

Meet customer needs quickly (plug and play staffing): You can have pre-vetted, ready-to-go consultants sitting on your Catalant bench so you can engage them immediately, drop them into projects that need their practice area expertise, thus avoiding lengthy times to source, onboard, or ramp talent. 

Optimize your limited resources: You can “right-size” operating expenses and keep your consulting firm lean by paying consultants on your virtual talent bench only when they’re needed and engaged in a project. Minimize the overhead costs and related liabilities that you have carrying full-time employees. 

Bypass talent bottlenecks: Maintain a source of external, qualified consulting talent on your virtual bench to help you anticipate resourcing needs and respond quickly to hard-to-staff engagements. Stack talent resources in high-demand areas to keep new projects from stalling. That way, you maintain flexibility whether times are busy or not so busy.

5 Ways to Leverage a Virtual Talent Bench

1. Optimize utilization and create opportunity for expansion. If you’re short-staffed, a virtual talent bench gives you access to the added capacity your firm needs. For example, you can avoid placing your full-time consultants on too many projects at once as a response to high demand. 

Instead, keep full-time capacity where it is while taking on more work and delivering quality outcomes via the extra capacity offered by your virtual talent bench. 

2. Keep a lean internal team. You can staff your talent bench with several independent, on-demand consultants that you hand-pick and pre-vet across the practice areas where you are likely to need support. 

For example, if you often need external support on diligence projects, identify and place three skilled and experienced independent consultants on your virtual talent bench who are fluent in that field. Since you won’t be paying for them to sit on your bench, this keeps your team (and operating costs) lean while also ensuring a consultant will be available when needed.

3. Expand your network of consultants who are suited for your talent bench. A virtual talent bench greatly expands your network while also making it easy to fill skill and knowledge gaps. 

Consulting firms that use Catalant gain immediate access to tens of thousands of highly skilled independent consultants who can sit on a VTB and close gaps in subject matter expertise. If your firm values alumni experience, you can easily expand your network by adding independent consultants who have previously worked at your firm, other top-tier firms, or specific client organizations.

4. Inject flexibility into your practice. Today, consulting firms need to flexibly tailor solutions to address client needs — for example, by remaining innovative when it comes to the types of clients they serve. A virtual talent bench can fill outer-zone and whitespace coverage that may not exist in your current full-time coverage. 

Being flexible also results in professional development opportunities for firms’ full-time staffers. Instead of being forced to staff FTE consultants in practice areas that they are unfamiliar with during periods of resource constraint, allow consultants who want to explore other practice areas to do so. 

Meanwhile, those of your full-time consultants who prefer continuing to develop in their current practice area can do so and be supported by subject matter experts on your virtual talent bench. By enabling your full-time consultants to optimize for efficiency and satisfaction, you’ll drive staff engagement and greater value for your clients and firm.

5. Let an on-demand talent platform manage the administrative aspects. You may be wondering how to manage the often burdensome administrative processes associated with staffing your talent bench. Catalant offers compliance services so engagements with the independent consultants on your talent bench are in accordance with your firm’s policies. The platform also correctly classifies consultants for tax and employment purposes and facilitates payment.

Bottom line? A virtual talent bench is the solution for addressing: 

• Accelerating market demands for staffing and operational agility 
• Evolving advances in technology enabling ready access to the best global talent 
• Growing preferences of a new generation of independent consultants who want the flexibility that a community of experts like Catalant provides