The un-changing face of consulting

It’s funny how things sometimes come together.

Earlier this week I was chatting to someone who buys a lot of consulting services and has done for many years. Asked what had changed over that time, he said he was sometimes far more struck by what hadn’t. Today’s consulting industry may be vastly bigger and clients more sophisticated than 15 years ago, but some things haven’t moved on. “It’s the chevrons in the reports that get me,” he said. “Sometimes I think that if I see another chevron in a flow diagram I’ll scream.”

He’s right. 15 years ago, a report for a client might have been written out or dictated, and the diagrams sketched out by hand, then passed over to a secretary to type up or put into early versions of PowerPoint, but the end product wouldn’t have looked very different to today’s output. Yes, the branding is snazzier, the images crisper, but the way in which information is presented by consulting firms hasn’t moved on.

Which is strange because it has elsewhere, as this article on infographics which charts the rise of social media illustrates. Interesting in their own right for the data they contain, the charts prompted me to wonder whether there aren’t new ways of displaying the information consultants gather. They might even resolve one of the conundrums of thought leadership at the moment: how to say something thought-provoking in as few words as possible.

One of the most important things consultants do is provide insights. Everyone has data these days: the challenge is to how to make the data tell a story that you can act on. Consulting firms need to be in the forefront of the infographics revolution, otherwise they’ll find themselves outpaced by new entrants who do that kind of thing better.

On the high street, we’re used to the idea that stores and restaurants come and go: formats and styles don’t go on forever. It’s not just a case of people’s tastes changing (you can adjust your stock or re-think your menu), but the world moves on. Today’s consulting firms offer a different mix of services to their counterparts 15 years ago, but the “look” of consulting hasn’t significantly changed. You could argue that doesn’t matter: that consulting is a serious business dealing with underlying and essentially unchanging business issues. But that’s like arguing that, because people still eat food, you don’t need to update your restaurant. It also presupposes that people are going to stay with your unfashionable restaurant when a glitzy new one opens next door.