MASEEI (AGBS Chd)

1. AM ITY GLO BAL
BUSINESS SCHO O L
ashishpillai@gmail.com

2. AM ITY GLO BAL
BUSINESS SCHO O L
Consultants are Not Liked!!!
A person who takes your money and annoys your
employees while tirelessly searching for the best way to
extend the consulting contract!!
Will hold a seemingly endless series of meeting to test
various hypotheses and assumptions. These exercises are
a vital step toward tricking managers into revealing the
recommendation that is most likely to generate repeating
consulting business!!!
After the correct recommendation is discovered, it must be
justified by a lengthy analysis. Analysis is designed to be as
confusing as possible, thus discouraging any second
guessing by staff members who are afraid of appearing
dense!!!
ashishpillai@gmail.com

3. AM ITY GLO BAL
BUSINESS SCHO O L
Consultants are Not Liked!!!
Consultants use a standard set of decision tools that
involve creating alternative scenarios based on different
assumptions. Any pesky assumption that does not fit that
does not fit the predetermined recommendation is quickly
discounted as being uneconomical by the consultants.
Consultants will often recommend that you do whatever you
are not doing now.
Consultants do not need much experience in industry in
order to be experts; they learn quickly.
ashishpillai@gmail.com

4. AM ITY GLO BAL
BUSINESS SCHO O L
Consultants are Not Liked!!!
Consultants eventually leave, which makes them excellent
scapegoats for major management blunders.
Consultants can schedule time in your boss’s calendar
because they don’t have your reputation as a troublemaker
who constantly brings up unsolvable issues.
Consultants often are more trusted than your regular
employees.
Consultants will return phone calls because it is all billable
time to them.
Consultants work preposterously long hours, thus making
the regular staff feel worthless for only working 60 hours a
week.
ashishpillai@gmail.com

5. AM ITY GLO BAL
BUSINESS SCHO O L
Consulting Costs
The Cost of initial analysis and assessment, possibly
prorated over the expected life of the intervention.
The cost of developing solutions.
The cost of acquiring solutions.
The cost of application and implementation of the
intervention.
The cost of maintenance and monitoring
The cost of evaluation and reporting
The costs of administration and overhead for the consulting
intervention, allocated in some convenient way
ashishpillai@gmail.com

6. AM ITY GLO BAL
BUSINESS SCHO O L
Cost Vs Value
How can you as a client determine if you are getting
good value for the money you spend (or invest??)
on a consultant????
Return on Investment Benefit to Cost Ratio
ashishpillai@gmail.com

7. AM ITY GLO BAL
BUSINESS SCHO O L
ROI
Net Benefits from Consultants Advice
ROI % =
Total Consulting Cost
X 100
In most cases, isolating consulting effects and the “benefits”
thereof is very difficult if at all possible…..
May need longitudinal data
Observable and measurable effects “will” take time to
appear
Even costs may have heads one may miss!!
ashishpillai@gmail.com

8. AM ITY GLO BAL
BUSINESS SCHO O L
Benefit to Cost Ratio
BCR = NPV of benefits divided by the NPV of costs
Bt is the benefit in time t and Ct is the cost in time t. If the BCR
exceeds one, then the consultant has delivered value!!
ashishpillai@gmail.com

9. AM ITY GLO BAL
BUSINESS SCHO O L
How to Avoid Consulting Disasters
The onus of that lies on both the client and the consultant
It is a good idea to engage consultants for specific tasks
and avoid carte blanche engagements
Never a good idea to hire a consultant because you lack
vision or have not been able to set clear goals for your
company
The deliverables will have to be clear, concise and
actionable
Don’t rush! Action should be based on results of careful
observation and analysis and that takes time
Consider it an investment, not a cost!
ashishpillai@gmail.com