Consulting holding. Top consulting companies in Russia: the best of the best

Consulting services are popular all over the world because they can be used to solve various business problems that are not directly related to the company’s core activities. Using consulting, the company has the opportunity to focus its efforts on core business.

Consulting is very useful service for businessmen. Those who have never used consulting services are interested in their cost. Not everyone understands the economic benefits of attracting external specialists, but they can be very significant.

In order to assess what significance a consulting company can bring to business development, we will give a definition and consider the essence of this concept.

What is consulting?

Let's start with the definition of consulting according to the Oxford Dictionary.

Consulting means “being in the business of providing expert advice to people working in a particular field.” In other words, a consultant is someone who gives advice to a specific group of people.

Consulting is business of providing expert advice a certain group of people.

A consultant is someone who has a certain level of knowledge that a certain group of people considers valuable, and people in this group are willing to pay the consultant for access to their expertise.

It's worth noting that there is nothing mentioned about major firms, degrees or certifications. If you can provide expert advice to a specific group of people, you can be a consultant

All this begs the question, why is consulting so valuable?

The answer to this question lies at the heart of the meaning of counseling.

The true meaning of consulting - a consultant is one who gives advice. So it’s worth asking the question “why do people buy advice”?

Why do people ask for advice?

They want to change something, achieve something and they need help.

If the financial condition of the company is not what the managers want. They know what their desired state is, but they need advice on how to get there.

That's why people want advice. They want to get from point A to point B, but don't know how to get there. They are either lost or facing obstacles they don't know how to overcome.

The true meaning of consulting is to help people solve problems and move from their current state to their desired state.

And the more valuable the desired state is to someone, the more they are willing to pay for help.

For example, if a small business owner earns 60 million rubles. per year and their goal is to make 120 million rubles. per year, achieving their goal for them is 60 million rubles, and they are probably willing to pay 5 million rubles, 10 million rubles, 20 million rubles, perhaps even up to 60 million rubles.

Consulting in a nutshell: helping people in solving problems and achieving results.

So if achieving a desired state is so valuable to people, why don't they just find out for themselves?

Why do people hire consultants?

There are three main reasons why people decide to seek outside advice:

They are simply unable to understand it or get to the desired state on their own.
They have a general idea, but they want to get there faster.
They want to save time and effort by following an effective, proven system.

Three main types of consulting companies

When someone says, "I'm a consultant," they usually fall into one from three categories.

Management consulting.
Corporate consulting.
Independent consulting.

Management Consulting is what most people think of when someone says “consulting”. This area is dominated by large firms to help businesses improve strategy and operations or manage significant business events such as mergers and acquisitions.

Independent consulting comes up often when someone has developed expertise in an area, they choose to build and run their own business around that experience rather than continue as an employee.

Specific sold the experience can be almost anything, and thanks to the emerging gig economy, thousands of new independent consultants are creating highly profitable businesses for themselves.

How can you become a consultant?

Exists two main ways to get a consultation:

Get a job.
Start your own business.

While getting a job in consulting is more competitive and more challenging It's still no easier than ever before starting your own consulting business.

With the rising costs of in-house employees, more and more companies are looking for temporary and permanent external help, often in the form of consultants and "do it for you" services. If you're interested in starting your own consulting business, there's never been a better time to get started.

Services

Our consulting agency provides consulting services to enterprises and organizations interested in improving performance through the search for new and more effective methods of planning and organizing processes.

The consulting agency has extensive industry experience, a wide range of functional specialization and has a valuable analytical and resource base. Therefore, the provision of management services for us first of all means partnerships and working with clients side by side, in order to bring our customers’ businesses to a qualitatively new level of performance and growth in the long term.

We work not only with the private but also with the public sector, where the provision of services is primarily aimed at helping to improve their service and, where necessary, reducing costs and achieving savings. SCM Consult's consulting services are aimed at solving our clients' most complex problems and exploring the most important challenges and opportunities within any industry and geographic location.

Consulting services for business in the context of functional specialization:

– the main focus of this functional practice of our agency is on achieving competitive advantages and sustainable development of our clients’ activities. Within the framework of this area, assistance is provided in developing the company's strategy, conducting competitive analysis, identifying short-term tasks and long-term goals. Marketing consulting will allow you to study the company’s positioning in the market and its strategic opportunities. The quality and compliance of human resources with corporate objectives will allow us to build personnel consulting. If organizational changes are necessary, our consultants will prepare possible solutions to overcome crisis situations and recommendations in accordance with the best global practices. In addition, as part of anti-crisis consulting, we will help prepare a comprehensive transformation program and bring the company out of a crisis situation.

– consulting services in the field of production planning and sales, providing assistance in the development, management and optimization of processes, optimal use of resources, inventory management, building quality control and monitoring systems through management panels, lean manufacturing technologies (Lean and Six Sigma), integration and management supply chains, from procurement to distribution to consumers and returns.

Our consulting agency will help you break down organizational silos, unlocking the full potential for growth and innovation to create long-term and sustainable momentum for development.

Consulting services in this area include assistance to Russian enterprises wishing to expand their sales or supply markets (international procurement), or looking for investors for a project (investment consulting) and requiring investment and financial support, as well as to international firms that have decided to develop Russian market. Our consulting agency provides support throughout the entire project cycle, including building operational processes (project management) at the implementation stage, regardless of geographic location.

– providing assistance in the formation of socio-economic policy through economic research, improving the function of public management and preparing targeted programs and strategies through strategic planning, introducing innovative practices such as clusters, industrial and technology parks.

Clients

Today there are a large number of different organizations on the territory of the Russian Federation. If you are interested in the question of what this is, then you need to read this article.

Concept of consulting firms

These organizations provide various consulting services to their clients. In most cases, they are an external company and have a direct relationship with their customers' companies. Consulting is the provision of necessary advice to sellers, manufacturers, as well as buyers. They can get help in technical, technological and expert areas of their activities. The main task of such a company is to provide assistance in the field of management regarding the issues that customers pose.

There is no clear answer to the question of what a consulting company does. She can resolve difficult issues, determine the company's financial goals and be directly involved in organizing production activities, as well as solving strategic issues. The specialists involved provide consultations to customers on necessary issues. But they cannot bear full responsibility for the final result of the activity. Consulting companies provide specific and accurate advice that will help you apply it in the further sale of services or goods. But consulting specialists cannot implement all the proposed plans and tasks into action.

Existing types of activities of consulting companies

In the field of consulting, there are several aspects of the services provided:

Analytics. Specialists can conduct consultations for their clients, during which issues of further efficiency are resolved. Any consulting company can draw up a plan. What is this modern type of direction? The answer can only be given to qualified employees who draw up a plan for introducing effective processes in production, analyze price movements, and also conduct a thorough analysis of all stages of activity in the enterprise.
Forecasting. This type of consulting involves preliminary determination of forecasts for several months in advance. To do this, an analysis of the customer’s company’s activities is taken into account. All consultations apply to any area of functioning of the client’s organization.
Conducting an audit. Everyone is interested in what a consulting company that exists in the modern market does. Professional specialists not only provide consultations, but also perform scheduled audits. They determine its successive stages, select personnel and conduct the necessary training. Some customers trust specialists to plan further organizational and management activities, as well as the implementation of modern information systems.

How to choose the right consulting company?

In the field of modern business, one can see the rapid pace of development of market technology. Absolutely all organizations want to be competitive and succeed in providing consulting services. Entrepreneurs set themselves the goals of being successful and constantly developing their own business or production. That is why they decide to seek the services offered by a consulting company. What kind of organization is this and how to choose the right specialist? This question is asked by a large number of managers.

The services of this company cost a significant amount of money, so you should choose only proven specialists. Real consultants must not only organize all the necessary activities, but also lead the entrepreneur to the result he needs. The process of this activity must necessarily be accompanied by practical advice, as well as assistance.

In order to correctly choose the optimal consulting company for yourself, you need to pay special attention to the following characteristics:

Cost of services provided.
Qualifications of specialists and work experience.
Duration of activity of the consulting company.
Reviews of work from previous customers.

What principles does the consulting company follow?

There are certain principles that companies providing consulting services adhere to:

Scientific validity. Specialists cannot begin to complete a given task using exclusively the accumulated experience of a consulting firm. Consultants must apply the data.
Availability of additional tools that any professional consulting company should have. What are these tools? This may include information technologies that will help monitor the customer’s organization and find an effective system for providing assistance.
Dynamism is maintained not only while consulting a client, but is also used in the organization’s activities after completion of the work.
Scientific perspectives. Specialists can offer customers their own scientific ideas that will help determine the optimal directions for the development of client business in the future.

Types of consulting companies

Today in the modern market you can find specialists who understand many issues of organizational activity. Such enterprises may have a narrow or broad specialization. Consulting companies in Russia provide a range of services or perform audits of enterprises. Depending on the methods of activity, the following areas of consulting can be distinguished:

Expert.
Educational.
Process.

Specialists carefully monitor possible ways to increase efficiency not only within the enterprise, but also take care of establishing relationships with international partners. Consultants solve a variety of issues and perform tasks of any complexity. Today you can find specialists who will solve commercial, financial, legal, technological and environmental issues.

Which structures in the Russian Federation use consulting services?

Companies that operate in the Russian consulting market can provide their services to the following structures:

Russian enterprises that belong to the public and private sectors. They can engage in production activities and provide various services.
Foreign companies operating in the Russian market. The activities of consulting companies provide opportunities to provide services to enterprises that have Western investors or are just entering the Russian market. Consulting specialists are engaged in the implementation of modern and demonstrate large-scale projects.
Public administration organizations. This includes the mayor's office, the ministry, various departmental structures, state-based committees and administrative bodies.

In what cases do companies turn to consulting services?

Today, people who run private businesses turn to the services of such specialists. The consulting company helps enterprises that want to have the status of a reliable company. Managers receive an optimal scheme for restructuring the entire system of activities and production processes. Consulting specialists can offer optimal changes in the current activities of the enterprise, as well as new profitable directions for doing business.

If an enterprise is on the verge of bankruptcy or is engaged in unprofitable production activities, then consulting companies will help get out of a difficult situation. Clients are offered crisis consulting services, where specialists, through analysis, find the necessary internal resources to solve the problem.

What are the requirements for consulting companies?

Any consultant or large-scale consulting firm must meet a number of basic requirements. This may include the following points:

Specialists must possess proven technologies that help solve even difficult problems. The consulting company has skills in formulating organizational diagnoses, strategic planning, uses information systems and a variety of analysis methods. Investment consulting companies must carry out a complete and most thorough diagnosis of production activities and the current situation, as well as establish contacts for communication with investors.
Consultants must not have connections or business relationships with various suppliers of products and goods. The opinion of a specialist is necessarily independent and exclusively objective.
Any consulting companies necessarily provide their customers with assistance in improving production activities.

Thus, clients turn to such organizations to receive high-quality analysis, processing and the opportunity to use the experience of specialists for the benefit of the business.

Features of legal consulting companies

Today, many people may face serious problems. The legal consulting company guarantees its clients complete confidentiality and integrity in the process of providing services. Specialists provide highly qualified assistance on all necessary legal nuances related to housing, civil, family, land and administrative issues. Consultants protect the legitimate interests of citizens, as well as organizations that operate in the Russian market.

The main activity of such a company is resolving licensing disputes, drawing up and concluding various contracts. Specialists assist during court hearings and draft claims.

Hello! In this article we will talk about consulting.

Today you will learn:

Definition and types of consulting;
What are the advantages of consulting for doing business?
What are the stages of consulting activity?

Any owner of a business or company, large or small, needs outside consulting assistance. A person cannot know everything, and there are times when a fresh look at an existing problem is required.

What is consulting in simple words

It is not possible for a company, even the largest one, to have several experts in different fields on staff. But if the company’s goal is to develop and conquer the market, sooner or later the advice of such experts will be needed. So what is consulting?

Consulting is the process of advising executives, management personnel and other employees on financial, legal, investment and other issues.

A little history

Domestic consulting as a professional activity began to develop in Russia in the 90s. This is directly related to the change not only of the economic system, but also of the political one. In 1991, the number of consulting companies was only about 20.

With the development of market relations, the consulting services market began to experience rapid growth. These services have become more understandable to managers and more professional. The level of competition gradually began to increase, large players from the West entered the Russian services market, this brought the consulting industry to a qualitatively new level.

Consulting company - what is it?

Companies of this kind are engaged in providing consulting services to their clients. Most often they are external companies and are related to their clients' companies. They provide assistance in various areas of their activities.

At the same time, they do not bear full responsibility for the result that will be obtained in the end. There is no clear answer to the question of what consulting companies do.

In general, their activities are as follows:

Providing assistance in various areas;
Consulting services;
Plan organizational and management activities.

Operating principles of consulting companies

In their activities, consulting companies adhere to the following principles:

They all use scientifically proven data in their work;
Using tools such as information technology in your work;
Specialists have the right to offer the customer their own scientific idea if it helps in solving the problem that the customer has.

Types of consulting

In the modern economy, there are several types of consulting. We will consider and give a brief description of the most common of them.

Financial advisory

It is a set of services designed to build a reliable and functional financial management system. It includes: analysis and audit of the company’s activities, consultations on finances and budget development, implementation of techniques to strengthen the company’s financial system.

Management consulting

Helps determine which areas of the company are most vulnerable and adjusts the company’s activities as a whole.

It, in turn, is divided into several groups:

Strategic – allows you to analyze the market in a global and local sense, and calculate possible risks;
Marketing– helps develop a company strategy and diagnose the target audience. Its main goal is to increase sales, as well as reduce advertising costs;
Personnel – consultations on the selection and training of employees , creation and development of corporate culture .

In addition to everything mentioned, this type of consulting helps solve the following problems:

Improve the functioning of all company management structures;
Master new management techniques;
Develop a system for motivating employees;
Optimize business processes.

Investment consulting

When company managers choose schemes for investing capital, or attracting it from outside, they mainly rely on the recommendations of professionals who can provide the necessary assistance.

Investment consulting functions:

Carrying out interactions with credit institutions, insurance companies and authorities;
Assistance in the development of investment projects;
Legal investment advice.

HR consulting

Consulting with HR specialists is becoming increasingly popular.

Such consulting includes:

Personnel certification;
Personnel accounting;
HR audit;
Analysis of personnel policy;
Document flow analysis;
Analysis of compliance of personnel policies with labor legislation.

Through HR consulting you can:

Form a certain corporate culture;
Conduct a diagnosis of how loyal employees are to the company;
Increase the efficiency of the entire personnel management system;
Develop criteria for evaluating staff performance.

This type of consulting allows management to build work not only with the team as a whole, but also with each employee individually.

Legal consulting

In modern business conditions, it is often necessary to resolve emerging legal situations. But the situation itself can hardly be called transparent; then the manager will definitely need the help of a professional. And if the company does not have a full-time lawyer, then it is impossible to do without hiring a specialist from a consulting company.

Accounting consulting

The goal of accounting consulting is to improve not only the efficiency of accounting. accounting, but also to monitor its accuracy. Typically, such services are provided by highly qualified specialists.

Accounting consulting services consist of:

Services for the development and formation of accounting policies;
Consultations on building an accounting system. accounting;
Assistance in preparing accounting reports;
Assistance in preparing reports to the Federal Tax Service;
Consideration and consultation on controversial situations in accounting.

Educational consulting

The practical significance of this type of consulting is that the consultant:

Conducts seminars;
Organizes lectures and trainings;
Develops teaching aids.

Simply put, consultants train the client’s company’s personnel.

Expert consulting

Its essence is as follows: the client sets a task for the consultant, and he, in turn, using his own experience and knowledge, as well as relying on various sources, provides a ready-made solution. In addition to developing a solution to a problem, an expert can also diagnose the problem.

The client does not participate in developing a solution to the problem.

Project consulting

Project consulting is the joint work of a consultant and company employees, during which a solution is developed on how to optimize the company’s activities. This type of counseling is called long-term.

Internet consulting

This area of consulting activity can include:

Development of information technologies taking into account the needs of a specific company;
Maintaining technology at a high level;
Identification of existing problems;
Creation of high-quality information infrastructure.

What problems do consulting companies solve?

Consulting specialists can help in the following situations:

When it is necessary to adjust business process management;
When business reorganization is required;
To restore the solvency of a company or enterprise;
Support of the company merger procedure;
When advice is required on the acquisition of property;
Budgeting;
Development ;
When you need to prepare a financial forecast and so on.

This list of services is not complete; it may be supplemented with other items.

Stages of consulting activities

Any company can be called a living, constantly developing organism. If the body malfunctions, then a doctor is needed. But treatment should be carried out by a professional, not an amateur. That is, the consulting company must have serious practical experience.

1.The customer acknowledges the existence of a specific problem. If the customer realizes that he cannot solve the problems that have arisen in the company without the help of professionals.

Example: The head of a confectionery company set himself the task of increasing production volumes. But a problem arose: the manager himself and the company’s specialists do not have sufficient knowledge for this. To achieve the goal, a decision is made to invite outside specialists. And this decision will be reasonable and justified.

2.Conducting initial consultation and concluding an agreement. When a suitable company is selected, you need to consult with its specialist. Then the contract is concluded.

The following points must be included in the contract:

The time frame during which the work will be performed;
Full list of services with cost information;
Conditions in connection with which the amount of the consultant's fee may be changed;
Conditions for early termination of the contract;
Responsibilities of both parties.

The contract can be concluded either one-time or for a long term. The contract can be concluded in the form or in the form of a work contract.

3. The data necessary for cooperation is collected. At this stage of cooperation, specialists from the consulting company collect and analyze data that will help determine how serious the problem is. The main thing here is to establish what problem exists, as well as develop a plan to solve it.

4. Process of developing a solution to a problem. This stage can be called the main one. Having identified the problem and its causes, specialists draw up a plan according to which the problem will be eliminated.

5. The process of implementing decisions and monitoring their implementation. All procedures specified in the plan are carried out under the supervision of consultants. It is also possible to train company employees in the process.

6. The process of evaluating the results obtained. An objective assessment of the results can only be given after a certain period of time. The head of the company will sum up the results together with representatives of the performing company.

7. Making final financial settlements. If all the activities were carried out on time, production indicators increased, and the company’s income increased - this is an indicator that the activities carried out were effective, you need to make a final settlement with the consulting company. The amount specified in the contract is transferred to the account of the executing company.

Situations in which consulting is necessary

The company's management and employees lack new ideas, the company has entered a period of stagnation;
The manager lacks certain knowledge or experience;
The company is developing a serious project, but cannot implement it in full due to lack of knowledge;
The company is required to conduct an audit with the participation of independent specialists;
The company needs its management staff to work more efficiently;
The company needs to select a number of qualified specialists.

This list of situations cannot be called exhaustive, since in fact there may be more than a dozen of them.

How to find a serious consulting company

If a number of problems have arisen in your company that are not possible to resolve on your own, the next step is to choose a suitable company that specializes in providing consulting services.

There are criteria by following which you can choose a company and not make a mistake:

Collect as much information as possible about the company with which you plan to enter into an agreement. Look at its official website, find out how long the company has been on the market;
Read reviews about the company’s work in the media and on the Internet;
Ask if the company has a portfolio: each specialist is proud of his achievements and usually records them;
Find out if there are serious businessmen in your region among the clients;
Pay attention to the cost of the company's services; too low should be a warning, as well as clearly overpriced.

It is best to have several companies in stock, and after a personal meeting and communication with specialists, make the final decision.

Requirements for companies and consultants

If a company or consultant has a high level of qualifications and provides a large range of services, then they must meet certain requirements, which we will discuss below.

The consultant must: have knowledge and skills in strategic planning, be able to analyze and predict the economic situation, master methods for diagnosing the situation in an enterprise, be able to establish contacts with specialists at different levels;
A consultant (or consulting company) should not depend on the rules and unwritten laws, as well as traditions that have developed in a particular company. The consultant's opinion must be free and objective;
The consulting company must provide assistance based on its experience and current legislation;
A consulting company, in addition to consultations, must engage in gaining experience, accumulating, analyzing and processing data;
The activities of a consulting company should also have a learning effect for its clients.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the table, which presents the main features of professional consultants and those who only consider themselves such.

What is the difference between a professional consultant and an amateur?

Professional consultant	Amateur
Study in advance the activities of the client’s company	Does not undergo preliminary training; learns about the current situation from the client
All proposals are prepared taking into account the characteristics of the company	All developed proposals are not informative, but of a general, almost advertising nature.
From the moment the cooperation begins, he gives practical advice and recommendations to the client	Emphatically intrusively talks about his achievements, puts himself an order of magnitude higher than the client
During communication, shows awareness of the situation in the client’s company	Talks about work experience in the same industry
Asks questions, asks for the customer’s opinion	Speaks out without tolerating objections
Able to listen to the client	Prefers to talk rather than listen
Answers questions asked additionally	Ignores additional questions
Always responds to objections raised by the client	Doesn’t take into account the client’s objections, prefers to communicate via email rather than in person

Positive aspects of consulting

It is worth noting that increasingly, not only those who have just joined the ranks of entrepreneurs, but also serious companies that have been on the market for a long time are turning to consulting companies for help. What are the advantages of consulting?

Consultants have a higher level of knowledge than the company’s full-time specialists (which does not detract from the merits of conscientious employees);
Consultants are more experienced due to communication with a large number of clients;
Consultants have enough time to study the problem deeply and comprehensively;
Consultants usually have an unbiased opinion and are guided by the interests of the customer.

A clear advantage of consulting is that company specialists with a fresh look from the outside can identify problems that are simply invisible to company employees.

Consulting and coaching: differences between methods

Before we find out the similarities and differences, let’s find out what kind of animal coaching is.

Coaching is a method of consultation in which the client and trainer jointly look for ways to improve or solve a problem.

Skeptics may say that this technique merely duplicates a number of others that are already familiar. Why invent something else if there are trainings and consulting? But coaching does not repeat all previously known practices.

Coaching and consulting are not duplicative techniques for one simple reason: a coach guides and advises his client until he achieves his goal, and a consulting consultant is limited to making recommendations, giving the client the opportunity to continue to act independently.

Who can consulting companies cooperate with?

Consulting firms can collaborate with:

State and private enterprises that produce any products or provide services;
With foreign companies that operate in Russia (legally);
With government organizations;
With government bodies.

So, dear readers, now you know what consulting is, what its goals are and what it is needed for. If you take advantage of the consulting terms in a timely manner, your business will successfully grow and develop. Your company will survive all crises and become a serious competitor for others.