The Role of the Internal Consultant
Description
Internal consultants are typically looked down upon, but an increase in the role of the internal consultant will have a profound impact on the necessity of external consultants. The advantage of internal consultants stretch from security to acceptance to continuity. There is also a potential emergence of hybrid consultants. Technically external consultants, but only have 3-10 clients that are serviced for life. While there will always be a need for external consultants, a shift towards more internal consultants will greatly diminish the power and demand for external consultants.
Enablers
- Proprietary information and intellectual property rights
- Openness of Information
- Focus on internal security
- Desire for more long-term committed relationships with consultants
- Move towards specialized client-consultant relationship
Inhibtors
- The growing trend and acceptance of outsourcing
- Rising intellectual power of emerging markets
- Availability of human capital from emerging market
- Increasing gap in intellectual capital base of clients
Paradigms
If internal consultants become the norm because of security and IP rights, and a desire for more specialized long-term relationships, the need for external consultants and short-term assignments will be few and far between. External consultants will still be valid for outside the box thinking and capacity increases. But external consultants as a "hired-gun" for short-term projects will no longer be desired as a first option.