Over the years, technology has transformed the business world in many ways. It has changed the way the businesses operate and now it is a part of almost every aspect of business operations. Today, each business allocates a substantial amount of their budget in implementing and upgrading the technology.

Technology has helped the businesses grow & expand and still be easy to manage in-spite of the increase in size or locations. Thanks to technology now companies are able to have their employees working from different geographical locations across the globe. Employees now work simultaneously on a single cloud server network and see real time updates. This helps to avoid duplication and increases efficiency on an enterprise level across the board.

While technology has revolutionized the business world in a number of ways, there are some drawbacks that offset the advantages cited above. Technology has given rise to certain complications for those in the independent consulting practice. Consultants need to understand the repercussions and analyze the same with a fine comb.

Changing too Fast, Making it Difficult to Keep Track

Keeping up with the continuous proliferation of knowledge on the internet can prove to be a big hassle for some consultants. It becomes difficult to keep track of all that is happening on YouTube, Google+, Facebook and Twitters of the commercial world.

Moreover, when a client mentions a website or a new trend, which the consultant is unaware of, the respect that the client has for the consultant goes down. This affects not only the tenure, reward and usefulness of current assignment but also results in negative word of mouth publicity. So consultants need to keep up with so many websites related to their expertise which is a very time consuming and not monetarily rewarding, thus a daunting task.

Young Clients are Digital Natives and Better Adopters

Younger clients are more natural adopters of technology whereas consultants who have more experience in brick and mortar world are an immigrant population in the digital world. Consultants are handicapped in competition with the natural digital population who are more adept in using various gadgets and tools. This makes it difficult for the consultants to handle young clients who rely more on technology and are a step ahead.

In addition, the speed of knowledge becoming obsolete is very fast, giving consultants very little time to earn more or gain more clients from their gained knowledge. Consultants need to quickly apply and earn more money using their knowledge before it becomes obsolete or freely available.

Free Stuff Syndrome

With the advent of multi-author blogs, the information flow over the internet has increased manifold. Multi-author blogs publish information on wide range of topics, covering almost each and every industry vertical. As a result, there is a growing habit of all business owners to look out for free information for their business problems rather than hiring specialized consultants.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a good example in this context. Today, most of the small website owners consider think SEO & Digital Marketing are a cakewalk. Without learning the practical application of important tools, such clients create half baked strategies and apply it on their own websites and e-commerce stores which produces disastrous results.

Unfair Competition

The world has been made a level playing field, thanks to technology. But, at the same time, it has also given rise to unfair competition between consultants from different geographies.

If a Consultant resides in a country where the cost of living is high then they are in an unfair position against consultants from areas where the cost of living is low. The latter quote cheap and make things difficult for the consultants residing in the developed world with high cost of living. Even within the same country a consultant living in a small village like Nashville can charge less than a consultant who lives in Manhattan.

Another instance, what is considered as normal and common knowledge in one part of the world, is a consultant’s domain in some other part of the world. With the advent of internet, this knowledge gets shared forcing such consultants to change their offerings.

More Often Clients Look for Solutions & Consultants Over the Internet

Social Media, Online Presence and Online Network Building, etc. is something not all the consultants are acquainted with. As a result, other consultants who are incompetent but have a strong online presence, have an advantage over experienced consultants not actively using internet and social media.

Consultants are approached by the business owners because of their specialized knowledge. Nowadays, immense amount information is being published on the internet about every topic, providing the business owners with insights into the niche knowledge domain of the consultants.

Now clients do a lot of homework and are more confused as never, because they have access to countless competing and divergent views on every topic from the Internet. This results in clients questioning the consultant regarding their approach and have even more doubts about any advice or solution suggested by the consultant. Now it becomes more difficult for the consultant to explain to the client that all the methodologies and options that they have read about on internet cannot be applied to their case. It requires more convincing effort from the consultant’s side. The traits of consultant like debating tactics and his diplomatic experience need to be adapted and converted into a suitable strategy to satisfy the clients.

These are some of the salient points and I am sure fellow consultants may find and add other issues faced by them after technology took over the business operations. That said, it is worth mentioning that technology has immensely helped consultancy domain. The above mentioned problems are not the full story but only one side of it. There is always the other side to everything and so is it about technology.





About the Author

Anand (@ananddamanica) is a Serial Entrepreneur and Startup Advisor with over 20 years of experience in the Manufacturing Sector, International Trade, Custom software, Web & Mobile App. Development. He has provided IT integration guidance to over 200 SME & Startup Clients across the globe. A Chartered Accountant by education and an Entrepreneur at heart, Anand has a knack for simplifying 'complex' problems. He shares his expertise in business and management, and also writes about his passion– Yoga, in his blog: www.ananddamani.com/blog

He believes Yoga is not just exercise for mind & body but a Philosophy, that should be applied in life as well. You can reach him at: anand@ananddamani.com.