Strategy consulting is an emerging carrier option and a growing market now a day. Every business needs strategy formulation and implementation to sustain and to achieve its short term and long term objectives. This is where the role of business strategy consultant becomes crucial. A strategy consultant helps businesses set goals, formulate strategy framework, execute plans and monitor the key parameters of success. After completing the formal business education, many people choose this field as a preferred career option. If you want to pursue it as a career, then you need to know the required qualification, skillsets and roadmap for this. In this article, we will discuss what is strategy consulting, the job role, average salary and future prospects of this career.

What is Strategy Consulting?

Strategy consulting is providing advice to the businesses regarding formulation of strategy, implementation of strategy and measure the success parameters for sustainability and growth. A business strategy consultant helps businesses take crucial business decisions, regarding profitability, operations and work force. There may be some short term goals and some long term goals as well like business sustainability, workforce optimization, etc. The businesses need expert advice to achieve these goals and the business strategy consultant helps businesses in it.

The strategy consultant has expertise in this domain and he/she is capable of providing specific solutions to business challenges. The strategy consultant works with all the departments of the organization, does extensive research, designs business strategy, assesses the risk factors and helps businesses to implement and monitor these strategies successfully.

Importance of Strategy Consulting

There are numerous benefits of appointing a strategy consultant, a few of which are listed below:

(1) Improvement in the decision making process

(2) Exposure to innovative and creative solutions

(3) Setting business priorities as per the strategy

(4) Informed and more confident decision making

(5) Access to best industry practices

(6) Formulation of quality business strategy and establishment of milestones

(7) Having a dedicated team working on strategy and problem solving

(8) Achieving short term and long term goals faster

(9) Business sustainability and more profitability

Roles and Responsibilities of Strategy Consultant

Few of the roles & responsibilities of strategy consultant are as follows:

(1) Process mapping and formulation of business strategy

(2) Setting short term and long term goals for the organization

(3) Diversify revenue streams

(4) New product and service development

(5) Increase market share of the company

(6) Reducing employee attrition

(7) Team building and enhance employee engagement

(8) Help management in strategic decision making

(9) Help the company in mergers and acquisitions

(10 Help the company with legal issues and mandatory compliances

(11) Increase the customer base for the company

(12) Identify new business opportunities and potential areas of growth

(13) Introduce innovative and creative solutions for the business challenges

(14) Optimize business processes and maximize the output

(15) Re- structuring the organization for better efficiency

Main Areas Where the Strategy Consultant has to Work

Although the business strategy consultant has to strengthen overall business processes but the main areas where he/she needs to work are as follows:

(a) Corporate strategy

(b) Business model transformation

(c) Economic policy

(d) Mergers and acquisitions

(e) Business strategy

(f) Operations

(g) Digital strategy

Skills Needed for Strategy Consultant

The various skills needed for successful strategy consulting are as below:

Problem Solving Attitude

Providing specific solutions for the business challenges is the main work of business strategy consultant. Strategy consulting is mainly problem solving and that’s why the strategy consultants are hired. The consultants use their expertise and knowledge to solve various business problems. There for problem solving skill is a must for these consultants.

Good Communication

Client management and interaction with various stakeholders is crucial job role of the strategy consultant. Strong verbal and writing ability along with communication skills are needed to make the clients satisfied.

Time Management Skills

Many times the clients set strict deadlines for achieving long and short term business objectives. The strategy consultant has to manage various business functions and deliver solutions within a fixed timeframe. Therefore, the time management skills are must for business strategy consultants.

Analytical Skills

Analysis of large amount of business data is crucial for the business decisions and hence the strategy consultants process large amount of business data. The analytical skills are therefore very important skills required for the business strategy consulting.

Creativity

Strategy consultants must be able to use their knowledge to find solutions that are agile, relevant and dynamic. This is the reason that the organizations often look for consultants with creative thinking skills.

How to become a Strategy Consultant?

If you are pursuing the strategy consulting as a career, then you will have to follow the following roadmap:

Complete your Formal education

Most employers keep a minimum educational qualification like bachelor’s degree in commerce, economics or a related subject, such as finance and business economics as a prerequisite for this job. However, you may require a master’s degree with a specialization or a Master of Business Administration (MBA) for higher positions. Therefore, completing formal education with relevant subjects is the first step for becoming business strategy consultant.

Get relevant work experience 

You can gain experience through the internships during your degree program. Sometimes fresh students are hired from the colleges for the junior positions and they eventually move up the ranks with time and experience.

Get Certified for new skills

There are various relevant certifications are available which offers specialized trainings and impart new skills along with practical experience. These certifications are always an added advantage for the job of business strategy consultant.

Improve soft skills

Soft skills are required for the consultancy services since a strategy consultant has to deal with many stakeholders and there are situations when your soft skills are required more than your technical knowledge. These soft skills are rigorously tested in multi-stage interview processes, so you must work to improve your communication, problem-solving, application and leadership skills.

Keep learning

The business is a challenging and dynamic environment which requires consultants to be aware and knowledgeable of the latest industry trends, updates and developments. Therefore, you need to be updated if you want to become a successful strategy consultant.

Conclusion

Strategy consulting is a emerging domain where the students can pursue their career. If you are graduated in commerce, economics, business or any other relevant subject and have interest and fair understanding of business processes and strategies, this may be an excellent carrier option for you. This is a practical domain where you learn more when you work in real business environment rather than having a having a theoretical knowledge. You should therefore try to gain relevant experience right from the time of your degree program through internships, etc. and continue to learn by work in different business environments if you want to succeed in this field.

Also read: Types of Business Level Strategies and Examples