5 Digital Transformation

Challenges Unique to the

Business Consulting Industry
(and How Information Management Instantly Solves All of Them)
CHALLENGES
In the past decade, In particular:

as our habits have been completely overturned by

1. More intense scrutiny by customers, whose
newer and more affordable technology and the way
expectations have changed and are now
we approach work has shifted following big societal
demanding more.
changes, many industries have seen their fundamentals
2. Decreased prices of products and services
shaken.
offered, which makes it more difficult to deliver
top and bottom line growth
Companies have had to rethink the way they do
3. Additional complexity of projects, now
business to the roots in order to survive, and many
involving multiple stakeholders and required to
new players have leveraged emerging trends to pose a
deliver more value with less resources
serious threat to incumbents.
4. A changed workforce that no longer tolerates
having to spend their working days with paper
The business consulting industry is no exception.
and manual processes and demands instead to be
Growth has picked up after the decline following the
challenged with interesting and relevant tasks
Great Recession, and the sector is growing at a steady
5. Increased reputation risk to have data and
pace — about 3.4% annually in the United States.
sensitive information stolen or compromised.
Nonetheless, consultancies have faced, and continue to
Most in the industry think of data leaks in terms of
face, challenges that cannot be underestimated.
when, rather than if.

5 Digital Transformation Challenges Unique to the Business Consulting Industry

 “Using the advanced search capabilities in M-Files, we can locate the correct
and accurate versions of customer files in seconds, which has helped to
significantly improve our customer service. In our business, meeting deadlines
is crucial to ensuring superior customer service. With the powerful workflow
capabilities of M-Files, we’ve streamlined processes for completing tax filings,
preparing financial statements, and paying invoices, which enables us to keep
our customers happy.”
- Gail Biere, Accounting Services Director, PSK

Within the same timeframe, M-Files has worked with companies in the consulting industry to implement new ways
to manage information that could fit with their changing needs.

In the next pages, we will present five key learnings about how information management can help consulting firms
address the challenges above and how it can prepare the industry for even more change over the coming years.

Enhancing the Customer Customers’ expectations are also changing. Billable

Experience
In a world where people can find most answers on
the internet, the need for specialized knowledge is
jeopardized.
This is particularly true in business consulting. Twenty
years ago, big consulting firms could leverage specific
and secretive expertise to win customers; now this is no
longer possible. Knowledge is spread everywhere, and
is used by freelancers, boutique firms, purpose-driven
consultancies and internal strategy departments to help
companies with their challenges.
hours are becoming a thing of the past, replaced by
fixed or outcome-based fees that require the service
firm to be more efficient. Similarly, customers now want
to know what is happening in real time; a Deltek survey
found that almost 40% of managers at professional
services firms feel the pressure to be always-on. This
represents a big change for an industry that, as Clayton
Christensen puts it in a Harvard Business Review article,
is used to generating recommendations in “the black
box of the team room”.

CUSTOMER
5 Digital Transformation Challenges Unique to the Business Consulting Industry
Consulting firms are putting the customer at the center
of their offering. They are doing this by focusing on two
areas:
1. Eliminating obstacles that prevent personnel
from serving the customer best. Making
information about customers and projects
accessible when they are needed, in order to
make better decisions and avoid the duplication
of documents and requests.
2. Reducing friction and costs to focus on
delivering the service. Throughout the customer
lifecycle, many processes are transformed from
manual and paper intensive to automatic and
digital, ensuring that personnel can focus on high
value tasks.
A solid information management system can prove
to be the cornerstone of the relationship between
consulting firms and their customers.
The Role of Information Management
Where is the deliverable for that customer? Has it been
reviewed already? Is this the most recent version of our
final recommendations? How much time will it take us
to respond to them with the information required?
These (and many others) are questions our consulting
customers were struggling to give a prompt answer to.
It’s not surprising that these are common questions
lobbed around when documents are stored in different
systems, exchanged via email, or archived on someone’s
laptop.
When information management is done right, all
information related to a customer can be accessed
when needed; it does not matter if the employee
is working from home, at the office or at the
customers’ location — as is more and more common
nowadays.

Clients Want More

Objective Value Change

Consulting firms Increased client Facilitate access to
seek repeat business satisfaction and correct information
with clients loyalty about clients and
projects

5 Digital Transformation Challenges Unique to the Business Consulting Industry

A typical situation with archaic hierarchical network
folder structures is one where more versions of the
same document are available. That’s confusing and it
can be prevented, leaving personnel to spend their time
more effectively. This is also valid for different projects
related to a customer engagement, past and present, so
that better decisions can be made when consulting for a
customer over an extended period of time.
Speaking of client projects, how each one of them
is carried out represents a considerable portion of
the customer experience. A lot of the project value is
wrapped up in documents. Information management
can standardize how these documents are created
and handled, ensuring that project documentation
flows easily to all involved, without messy versioning
issues. Delays and mistakes also make customers
skittish about the relationship, and that’s why project
information management is a crucial part of overall
project management, safeguarding crucial steps in
a project lifecycle using automation to ensure no step
is overlooked and no detail is left behind. Overall,
information management can optimize how projects
are set up, managed, and executed to meet customer
expectations.
ENGAGEMENT
4 Accounting Industry5 Digital
Digital Transformation
Transformation Challenges
Challenges (and
Unique
HowtoInformation
This starts with the initial RFIs and RFPs that consulting
companies painstakingly try to prepare on time and
with precise information. Then there are contracts in
their different stages: from drafting to revision, from
signature to renewal. With a system in place that moves
the document from person to person, collecting input
and sending notifications the moment a new action
is needed, deals get closed quickly and personnel can
start delivering value early. And when an engagement
is closed, information management can support the
finalization documents and closing the engagement out,
as well as archiving, securing and retaining (or disposing
of) all necessary information.
With information management protocols in place, at
any time and for any reason, relevant staff can access
all needed documents with a simple search and a
couple of clicks, considerably reducing the time it takes
to move from information gathering to action.
Imagine a situation where a customer wants clarification
on the work the consulting firm has carried out for
them. The customer has doubts and wants reassurance
that the correct processes have been followed and the
appropriate information has been processed. What
if you could get back to them with all the details in a
matter of hours, rather than days?
This is what customer experience for consulting firms
looks like with intelligent information management.
the BusinessManagement
Consulting Industry
Instantly Solves All of Them)
 “In the past when all of our invoices were paper-based, it was a time consuming
and arduous task for our AP staff to manually keep track of due dates, but with
M-Files, we can now easily manage, sort and process all invoices by due date. In
addition, the workflow capabilities in M-Files have enabled us to streamline our
invoice approval process. We are now able to process invoices in minutes instead
of days, and we no longer have to worry about lost AP documentation.”

- Mike Hardy, Accounting Director, Orion Associates

without worrying about legacy systems that can be

It’s a Buyer’s Market! cumbersome and difficult to integrate into more
As customers get a more central position in the offering,
modern processes. At the same time, incumbents
the price charged for services provided comes under
want to maintain their edge, and to do so, they need to
increased scrutiny.
perform a balancing act between:

Nowadays, it is easy for customers of consulting firms to

1. Offering products and services at lower costs.
shop around in search of fixed and transparent pricing.
Organizations are looking at their processes
It has also become common practice for clients to ask
and procedures to optimize how resources are
for help on a single issue to a variety of service firms,
allocated and avoid waste, as value delivered
increasing the pressure on top line growth.
cannot be decreased.
2. Maintaining good levels of productivity. As they
Deltek found that 54% of COOs in professional services
commit to lowering operational costs, consulting
believe providing more value at the same cost is a key
companies also look for new ways to serve clients.
challenge for the future of their organizations. A second
They try to deepen existing expertise while
survey found that leaders at consulting firms are
simultaneously diversifying into other consulting
looking to get better control of costs, and particularly
areas.
project costs, to increase profitability.
With information management, our consulting
The competition is fierce. New entrants can leverage
customers are saving time and money, while making
technology to provide low-end, repeatable services,
space for their employees to focus on higher value
opportunities.

Lower Prices

Objective Value Change

Consulting firms Saved time and Digitize and automate
want to maximize money to redeploy manual, tedious
margins to higher value processes
activities

5 Digital Transformation Challenges Unique to the Business Consulting Industry

 in differenct departments, and creatively implement
The Role of Information Management
the new system to rethink the principles behind key
The cost of having staff wasting time on tedious, manual
processes.
work is way more than can be appreciated in a financial
statement.
Accounts payable (AP) is a good example of how
this can be put in practice. It often features different
It is also visible in offices where the amount of file
steps, that can easily add up to weeks. Invoices are
cabinets exceeds the amount of employees, on desks
printed out and delivered to the right person for review
that look more like a paper waste facility than a work
and approval. This often requires collecting further
station, and in personnel that have to wander around
documents to make sure the invoice is correct, and
offices to find the right piece of information, often
possibly involving different people in the process.
having to ask colleagues, whose workday gets disrupted
When done, invoices are sent back to the AP team
as well.
for payment, hopefully by the due date. No wonder
invoices are often lost in the process, or the due date
With the aid of information management, consulting
simply goes by while some actions are still pending.
firms can reexamine how processes and procedures
are currently carried out, automate what can be
In a different area, employee training can also be
automated, and eventually reallocate resources
cumbersome. Whether it’s for new hires or current staff,
(personnel, space, time) to high-value activities that
companies must make sure that people go through
better serve the client and provide better returns.
the correct documents regarding procedures and best
practices. They also need to keep track of all training
We have seen previously how information management
certificates to be able to prove who knows what and
can significantly help in accessing the right information
when somebody is due for a refresher. All of this often
in its most recent version at the right time, no matter
means a lot of emails and calls.
where it is stored. This breaks down silos and improves
efficiency. We have also described how companies
Now, imagine how it would be to digitize and automate
can benefit from digitizing and automating processes
both accounts payable and training — the benefits
related to clients, such as proposals, contracts and
that could be reaped in terms of time saved accessing
close-outs.
information, employee satisfaction, paper-free work
environment and office space availability.
But there are also other areas in which efficiency can
be enhanced, and this is why consulting firms that
This is how information management can enable
benefit the most from information management are
consulting firms to reduce costs and find new, more

PRICING
those who take a serious look at how things are done
valuable ways to serve their clients.

5 Digital Transformation Challenges Unique to the Business Consulting Industry

Projects are More Complex
When a consulting firm gets hired, an ad hoc team
of experts is assembled, and a project is kicked off.
Being able to deliver the project on time and within the
constraints of the budget is fundamental to the success
of the service firm and the satisfaction of its clients.
With customers more demanding and more careful
about how they spend their money, project managers
are under increased pressure to continuously
demonstrate how the engagement delivers value.
Almost 60% of managers in consulting firms see
projects becoming more and more complex. Partly,
this is due to the involvement of multiple stakeholders
to address a certain issue — subcontractors,
independents, partner companies, but also the
customers themselves. Often the setting in which a
project starts dramatically changes over time and
staying on track can be complicated in light of additional
demands from the customer
Consulting businesses that manage to provide reliable
project delivery put significant effort in the following
two areas:
Projects Are More Complex
Objective Value
Deliver complex Increased reputation
projects on time and and customer
on budget satisfaction
5 Digital Transformation Challenges Unique to the Business Consulting Industry
• They streamline and automate all project
related processes, particularly between different
stages or milestones, to avoid getting stuck
because somebody forgot to send an email or did
not know about the most recent changes.
• They facilitate access to project
documentation for all stakeholders involved, so
that information can be accessed when needed in
the most up to date form, even on-the-go.
Task management is not enough when it comes to
project deliveries. Documents are at the core of every
business consulting project, and effective information
management is enabling our customers to maintain
their reputation intact and their customers happy.
The Role of Information Management
When you have the best experts in your team, you
do not want them to waste their time searching
for information, or filling in the blanks in a contract
template, or duplicating a document because they could
not find the original one in network folders. These are
inefficiencies that slow projects down, raise costs and
eventually cause consulting firms lose business.
Change
Visibility on project
information and
processes
 “Managing these processes was complex, progressing documents from one
step to another required confirmation via email, or verbal confirmation. The
new approach enabled us to optimize the collaborative section, including fewer
emails sent internally, and the possibility for staff to access a document handled
by another staff member, whether or not they are present. Today we can process
a document four times faster than before.”
- Cécile Cappeau, Associate Director, SRSI

We have seen in the other sections how information
management can automate repetitive, manual
tasks such as data entry, project documentation set-
up, project close-out, contract management, RFIs/RFPs
and more. With these things out of the way, business
consulting personnel can truly focus on delivering value
to the customer and improve business.
By bringing information together from different
places and making it accessible in the most recent
version — a clear goal for a third of consulting firms
leaders, according to the Deltek survey — information
management also enables project managers to stay on
top of what is happening at all times. This means,
for example, being able to answer customer’s requests
promptly, and making relevant decisions in terms of
scope should anything change in the setting of the
project or should costs increase above a certain level.
And finally, with powerful digital workflow capabilities,
the different moving parts of a project can be
tracked and automated to stop projects from getting
stuck because of miscommunication. This is often the
case when companies rely on people to send an email
to update on the status and kick off the next phase, or
when face-to-face meetings are the only way to stay in
the loop.
Imagine how it would be instead if team members
would get an automatic notification when their input
is needed, add their value to the project, and then
click a button to fire up the next stage with no need to
hand over information, as everything is available, when
needed, in a single place.
This is how projects can be delivered more effectively
with information management.

5 Digital Transformation Challenges Unique to the Business Consulting Industry

WORKFORCE
Workforce has Changed
Balancing the needs of older and younger generations
presents a challenge. Consulting firms are committed
Consulting firms are made of people. The services they
on two fronts:
provide are only as good as their workforce.
1. Identify and retain new talent. We have seen
In the past decade, many things have changed in the
how reputation is important when it comes to
way we all manage our personal and professional
repeat business with clients, but it is equally
lives. Our expectations have shifted, particularly what
relevant when filling roles and open positions on
we want from our job and our propensity for change.
the job market.
It was once normal to stay with a company for most
2. Ensure old and new employees stay. Having
of a career, sitting at a desk 9-to-5, Monday to Friday,
technology in the workplace is no good if it makes
often working on trivial tasks. Today, we want work
day-to-day work more complex, or if it does not
that is flexible, collaborative, temporary and highly
become part of processes and routines because it
technological.
is too complicated to use.

Employees want to be challenged with relevant

Our business consulting customers are on the path to
problems and new ways to address them. They want
a truly digital workplace with the implementation of
work that contributes to forming their identities.
information management.

What’s more, even if probably not as acute as in other

The Role of Information Management
sectors, even consulting is dealing with a shortage in
Nobody wants to be in a job where hours are spent
skilled labor. In the survey conducted by Deltek, 44% of
looking for a document needed to carry out a simple
managers at consulting firms find it difficult to acquire
task, or having to go back and forth to colleagues and
new talent and 42% say they lack a successor for
managers to get input on a proposal, or being singled
various positions.
out by HR for not attending last week’s training because
the memo got lost.

5 Digital Transformation Challenges Unique to the Business Consulting Industry

 “The ability to access documents via mobile devices during consulting
appointments makes our work so much easier and - in the interests of our
members - also more efficient and better...”

- Alexandra Wellman, Attorney-at-Law, vem.die arbeitgeber e.V.

Most of what we have seen regarding information
management — securing information, enhancing the
customer experience and generating significant time
and cost savings — is also very relevant when it comes
to employee satisfaction and meeting expectations.
When there’s a system in place that enables staff to
find a document with a simple search, collaborate with
colleagues without having to be in the same physical
office, and provide notifications when an action is
needed, it’s easier to foster a work environment where
people can focus on solving problems that will grow the
business.
Information management can also be easy to
implement and intuitive to use. Imagine if a new
software could be deployed to a full department within
weeks, even in a particularly stressful period of the year.
And imagine if people could actually start using it right
away, because they immediately understand how it
works and the benefit they can realize by making it part
of their work routine.
This is how information management can make
consulting firms a more appealing workplace for a
modern workforce, while at the same time improving
the days of those who have been with the company for
some time.
This is how information management can make
accounting firms a more appealing workplace for a
modern workforce, while at the same time improving
the days of those who have been with the company for
some time.

Workforce Has Changed

Objective Value Change

Identify, attract and Decreased Digital workplace
retain talents employees turnover in line with new
and labour shortage workforce expectations

5 Digital Transformation Challenges Unique to the Business Consulting Industry

Keeping Client Information
SECURITY
Secure
Consulting services firms handle an enormous volume
of confidential client information.
From strategic and reorganization plans to details about
mergers and acquisitions, sales and marketing data,
personal identification data and classified business
communications; the documents containing this
information are delicate. When they fall into the wrong
hands, the bond of trust between the company and
their client is broken.
A 2019 IBM report on data breaches points to two main
sources of threat:
• External — When a hacker attempts to gain
access to information like personal identification
numbers or credit card data, that they can then
use to commit other types of fraud.
• Internal — When employees accidentally email
the wrong person with a sensitive attachment, or
a disgruntled former staff member tries to take
certain documents with them.
5 Digital Transformation Challenges Unique to the Business Consulting Industry
One way or another, the cost for the organization is
extremely relevant, both in terms of customer turnover
— the same IBM report estimates lost business to
be the biggest contributor to the whole cost of a
data breach — and in terms of company image and
reputation.
Working with consulting firms on this issue, we
have found that a flexible information management
environment can help address security requirements.
The Role of Information Management
“Who needs access to what?” is a great place to start the
conversation about how to better manage and secure
client information. Consulting services firms can greatly
benefit from having systems and procedures in place
to ensure that access to certain types of documents
and information is only given to employees with
relevant roles or in relevant groups at the right time. For
example, if somebody’s input is needed when drafting
an offer, there is no need for them to retain access to
the document subsequently. With a similar logic, when
staffers are promoted or leave the company, their
access permissions should be modified accordingly and
automatically.
 “The problem we had with our previous system, a flat file storage, is that it was
really difficult for us to control. The groups were more or less controlled by the
user telling us who should be part of it, and as people joined or left the firm, we
had to continually manage that. In the M-Files environment, we are integrating
our directory, so that as people join or leave the groups or the subgroups, they
will automatically be members of the departments or of the appropriate areas.
And if there is the need to lock it down further than the group, we can do that.”

- Alexandra Wellman, Attorney-at-Law, vem.die arbeitgeber e.V.

The way documents are shared is another big piece
of the information security puzzle. Consulting firms
use emails and attachments widely to collaborate with
colleagues and clients, and this is one of the biggest
threats. Once an email is sent and a document shared,
there is no control over who has accessed it, when,
and what happens afterwards. Relying on information
management means moving away from email
attachments and into an environment that provides
trackability of documents — as well as maintaining
control and visibility on shared documents.
Flexibility in the choice between cloud or on-premises
storage of information is another important factor.
Cloud has some clear benefits — namely easy
maintenance, fast scalability and lack of upfront
investment. And yet, whether to meet local regulations
or customers’ expectations, consulting firms are often
better off with a truly hybrid information management
system, enabling them to choose quickly what
information to store where.
Finally, with all this in place, it becomes easy to respond
to audit requests. Imagine being able to prove, in just
a few clicks, that you are following the most recent
standards or that you are operating according to your
customer’s desires. Collecting the right information and
evidence in minutes rather than days saves everybody a
lot of time.
This is how information security for consulting firms
looks with intelligent information management.

Safeguarding Client Information

Objective Value Change

Consulting firms Reduce costs due Digital control on
want to maintain a to lost business and access and sharing of
reputation of safety E&O insurance documents

5 Digital Transformation Challenges Unique to the Business Consulting Industry

CONCLUSION
Conclusion
The volume of documents and data any company is
dealing with will only get bigger in the future. Consulting
firms are no exception, and since time is their most
valuable — and limited — resource, they need to make
their wealth of information a facilitator of growth rather
than an impediment.
We have worked with consulting customers for over
a decade, and we walk alongside them through the
many changes the industry has experienced. In this
whitepaper, we have shared things we’ve learned
along the way and made the case that information
management enables the modernization and
digitalization of consulting processes and procedures,
delivering tangible improvements to both the top and
bottom line.
It can make information easily accessible, while at the
same time ensuring that control is retained across
its full lifecycle. It can automate document-intensive
processes, particularly those related to customers’
projects, so that no step gets delayed and deadlines are
met. And it can enhance the workplace by cutting on
paper and costs, making it possible for the staff to focus
on things that really matter.
We know that information management, and M-Files
in particular, is the pathway to improved efficiency for
consulting firms. And we want to close with two reasons
why consulting firms consistently choose M-Files for
their digital transformation.
Ease of implementation. There’s no need to move
your files from where they are, M-Files fits with the way
your employees are working and with the tools they are
using. It’s also scalable, and that means that you can
start with a pilot and then expand its use as you see fit.
Change management. M-Files is simple and easy
to use, even for people who have no technology
background. On top of that, our consultants and
services are with you along the way, to make sure you
can make the most of its implementation quickly.

“We were pleased that we could easily configure M-Files to meet the nuances
of our particular business. As a firm that sells ‘non-tangible’ services versus a
physical product, we find that not all technology solutions can be easily adapted
to meet the specific needs of our business, but M-Files was strong in this area and
made it a straightforward process.”
- Markko Ihamuotila, Senior Advisor - Hill+Knowlton

5 Digital Transformation Challenges Unique to the Business Consulting Industry

ABOUT M-FILES
M-Files provides a next-generation intelligent information management platform that
improves business performance by helping people find and use information more effectively.
Unlike traditional enterprise content management (ECM) systems or content services
platforms, M-Files unifies systems, data and content across the organization without
disturbing existing systems and processes or requiring data migration. Using artificial
intelligence (AI) technologies in its unique Intelligent Metadata Layer, M-Files breaks down
silos by delivering an in-context experience for accessing and leveraging information that
resides in any system and repository, including network folders, SharePoint, file sharing
services, ECM systems, CRM, ERP and other business systems and repositories. Thousands of
organizations in more than 100 countries use M-Files for managing their business information
and processes, including NBC Universal, OMV, Rovio, SAS Institute and thyssenkrupp.

For more information, visit www.m-files.com.

M-Files has offices in eight countries. To contact one of our regional offices, click here:
www.m-files.com/en/contact-us.

M-Files is a registered trademark of M-Files Corporation. All other registered trademarks

belong to their respective owners.

@M_Files linkedin.com/company/m-files-corporation