No matter the industry your small- or medium-sized business (SMB) is in, it can benefit from the expertise of a professional services firm. A professional services firm specializes in providing expertise to other companies or organizations through consulting or work outsourcing. By leveraging professional services, your SMB can achieve your goals in a more strategic, efficient, and cost-effective manner.
Related article: Managed services vs. professional services: What’s the difference, and which one does your SMB need?
3 Core professional services models
It’s critical that you know exactly why you’re hiring a consulting/outsourcing firm. This not only allows you to justify the rationale behind hiring one, but it also enables you to set clear expectations with the firm you’ll be doing business with.
There are three general reasons businesses turn to professional services for help. Depending on your needs, you may leverage one or several of the following professional services models to better hit your targets.
1. Brains model
The gist: Hire professional services firms because they’re smart.
In this model, a business hires a professional services firm because of the latter’s superior technical competence. This type of professional service is very useful when there are several tasks that need to be done, learning how to do these on your own would take a long time.
For instance, the brains model is useful when your company wants to build an app but doesn’t know where to start. The consulting/outsourcing firm can help you lay the foundation for creating your app, such as giving feedback on the app interface and user experience. In some cases, they can even build the app for you.
2. Grey hair model
The gist: Hire professional services firms because they’re experienced.
In the grey hair model, a business relies on professionals who are experienced in the ins and outs of a particular field or process. With XBASE Technologies’ professional IT services, for instance, you’ll get access to seasoned IT specialists who know tech products, systems, and businesses like the back of their hands. This knowledge enables them to ascertain which solutions best fit clients’ needs, as well as how to maximize resources effectively to create stable IT infrastructures that drive business growth.
3. Procedural model
The gist: Hire professional services firms because they can solve a problem efficiently.
The procedural model involves a fairly common client problem: a business must accomplish a one-off project within a specific period, and they want people who know what needs to be done and how. A solution or process has to be operationalized, and professional services can provide human resources that can handle the job.
An example of this is Office 365 migration, a process that doesn’t require the highest level of technical skill but can be easy to mess up. By utilizing the services of a third party that specializes in data migration, you can prevent any misconfiguration that can result in costly data loss and downtime.
What are the signs that your SMB needs to leverage professional services?
Your business stands to gain a suite of benefits by making the most of what professional services firms offer. But how do you know when you should partner with one? Your SMB may profit from such firms if your organization needs to improve productivity, increase efficiency, streamline processes, or increase employee knowledge and skills.
Teaming up with a professional services firm can also decrease the time spent on training new employees to do certain processes. Having experienced professionals at your disposal can even eliminate the need to train staff altogether. On top of these, seeking the help of professional services firms can allow you to expand into new market areas or niches that your organization normally wouldn’t be able to reach because of the lack of resources or knowledge.
The professional services model makes you confident that the experts you hire have the experience and procedural know-how to accomplish what you need them to do. Discover how our professional services at XBASE Technologies can help you reach every business goal. Contact us now.