B2E Consulting Viewpoints: Resource Augmentation – How To Get The Best Consultant

Did you know that Consulting Resource Augmentation is a $10 billion business worldwide?  Despite the size of the market and it’s importance to successful delivery of projects it is often overlooked.

Let’s start with what do we mean by resource augmentation?  Resource augmentation is a business strategy where a company temporarily hires external professionals or teams to supplement its existing workforce. This is a cost-effective approach and allows companies hiring skilled professionals only when needed instead of maintaining a large full-time staff. Typically, Resource augmentation is where a company is looking for one or a small team of ‘Big 4’ type of consultants to:

• Help support delivery by bolstering a project team or providing some subject matter expertise in transformation/project management – basically provide skills where they need supplementary capacity or capability
• Face off against or manage top tier consultancies in a programme or to help deliver a transformation project – they provide expertise in helping them manage the ‘top tier’ consultants having been one themselves.

There are two questions a company should consider. Firstly, where you go to get these types of consultants and how do you minimise costs/get the best quality person and secondly, should I utilise one or many companies to help get the right consultant?

1. Where to find Resource Augmentation Consultants?

The best consultants are those who brings expertise, who aligns with your business needs, fits in with your culture, communicates effectively, and delivers measurable results.

There are various types of companies that can provide these resources:

• The Top Tier Consultancies who can provide expertise but who can be more expensive and require extensive onboarding and offboarding management.
• Recruitment agencies can go and find individual consultants but may themselves not have a background in consulting and therefore will rely on the client to interview a consultant thoroughly to ensure that they are the correct fit. This all adds time to the process and has an associated cost.
• The third type is those niche consultancies who specialise in providing these types of resources and who often have smaller overheads and can often offer lower rates.

2. Should one or multiple companies be selected to find a resource?

This depends on several factors, such as urgency, specialization, and the level of exclusivity you want. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?

Using One Company (Exclusive Partnership)

Having an exclusive relationship with one trusted partner can have several advantages:

• Stronger Relationship – The consultancy company gets to know your company culture, needs, and preferences better allowing them to source a consultant who fits with your organisation
• Less Administrative Work – You don’t have to manage relationships with multiple companies, making administration easier and cheaper
• More Competitive Pricing – Some companies offer discounts for exclusivity or discounts for volume, also less costs for onboarding and offboarding the client

Disadvantages:

• Slower Results (Potentially) – If the company doesn’t have access to a broad talent pool, it might take longer to find the right consultant
• Limited Candidate Options – You are relying on one company’s network, which may not cover all available consultants.

Using Multiple Companies (Non-Exclusive Approach)

 Advantages:

• Wider Talent Pool – More companies may mean access to more consultants
• Faster Hiring – Companies compete to fill the position quickly (although whether this delivers the quality required is questionable)

Disadvantages:

• Many consultancy firms all working on getting the right resource can be motivated by the wrong things, usually substituting accuracy and thoroughness for speed in order to try to beat their competitors. Finding the right candidate is not about speed. It’s about being thorough.
• More Administrative Work – Managing multiple companies means more coordination, potentially duplicate consultants, and inconsistent communication and therefore increased costs.

Best Approach?

B2E Consulting believes that using a single trusted advisor partner who knows your culture and company and who thoroughly vets the consultant will find you the best talent for resource augmentation.

B2E Consulting is staffed by ex-top tier consultants, so we understand your requirements. We have a network of over 20,000 consultants – the majority of which are ex-top tier consultants or have considerable blue-chip experience and by having lower overheads, B2E Consulting is able to deliver quality consultants for resource augmentation at a very competitive rate.

Our experienced Delivery Partners mean you have one person to contact throughout the process which will reduce the amount of time/cost required for any administration. They also conduct through vetting of any consultants to save your time and money and ensure that you get exactly the right type of consultant to help you successfully deliver your project.

B2E Consulting has considerable experience in providing Resource Augmentation. Please do get in touch if you have any further information requirements.

Alex King is a Delivery Partner at B2E Consulting. Previously she has been a Solution Architect for many HR Transformation Programmes at several Investment Banks and an ex Senior Manager from Accenture.

About the author, Alex King.

Alex spent the first ten years of her career at Accenture specialising in change management & process design for financial services organisations. She then moved to roles at Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse where she worked on large scale HR transformation projects.

More recently she has worked for a startup Lloyd’s of London Broker as Head of Organisational Effectiveness.

When Alex is not working, she enjoys a renovation project, spending time with family and friends and is a keen visitor to all things National Trust!