Why are Advisory Companies More Valuable than Ever?
In the ecosystem of businesses, consulting companies occupy an important but delicate position: to balance the interests of their customers with their own. Their product is an amalgam of repeatable components, commodified, as well as value-added services continuously evolving with new scenarios.
I recently joined Beyond Enterprizes as Managing Advisor. The founder of Beyond, Brad Yasar, and I have worked together on many projects in the past, and I am excited to see from the inside the workings of this firm.
Beyond has been very successful, and for several years helped dozens of clients succeed with a market capitalization combined for these clients now over $14 billion.
Important in my view, is to correctly balance the reusable components and new value-added components of activities with clients in a reliable way, where correspondence between the initial analysis, and the proposal, and the reality of day to day implementation are clear and actionable, even when there are new challenges. There will be necessary adaptations along the way. If a company seeks to internalize some new, quickly accelerating technology, such as blockchain, it may be harder to keep up. In these cases it may be impossible to internalize a new set of capabilities rapidly enough. The right advisory will offer guidance here. Decisions made without external help are more difficult.
Blockchain is an exciting field. It ebbs and flows, and some people feel they shouldn't touch it because of its volatility. Others realize Blockchain, Bitcoin, Ethereum and others are here to stay. They can delay the moment they embrace it, analyze, and incorporate it in their business processes, but sooner or later that moment will come. It is a bit like what happened with the internet 20 years ago: some people were not convinced it would be necessary to have a website, or even an email address. From an economic point of view, businesses that shun the internet, electronic commerce transactions or just basic digital communications run the risk of becoming extinct. Beyond Enterprizes is here to help clients convinced of the value of Blockchain who want to start a project that embraces it, creating value in myriad ways.
We are still finding more of these ways, and what is possible. The most popular application of Blockchain technologies is in the world of finance, payments and banking.
Beyond has incubated many successful projects. EQIFI was one, to the point that Brad, the Founder, felt the need to join the project, becoming its CEO. EQIFI is unique as the first DeFi (Decentralized Finance) platform partnered with a fully licensed and regulated, international digital bank, EQIBank.
Even greater opportunities await us. In a world where technology changes so quickly that companies cannot build and deploy through their resources alone, the barrier between what is inside and outside the company dissolves. Companies that embrace decentralization and understand how to leverage it will thrive.
What are the relationships that make companies' initiatives successful? If the distinction between inside and outside dissolves, this means consulting companies play a fundamental role in an increasing number of functions and services, projects, and initiatives that need to be carried out to be competitive, whatever the brand represents traditionally. How this can be managed depends on the skills and talents of those running the projects, whether on the side of the client, or the consultant. They also depend on using efficient tools of collaboration and coordination. One could not coordinate the activities of a globally distributed workforce with fax machines, telegraphs or the Pony Express. One can leverage the infrastructure to run these new types of organizations, only with tools we have now available.
Knowledge management may be approached in the same way. The body of shared understanding, between the client company and consultant is as crucial in managing dynamic, rapidly evolving scenarios, as is communication and coordination tools. This harmonious, dynamic and symbiotic relationship creates true value. This is where inspiration, vision and execution meet.
I am looking forward to seeing what comes next, how we can evolve the tools, knowledge management and our relationships with our clients. I invite you to not only follow Beyond Enterprizes, but to reach out to endeavor to understand how these tools, and processes, evolve in the world at large. They occupy a unique, delicate but fundamental place in our economy and the future of our world.
