There are many ways to expand a business. For instance, you can decide to acquire a competing business or merge with another competitor to have a stronger market position to compete with bigger firms. You can also decide to open offices or outlets in foreign markets to grow your business. Each of these business expansion strategies has its own pros and cons that investors and business managers should be aware of. Since you may not know all it takes to get involved with any of these processes, you will need business intelligence consulting services.
Importance of Business Intelligence Consulting
You need someone to do the necessary research on the firm you want to acquire or merge with. Important details, such as their current market valuation, annual revenue, recurrent expenditure, liabilities, cash-flow position, competitors, current market share and the likes can help you to make an informed decision when considering a merger or acquisition.
Before you can enter a foreign market, you will need to know about the tax code as it relates to your business. Similarly, you will need to know about government policies that touch on your industry, the market size, local languages, accounting rules and other important factors that may affect your business. This type of research can only be done by a reliable business intelligence consultancy firm. Fortunately, there are many consultancy firms offering these services, so you only need to pick the right one. In this regard, the following are key factors of consideration when looking for a suitable business intelligence consultant:
i) Industry Experience
While there are many firms that can offer the consultancy services you need, it is important to note that no two businesses or industries are the same. Therefore, you need to give priority consideration to consultancy firms that have worked in the same industry for several years. In fact, the ideal firm must have helped businesses that are similar to yours to achieve goals that are similar to yours. The most experienced consultant should be given priority consideration.
ii) Guarantees
When paying for consultancy services, you want guarantees regarding the advice or information you will be getting. You do not want to rely on inaccurate information. For this reason, the ideal service provider must offer a customer satisfaction guarantee as well as a hassle-free money-back guarantee in case the service does not meet your expectations.
iii) Cost
The cost of consultancy services will differ from one consultant to the next. Therefore, you need to obtain quotes from several firms and do a comparison of the quotes to find the most affordable consultant for your business needs.
