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They're also the "legit" channel for corporate espionage (or, research sharing, if you prefer), especially for processes and such. They didn't make up that "bes

They're also the "legit" channel for corporate espionage (or, research sharing, if you prefer), especially for processes and such. They didn't make up that "best practice" they're teaching you now—they stole it from your competitor. They'll figure out if you're doing anything better than them and clue them in on their next engagement. And the wheel keeps on turning.

tata71 5y ago
Good for consumers, in some cases, I'd say.
PeterisP 5y ago
The essence of consulting business is that if you ask a consultant what the time is, they take your watch, look at it, tell you the time, and keep the watch. On the other hand, there is real value unlocked by simply getting information from team A to team B in a dysfunctional organization that is totally unable to do it themselves; and most large organizations are dysfunctional in this sense.
- sdoering 5y ago
  Exactly that. I work for an agency that was bought by global consulting conglomerate. This gave me insight into the workings at global companies that hire consultancies. At first I really didn't understand why these global companies shelled out this much money for consultants until I understood that more often than not it is the lines of communication these consultants open up. They make it possible for information to flow from one stratified silo into another. For IT to talk to marketing and marketing to talk to product. And so on. Not that I really enjoy the political side and the PowerPoint side of the job, but at least I understood some things better.
whatshisface 5y ago
I'm not sure I can agree with the word "stole." It's clearly in everyone's interest that that process goes on, or at least the interest of everyone who hires consultants; if a company was uniformly better than all of their competitors or thought they were, they wouldn't hire external consultants.
- brimble 5y ago
  Yeah, I intended that a bit tongue in cheek. Of course everyone knows what's going on, though to some extent they pretend not to.
  - whatshisface 5y ago
    There's a (humorously) fine line between the apparent antipodes of pretending not to know something and thinking that it's such universal common knowledge that there's no need to discuss it. :-)

tata71 5y ago

Good for consumers, in some cases, I'd say.

PeterisP 5y ago

The essence of consulting business is that if you ask a consultant what the time is, they take your watch, look at it, tell you the time, and keep the watch. On the other hand, there is real value unlocked by simply getting information from team A to team B in a dysfunctional organization that is totally unable to do it themselves; and most large organizations are dysfunctional in this sense.

sdoering 5y ago
Exactly that. I work for an agency that was bought by global consulting conglomerate. This gave me insight into the workings at global companies that hire consultancies. At first I really didn't understand why these global companies shelled out this much money for consultants until I understood that more often than not it is the lines of communication these consultants open up. They make it possible for information to flow from one stratified silo into another. For IT to talk to marketing and marketing to talk to product. And so on. Not that I really enjoy the political side and the PowerPoint side of the job, but at least I understood some things better.

whatshisface 5y ago

I'm not sure I can agree with the word "stole." It's clearly in everyone's interest that that process goes on, or at least the interest of everyone who hires consultants; if a company was uniformly better than all of their competitors or thought they were, they wouldn't hire external consultants.

brimble 5y ago
Yeah, I intended that a bit tongue in cheek. Of course everyone knows what's going on, though to some extent they pretend not to.
- whatshisface 5y ago
  There's a (humorously) fine line between the apparent antipodes of pretending not to know something and thinking that it's such universal common knowledge that there's no need to discuss it. :-)