Whether it involves legal, financial or tax consultancy, organisational advice and research, marketing, training courses, or HR consultancy, the focus at Professional Services is always on people who create value for their customers. The only capital is human capital, which is the core activity with which we help Professional Services Firms.
Professional Services
Brainpower
Hundreds if not thousands of books have been published on how to manage professionals. Professional Services Firms can roughly be divided into three categories: strategic consultancy, solutions, and the supply of capacity. Sacco van de Velde, Partner: "For our clients, we mainly focus on the first two: brainpower and taking things further, getting things done. Making strategies work on the level of management, senior management and professionals. It is particularly important to look at other competencies when filling key positions at the highest level. In those types of firms, the best professional advisers generally grow to become managers or partners. Then it's important to have good people on your team. Gone are the days when your success as a Professional Services Firm depended solely on expert knowledge."
Growing
Market regulation, outsourcing, internationalisation, innovation and the use of new technology are important driving forces behind the growth of the Professional Services sector. A sector with a faster than average rate of growth, both in scale and in the number of businesses. Sacco van de Velde: "This sector has a special dynamic with ever-changing partnerships and alliances, both among themselves and with strategically important customers. The larger parties realise there's no point in trying to do everything yourself or have everything in-house. When necessary, they work together with smaller super-specialists, boutiques. That's linked to developments on the labour market too, of course. Big established talents no longer always want to work at large organisations. But they do want to work for them. That requires an important competency: the ability to forge alliances. And that has to be done from the highest management level. Because one thing is clear: for a Professional Services Firm, putting customers first - on all levels - is the most important condition for success. Thanks to the Internet, knowledge and ideas can now be found everywhere: it's up to you to add real value. An excellent reputation is as important as it always was, but authority can no longer be taken for granted."
Processes and individuals
Whereas one professional firm might be based on the brilliance of individuals, another may owe its success to its use of the right internal processes. Operational excellence. The bureau you choose to work with determines which people will excel in this area. Whereas in the first case brainpower and creativity are important factors, in the second case it is essential to work in a structured and systematic way. That is why the internal structures of professional firms are made up of such different elements. You have to understand this if you want to meet your personnel needs properly.
Network organisations
To an increasing extent, Professional Services Firms are becoming network organisations in which the new technology is an important driver. These networks are not just linked to ‘similar service providers', but are interrelated more and more with various knowledge centres and the client. Sacco van de Velde: "Co-development, co-creation, in some areas they're still in their infancy, but you can't do without them if you want to keep innovating. This places huge demands on managers - in fact, a new attitude to doing business. Investing in each other, putting ideas on the table without clearly knowing how they will evolve, who will soon be the owner and how the earning model looks. What you need: vision, people knowledge, patience and a bold approach. People like that are hard to find. But we know where they are, thanks to the fact that we have been tracking them for years through their careers. And we meet the up-and-coming talents that have mastered this way of thinking in our communities, which include:
