Dubai is one of the top business destinations globally and its investor friendly regime supports growth and development of businesses. With businesses spread across construction, e-commerce, travel and tourism, health, FMCG sectors, among others, Dubai is a hot-spot for growth. Multinationals and start-ups alike have considered Dubai as a regional base for expansion and market success. Dubai offers itself as a gateway for accessibility across regions in the west and east, a flourishing economy with political stability, world-class infrastructure, booming manufacturing sector and an improved quality of life. To capitalise on this market opportunity and reap matching benefits, a focussed and concerted effort is required. Business consultants provide the expert advice needed to succeed in a market as diverse as Dubai. The challenge is to find business consultants that align with the business needs and vision. The steps to target the right business consultants and make the most of the Dubai market have been highlighted below.
The first step to getting a business consultant in Dubai would be to first identify own requirements and needs. A few broad questions to discuss with the key stakeholders of the business are;
The above stated questions provide only a glimpse to the internal discussions needed before going on a search for a business consultant. If the company is unable to identify business needs, getting on an introductory call with few target consultants can give an understanding from an expert on what the requirements should be. Being open about company expectations with respect to timelines, commercials and business needs is essential in having an effective conversation. The outcome of brainstorming sessions would be identification of a few problem statements that the business consultants would come on board to answer.
The search for the business consultants would be made much easier with the identified problem statements. The next steps involve some amount of groundwork with respect to identifying a list of business consultants in Dubai and requesting company information. To match the identified needs with right set of business consultants, consultant’s expertise, past work, local presence and accessibility needs to be mapped. Although the process seems tedious, finding the right fit ensures that the company gets their value for money, time and effort.
The first focus is on finding a consultant with the values and priorities that match company’s vision. A due diligence on the business consultants is needed with respect to the qualifications and experience of their team, accessibility and responsiveness of the potential project manager and their ability to deliver promised value to the company. A team that is accessible, accountable and engaging from the pre-planning to planning phase is promising.
Additionally, company’s industry experience is reflective of their knowledge and expertise in the sector. The business consultant’s access to a network of industry leaders, experts can be advantageous to access key developments in the regional market and anticipate future challenges. The initial few calls would be dedicated towards understanding how the business consultants propose to help you. Calls with different consultants would give a sense of the differences between consultants and their unique selling propositions. Consultants can come with varying expertise, some may offer to provide generic recommendations, other offer tailored recommendations based on detailed understanding of company’s operations and yet another set of consultants go all the way, from strategizing to implementation. It is important to identify consultant’s way of working through a detailed understanding of their past work and samples of previous reports.
Business consultants that offer a network of expert vendors in business setup, marketing and logistics facilitate a complete value package as they are positioned as a one stop shop for all business needs. So, if the company’s requirements span across different services, it is much more convenient to deal with a single vendor for all proposed services than to deal with all separately, routinely.
Costs and timelines also play an important role in finalising a business consultant. It is important to map out the upfront and monthly commercials necessary for hiring a business consultant on the business plan to account for its impact on the regular expenses. Costs also play an important point of comparison among different business consultants and company’s own budgets. Timelines help assess the availability and level of commitment from the business consultants during the course of the project. It also assists companies in mapping their own priorities and internal projects in alignment to the timelines.
Business consultants in Dubai can be found through search engines, referrals from other businesses in the region, information portals that provide competitive insights and company profiles as well as the chamber of commerce at Dubai. The right set of keywords based on identified problem statements are bound to give the most precise list of consultants that the company can pick from. Business consulting companies’ effectiveness of commutation is revealed as part of the introductory calls as well as the pre-planning calls. While the process of shortlisting is long, it could be really rewarding in terms of company growth and value augmentation if the right match is identified. Based on the business needs, a company might be looking for a long term or short-term engagement. It is important to evaluate the expected duration of engagement in order to facilitate easy decision making in the future. If a long-term engagement is expected, it should be communicated to the prospective consultants in advance.
Local networks and presence are essential in countering the challenges encountered during the execution of the project. Dubai’s strong cultural traditions and its significant expat population, requires local expertise in landscaping the diverse consumer segments and identification of the go- to-market strategy. A good consultant can help optimize organization's price and promotion positioning by aligning it with company’s expectations in a market dominated by ever changing consumer preferences and behaviour.
Each region and industry are dominated by trends and evolving dynamics that need to be understood well before optimally targeting business areas. There are innumerable business consultants in Dubai, each offering a defined set of services across geographies. The key to tapping and identifying the right fit is to perform extensive internal evaluation to identify problem statements and to conduct external evaluation on the consultants to characterise a right fit. Getting a business consultant in Dubai is easy, but finding the right fit for the business needs and company culture is a tedious process that requires a structured approach to the process.
The best strategy for getting a business consultant in Dubai is to work through the aforementioned steps. We, at The Strategy Boutique, help to break down the entire process and set up easy entry for companies, walking with the company every step of the way on journey to growth and providing local support. The team strategizes from start to finish, from understanding business registration and legal requirements to identifying the company's target market and establishing its presence in Dubai and the UAE region. The team provides expertise gained from a diverse range of global cases, as well as highly qualified professionals and relevant local presence in the region.
Over the last 7 years, we have serviced clients across 25 countries. As a global management consultancy firm, we have offered a wide range of expertise across many sectors. Our team has a combined 100 years of experience across industries and functions. Over the years, TSB has extensively leveraged its competency and network for secondary and primary research, data collection, surveying, on-ground pilots, data analysis and more and continues to partner with organizations who align with the mission. Each industry has its own nuances, its own peculiarities and its own set of challenges. We offer pragmatic and practical industry experience through our suite of services to ensure that we deliver solutions that work and are effective. We assist clients with market research and strategy, analytics and insights, financial advisory and restructuring, marketing, communications and sales, impact evaluation, HR consulting and Technology Consulting. The Strategy Boutique provides the right ropes for the growth of its clients.