Penelope Trunk is predicting it: the end of consulting. I agree. I call myself a ‘consultant’ but I realized that all the work I’ve done in the last few years has been, in essence, “consulting.”
I’m not surprised, either. It’s easier than ever to become an expert (Wikipedia, right?) and it’s especially easy to work from home (Web Worker Daily rocks!). In fact, I intend to work from home or a number of remote client locations for the next few weeks. Heck, I work for a Big Four and I use Toggl to track my time across clients, projects and many other things.
That’s what I love about where I work. There’s a desire to be entrepreneurial, a leader in innovation. Our partner realizes we need to adapt and I strongly believe we’re all consulting for a variety of people (clients, colleagues, etc.). And once everyone is consulting, no one is consulting.
I heard something similar to this the other day. It’s becoming more and more of a trend to hire folks who are specialized in one or two specific things rather than a large one-stop-shop firm. As a business owner I’ve noticed the same thing. I’d much rather find a dependable individual who can do the work (even if it’s more expensive) than a bigger company. It’s more personable, it’s quicker, and better for the economy too.
Yeah, that makes sense. On the other hand though, that companies like mine are also very well known, the quality is consistent and we are leaders in thought knowledge. That’s just a few reasons why you’d still want to hire a (small team from a) big company.