Many organizations that are interested in hiring an outside business continuity consultant are unsure how much help they need.
In deciding whether to hire a firm for a specific project, set up an ongoing relationship, or do something in between, each company should examine the details of its unique situation.
Related: We’ve Got Your Back: How MHA’s Program Augmentation Service Can Boost Your BC Program
Summary
Most business continuity consultancies offer clients a variety of options for engaging their services. At MHA, tailoring our services to meet the customer’s needs has been part of our approach from the beginning.
Common models for purchasing BC consulting services include engaging a firm for a specific project, establishing an ongoing relationship, and combining project-based and ongoing support.
In any given month, MHA is likely to be working with customers using half a dozen different approaches. We might be doing 100 BIAs for company A, standing up a brand-new business continuity program for company B, and managing an existing BC program for company C. And there are many variations between and beyond those arrangements.
In every case, we tailor the engagement to the customer’s needs and preferences.
The flexibility that BC consultancies offer in terms of engagement type is a boon for clients who know what they want. But it can be a stumbling block for companies that are less sure. I’ve known of organizations that put off hiring a consultant because they didn’t know where to begin in scoping the engagement.
Richard Long and I have both written blogs sharing tips on how to choose a BC consultant. See “Client’s Guide to Hiring a BC Consultant” and “A Little Help: How to Select a BCM Consultant.”
We’ve also written on different ways consultants can help organizations improve their programs. For example, see “Getting Started with BCaaS: MHA’s Approach to Business Continuity as a Service” and “8 Ways Hiring a Consultant Can Benefit Your BC Program.”
In this post, I want to share some advice on the specific matter of which type of engagement, project, ongoing, or in-between, might work best for your organization given the current state of your program, how much you want to make BC one of your core competencies, and other factors.
No blog post can provide a company with a definitive answer to this question. But I can lay out some of the topics you should think about as you consider what type of arrangement might work best for your organization.
The answers you come up with can provide a useful starting point for talking with your colleagues and managers, crafting a request for proposals (RFP), or talking with a BC consultant.
Here are some of the factors you should consider as you think about what type of engagement might make the most sense for your organization:
Start by looking at what you have today. Do you need to build a program from scratch? Do you have an established BC program and the people to manage it? Or do you have a program and want someone else to take on the burden of maintaining it? The answer can make a big difference in the kind of help you need.
Be as specific as you can about the problem you want to solve. You might need help with a particular task, such as conducting BIAs or facilitating an exercise. You might need specialized expertise that you don’t have internally. Or you might simply need someone to take work off your staff’s plate.
How much responsibility do you want your organization to retain for its BC program? Some companies want to develop BC as an internal core competency and use consultants to provide expertise or additional capacity. Others want an outside firm to handle most or even all of this function.
Some organizations need help accomplishing a particular objective and then want to take the work back in-house. Others know they will need continuing support to keep the program moving and up to date. Still others may want to start with a specific project and decide later whether they need more help.
Having someone responsible for BC doesn’t necessarily mean you have all the people, time, or expertise needed to run the program. If your internal staff is stretched thin, outside help may provide needed execution capacity. If you lack particular expertise, a consultant may be able to fill that gap without taking over the entire program.
Your industry can affect what you need from a consultant. Regulations might require you to have an in-house BC staff. Even so, those employees might lack the time or expertise needed to accomplish key BC objectives efficiently. The type of industry you are in can influence both the type of work you need done and the kind of expertise you want from an outside firm.
Consider whether you want the consultant to complete a project and hand it back to you, remain available to augment your internal team, or continue to maintain and develop the program on an ongoing basis. Thinking about the longer-term relationship can help you distinguish between a project engagement and an ongoing one.
You don’t have to answer all of these questions before talking with a consultant. But thinking about them can help clarify your situation and give you a useful starting point for discussing what kind of engagement might work best for your organization.
There are many ways to engage a business continuity consultant, from a specific project to an ongoing relationship, with plenty of options in between. The right approach depends on what your organization needs and how much of the BC function you want to handle internally.
You don’t have to figure out all the details before talking with a consultant. But thinking about your current program, your needs, your resources, and your goals can give you a useful starting point for that conversation.
At MHA, we work with organizations across the full range of engagement types, tailoring our services to their particular needs and preferences. If you’d like to discuss what type of BC consulting engagement might work best for your organization, get in touch.
Organizations can hire a consultant for a specific project, establish an ongoing relationship, or combine project-based and ongoing support. There are many variations between those approaches.
There’s no single answer. The best approach depends on factors such as the state of your current program, what you need help with, your internal resources and expertise, and how much of the BC function you want to handle yourself.
Think about what you have in place, what you need the consultant to accomplish, how much you want to handle internally, whether your need is one-time or ongoing, and whether industry or regulatory requirements affect your needs.
No. Thinking through the relevant factors can help you clarify your situation and provide a useful starting point for discussing your options with a consultant.
MHA works across the spectrum, from conducting BIAs and other limited projects to building entire BC programs and either handing them off to internal teams or providing ongoing support and program management.