Rising global turbulence and increasing customer expectations are compelling organizations to raise their resilience game. A consultant can help, but finding the right advisor is a challenge in its own right.
[Related: Operational Resilience vs Business Continuity: Why You Need Both]
Thanks to global instability, extreme weather, and other threats, today’s business environment is more challenging than ever. At the same time, customer expectations for 24/7 service and proof that their suppliers can be relied on are on the rise.
These forces are driving responsible and ambitious organizations in all fields to take a hard look at their ability to maintain operations under pressure and recover quickly after disruptions. For many, this sparks an interest in engaging an outside operational resilience (OR) and business continuity (BC) consultant.
For definitions of “operational resilience” and “business continuity,” and an explanation of why both are essential, see my recent post, “Operational Resilience vs Business Continuity: Why You Need Both.”
Briefly, resilience is about improving your ability to keep your critical operations going no matter what. BC is about having the ability to swiftly restore key operations if and when they do experience a disruption. You need both because 1) customers today have high expectations of service availability and 2) sometimes, despite your best efforts, you will still experience an outage.
Incidentally, no one is either a resilience consultant or a BC consultant. The disciplines are interwoven, and every good consultant in our field is knowledgeable about both.
Finding the right consultant is not quite as hard as building a solid OR and BC program, but it’s not a walk in the park, either. There are a lot of firms to choose from, most would love to have your business, and many organizations seeking an advisor are unfamiliar with the field’s goals, purpose, vocabulary, and methodology.
To such organizations, the first and best tip I could share is: don’t look for the best OR and BC consulting firm; there’s no such thing. Look for the firm that is the best fit for you in terms of size, culture, industry, resources, and goals.
For additional advice, read on.
Follow these tips to identify a resilience and BC consultant who can help you safeguard your operations and organization in an efficient, enduring, and cost-effective manner.
If you already know the resilience ropes, great. If you’re new to the subject, take time to learn the basics before you start shopping for a partner. A little background knowledge can go a long way in helping you understand your needs, frame your expectations, communicate with your management and prospective consultants, and evaluate candidates. You could do worse than telling your favorite AI tool, “Give me an introduction to operational resilience and business continuity.”
There’s more than one route to finding a good OR and BC consultant. Some organizations use a structured procurement process (RFPs, competitive bids, scoring matrices). Others find their consultant by reading blogs, seeing the person speak at a conference, or hearing their name from a trusted colleague. At MHA, clients routinely come to us through both avenues. We respond to RFPs where the organization seems like a good fit for us. We’re also happy to have exploratory phone calls with interested companies. However you go about seeking a consultant, be mindful of the items covered in this list.
Try to work out exactly what your organization wants from the consultant and your program generally. Do you want to do a current state assessment to find out where you stand? Do a business impact analysis (BIA) to identify your most critical business processes? Bring in someone to build your entire program then hand it to you to run? It’s a lot easier for a consultant to help you meet your needs and goals if you know what they are. If you aren’t sure, that’s all right, too. A good consultant can help you sort through the options and recommend a path forward. In such cases, they’re likely to recommend a current state assessment (more on those below).
Secure senior management’s support for the investment and set a realistic completion timeframe. If you write an RFP, include the start and end dates and milestones for consultant questions, your internal responses, interviews, and final selection. Knowing your budget ahead of time avoids awkward pauses in the process. A well-structured schedule signals to consultants that you are serious and organized, two qualities that attract strong candidates.
Another point to heed if you go the RFP route: Decide in advance how you will choose your consultant and put it in writing. Whether you prioritize experience, pricing, methodology, cultural fit, or a mix of factors, create a simple scoring formula that everyone involved can agree on. This prevents decisions from being made on gut feel alone and helps keep the process fair, objective, and transparent—especially when multiple stakeholders are weighing in.
Start with broad research to find firms with relevant experience then narrow to three to five that appear to align with your needs. Explore their websites, look for case studies, and ask your peers for recommendations. A focused shortlist allows you to spend more time evaluating each candidate in depth rather than spreading your energy across too many possibilities.
Many of the biggest names in OR and BC did not become famous by doing resilience and continuity work; they did it by doing accounting, management consulting, or IT. Most moved into OR and BC fairly recently. Whoever you are considering, make sure resilience is part of their core competency and that they have a firm commitment to it. Here at MHA, we’ve been doing business continuity and resilience consulting (and nothing else) for 25 years and counting.
It’s great if a prospective consultant has deep experience in your industry. MHA has worked for clients in almost every industry and we’ve worked all over the U.S. and abroad. That experience is a plus for our clients: it means we’ve likely faced challenges similar to theirs before and know efficient ways to solve them. That said, I would advise against ruling out a consultant because they lack experience in your specific niche. This is especially true if you work in an industry somewhat new to OR and BC, such as mining and law. In such a case, you might look to see if they have worked in an industry of comparable complexity or regulatory rigor as yours.
Strong firms can work across the full BCM lifecycle, from assessments to recovery exercises and maintenance. Make sure your choice has the ability to deliver across the full arc of BC practice. Most consultancies will use software tools to smooth collaboration and speed the work. Ask about their tools’ security, capabilities, and accessibility. Also, gauge the firm’s ability to pivot mid-project if your priorities change. Resilience engagements often require quick adjustments in midstream.
In hiring a resilience consultant, you want more than a vendor. You want a trusted advisor invested in your long-term resilience. Look for signs that the firm will speak up if you’re over- or under-buying services and that they’ll align their work with your goals rather than impose their pet methodology on you. The best consultants balance professional objectivity with a genuine commitment to your success.
Pricing should reflect fair value for the expertise, tools, and outcomes you’re buying. Extremely low pricing can indicate inexperience, lack of confidence, or minimal capabilities. On the other hand, the highest price tag doesn’t automatically mean the best fit. Make price one factor among several in your decision.
Talking to the references the firm provides is just a starting point. (They’ll naturally connect you to their happiest clients.) Seek independent feedback from peers, review publicly available case studies, and check for consistent patterns of quality work. This extra step can reveal red flags or confirm that the firm truly delivers as promised. This is a small industry. The names of the top performers are well-known. The ones that don’t deliver don’t last long.
This typically comes into play after you’ve chosen a firm, but this is a good time to mention it. From the outset, your company should designate a person to be the consultant’s principal contact for the engagement. This person should be committed to helping the consultant navigate the organization and ensuring that employees complete their assigned tasks in a timely manner. This can make or break the engagement.
If you have no idea what to do next, consider hiring someone to perform a current state assessment (CSA). Obtaining an objective assessment of your OR and BC position can give you a clear picture of your strengths and gaps and provide a prioritized list of recommended future actions (we call this a roadmap). It also lets you see the consultant in action, which can help you decide if you want to them for a larger engagement.
These days, no organization can afford to take operational resilience and business continuity lightly. Finding the right consultant is about matching your needs, culture, and resources to the expertise and approach of a trusted partner.
By following the tips above, you can dramatically improve your odds of choosing a consultant who will deliver long-term value. From clarifying your objectives to checking references, each step strengthens your ability to select someone who can help safeguard your operations.
At MHA Consulting, we’ve spent over 25 years helping organizations of all sizes and sectors raise their resilience game. If you’d like to explore how we can help your organization protect itself and thrive under pressure, give us a call. We’d be glad to talk.