Each year, Business Talent Group releases our High-End Independent Talent Report, looking across industries and business functions to analyze how business leaders deploy independent consultants, executives, experts, and project managers to complete critical work and meet their goals. Here are the top trends in how strategy leaders deployed these highly skilled talent in 2020.
Strategy and internal consulting group (ICG) leaders often have more internal demand than they can fill. Many also need access to highly specialized skills as they evaluate new opportunities and challenges. They turn to independents for a fast, flexible answer to both issues, seeking targeted support across a wide array of specialties: new markets, products, technologies, data management, and more.
PROJECT CATEGORIES: Strategy and ICGs
| 68% Strategy |
| 20% Operations |
| 9% Transformation |
| 2% Organization |
| 1% Interim Executive |
MOST IN-DEMAND PROJECTS
Opportunity Assessment
Business Processes
Marketing and Sales Strategy
Business Intelligence and Analytics
Growth Strategy
Planning
Product Strategy and Launch
MOST IN-DEMAND SKILLS
Market Analysis
Project Management
Process Optimization and Transformation
Growth Strategy
Market Access and Value Strategy
Strategic Planning
Corporate and Business Unit Strategy
SAMPLE STRATEGY AND ICG PROJECTS
- Provide a market assessment to identify areas of opportunity for a potential new service offering
- Deploy a new global technology solution to improve insight collection and management
- Coordinate across teams to manage the launch of a mobile-first product and ensure it includes all the expected features for a product of its class
- Develop a Power BI transition plan and analytics change management plan
- Assess and define portfolio logic and mix, benchmark against peers, and test via scenario modeling
