As employees continue to demand increased flexibility, remote and hybrid work remain a key part of the new normal. And studies show benefits in the form of increased employee satisfaction, focus time, and productivity. One survey showed that of those who work remotely at least a few times a month, 77% reported greater productivity working off-site.
At Business Talent Group (BTG), we’ve been helping leading companies tackle critical projects both remotely and on-site for over 13 years. Although we have found that highly skilled independent talent can carry out nearly any project from afar, there are several that are particularly well suited for remote consultants.
THE TOP 5 JOBS BEST SUITED FOR REMOTE CONSULTING
Here are our top five remote consulting jobs that independent talent have been successfully completing for leading companies since long before COVID-19:
- Strategy
Strategy projects include a large array of initiatives, including strategic planning, corporate and business unit strategy, growth strategy, business plan development, innovation, product strategy, market landscape, and competitive analysis. With a little planning, endeavors like these can actually be more successful when conducted by a remote consultant—without the ingrained preconceptions of the internal team, independent strategists are frequently able to be more creative and think outside the box to deliver powerful strategies that address the need at hand.
The most important thing to keep in mind when assessing strategy and planning remotely is communication. Make sure the lines of communication are open for all involved and all stakeholders have the opportunity to provide insights and perspectives. As the leading marketplace for high-end independent talent, BTG helps ensure a fruitful collaboration and keeps the process moving by setting clear timeframes and milestones that align the talent’s performance and deliverables to stakeholder expectations. - Data Science and Digital Initiatives
As companies seek to maximize their use of data to solve problems, reach customers, identify trends, and streamline operations, data scientists and data translators are in high demand. As long as communication with stakeholders is robust, data science experts can easily design modeling processes, create algorithms, conduct analyses, and share insights remotely.
Furthermore, in the COVID-19 era, digital transformation is on nearly everyone’s to-do list—building eCommerce capabilities, enabling remote HR functions, expanding telehealth capabilities, and augmenting processes with AI. BTG’s digital transformation experts have long executed those projects remotely. - Mergers and Acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions include a cascade of needs, such as due diligence, market sizing, deal origination, and portfolio assessment, all of which have long been conducted remotely by many organizations. From acquisition strategy to comprehensive research, integration planning to execution, independent M&A experts can bring valuable third-party insights and help streamline the unpredictable workflow of early-stage M&A and deal integrations by augmenting internal resources with specialized skills and capabilities. - Project Management
Project management is a broad category of work, and for leaders who haven’t hired a remote project manager, it might seem an unlikely task to complete from afar. But many of BTG’s project managers have extensive experience executing remotely—with numerous advantages, including lower project costs and increased efficiency. Keys to success here include building virtual project teams made of passionate, dedicated people, as well as clearly defining team members’ roles. And, as with all remote projects, establishing schedules and timelines for activities and deliverables is paramount. - Marketing and Sales
Handshakes are out, but relationship building isn’t going anywhere. Marketing and sales leaders have long been at the forefront of remote workforces and using freelancers for creative and digital tasks. Now, thanks to the rise of independent talent, leaders in these functions can outsource even more high-level strategic and operational marketing and sales projects such as brand strategy, marketing communications, customer segmentation, salesforce effectiveness, sales enablement, pricing strategy, and more. Not to mention that marketing is all about meeting customers where they are—and more than a year and a half into the pandemic, they are still predominantly online. Creating and executing on a digital marketing strategy is a remote no-brainer, as long as all team members involved have the communication and tech tools they need to collaborate, create, and share.
9 MORE REMOTE CONSULTING JOBS FOR INDEPENDENT TALENT
On-demand experts and consultants are high-EQ self-starters, renowned for their adaptability and used to moving freely between remote and on-site work depending on client and project needs. And now emerging communication and collaboration software are making it easier every day to get work done remotely.
With new tech and adaptable talent on hand, clients are calling on remote consultants to lead projects they had previously conducted on-site—or with a hybrid mix of remote and on-site work—including:
- Financial planning, analysis, and modeling
- Transformations and change management
- Supply chain
- Product launch
- Interim leadership
- Category management
As well as key initiatives within the life science, pharmaceutical, biopharma, and medical device industries, such as:
- Market access and value
- Patient engagement
- Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR)
WHEN TO BRING IN REMOTE CONSULTANTS
Here are some qualities of remote jobs that are ideal for independent consultants:
- The work can be “projectized,” or broken down into modular tasks that can be filled with talent possessing the exact skills needed
- The project has a clearly defined deliverable, e.g. a report or presentation based upon independent research and info gathering
- The initiative is strategic or problem-solving in nature or data/tech oriented
- The project requires subject matter expertise or inputs from sources (internal or external) that can be collected and aggregated remotely without heavy reliance on access to internal systems
- Collaboration involves an already dispersed team, which could be global
The widespread adoption of remote work has been one silver lining to the turbulence of the pandemic era—enabling companies to access a wider world of highly skilled talent unbounded by geography. As a pioneer in the independent consulting market, BTG has extensive experience delivering workforce solutions for critical business needs—whether on-site or remote. Contact us today for help with key initiatives to fuel growth and innovation in this time of economic recovery and continuing uncertainty.
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