Why is a business plan important to an entrepreneur?

business consulting

Business is run by a sole proprietorship or group of entrepreneurs who need to be aware of business conditions and improve them. What is the necessity of having business plans? How can business plans help entrepreneurs? Whether starting a new company and trying to position the old new correctly in the market requires market knowledge. This is where you should plan for your business perfectly. Try to make strategies that help to prepare for long-term sustainability in the market.

Determining the business goals and the steps to follow to achieve it would help take the business to the next level. When in a dilemma about which step to follow, it is better to seek assistance from a reliable option of business and management consulting agency. If the consultancy is in business for years now, they will be able to deliver the best, trying to offer what is the best for your business. Let us explore some of the options to have a suitable business plan for an entrepreneur.

Do you Know how to Address Problems?

Without knowing the existing problems in the business, it can be challenging to create a business plan. Try to have realistic ideas and plans that would make the action a lot easier. A pragmatic approach shall help execute plans as required and make them profitable for your business.  So, try to find the root causes of problems that would help in solving them better.  

Whom to Seek Assistance for Better Advice?

If you want better advice regarding your business, it is better to seek help from a reliable business and management consulting service. If the team is an expert one, they can deliver the best ideas that would be effective for your business. The business plan should outline the duties, salaries, and expectations to help other people give suitable business advice. A single wrong step can ruin the image created over the years for your business. 

How Organised are Your Resources?

The plan would work as the guide for you to allocate your business resources right. Where to start from? When wondering how to search for resources and incorporate them correctly for your business, you can approach the experts to show the right path in your business. Depending on the availability of employees, location, and costs available, you need to plan perfectly for your business. The perfect plan would show whether it would be suitable to start the business.

How to Approach Investors for your business?

It can be a critical scene for some, but it is better to know how to overcome the situation and attract investors. The investors are interested in what you are selling and how you are making it. This is where the investors get the answer from the business plan and finally decide to invest in your business.

The main idea is to check your confidence and how great you have structured the business and retained a solid market position. This would help the investors get a suitable idea of investing in the business and how it can benefit from the funding.   

How Creating Milestone can be Beneficial for Business?

The business plan is mainly about the actual plan of action. Where to start with? When in the dilemma of creating the plan and implementing it, the business consulting team is here to help you. If you have a milestone, it will outline the activities you need to cover up. The goals set the course right and help know your target in detail. This would bring in the need to change and make suitable modifications in the business strategies.

Knowing the importance of a business plan is critical for entrepreneurs. Real success comes from having a suitable vision of the ideas and how to achieve them in the best way possible. An organised plan would help to strive towards success and achieve the business goals better.

Can Business Plan Help to Raise Money?     

The main purpose of any business plan is to raise funds for business. How to start it? While planning, focus on business work and how to spend money in a suitable manner. Try to research prevailing business conditions and make suitable plans that would benefit the business. This is how you can get the investor to back up to get funding in your business. There shouldn’t be any obstacle in cash flow and check loss analysis correct. This is the case irrespective of the size of the business.  

How to Hire the Right Talent for your Business?

A business plan is a suitable option when seeking legal action or other advice, such as a landlord, consultant, or attorney help from a business. This is of great help for small businesses as a team of talented workers can help run the business smoothly. When searching for the right team, it is better to approach a consulting agency that can show the right path of guidance.

Make a suitable business plan that can have positive results in your business. Without having a business plan, it may be challenging for you to get a prominent position in the marketplace. First, set certain objectives for better business management, and it shall help in the smooth running of the business. Without any further delay, write-downs the things to consider in the business plan and make an effective one. Taking help from the business consulting agency can make the task a lot easier.  

There’s no denying that the consulting industry is a prevalent industry with diversified branches stemming from it. This diversity leads to enormous job opportunities with distinctive roles and responsibilities. Every business owner needs to have a complete understanding of how and why they must hire business consultants.

While any competent consultant can efficiently carry out a range of vital tasks, a business consultancy can provide genuine assistance to businesses outfits- be it relating to the organisational, overall management, or financial.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the ten different types of consulting services in practice worldwide.

1. Human Resource Consultant

Arguably the most common in the industry, HR consultants are typically involved in businesses. They play a crucial role in providing solutions to human capital questions from either colleagues or clients. Furthermore, they contribute tremendously to implementing order and encouraging ideal organisations with performance levels.

2. Management Consultant

It’s essential to mention that any management consultant is more commonly referred to as a business advisor. Their fundamental role is to troubleshoot concerns that include company organisation and implemented strategies. Management consultants leverage their long collated business skills accumulated from past experiences to offer genuine expert opinions and advice alternatives to steer off your business through a crisis.

3. IT Consultant

There’s no denying that any technical consultant can be commonly referred to as either an IT or a digital Consultant. They serve the purpose of maintaining the smooth business development of the organisation. Furthermore, they also provide various applications of information and technology for the company.

4. Operations Consultant

Pretty evident from the title itself, the primary job description of an operations consultant is to conduct a seamless and uninterrupted business operation. It’s essential to highlight those operations consultants’ most prominent advisor’s segment in this industry. This significant half pays attention to a whole host of crucial operating tasks to maintain the sustenance and growth of the business at all times.

As the operation consultants have an imperative working pattern, they tend to function in proximity to both the business’s technical and strategic functions. Ideally, they should be working closely with the most active workers to allow the best advisories to come to action when necessary.

5. Financial Advisory Consultant

In a layman’s language, any financial adversary consultant will have to dabble into affairs that involve both the analytical and financial capabilities of the business. It’s essential to mention that most consultancy professionals who work beneath the finance bracket operate in departments that involve accounting. Digging deeper will reveal that such companies typically come off as genuinely prominent businesses, requiring sustainable finance suggestions.

6. Strategy Consultant

There’s no denying that strategy consulting services are often considered a top-tier consultancy variant. Individuals who practice strategy consultancy assist in effectively analysing every aspect of the business- government and economic policies, organisational strategies, and functional strategy.

Superior authorities delegate all the responsibilities and duties in the business organisation in most circumstances, such as directors and senior management positions. This is primarily due to the jobs the Consultant will do- almost all business place priorities.

7. Risk and Compliance Consultant

There’s no denying that every functional business must have a fixed set of strict policies and protocols- ethical practices, regulations, company standards, and business place laws. Following these rules and protocols diligently helps businesses to minimalise all risks of industry violations.

In comes the risk and compliance consultant, who will develop a compliance policy, which will effectively prevent the business from possible detrimental affairs. To put it simply, the consultants will work to keep the company out of trouble.

8. Environmental Consultant

Unlike the earlier times, property and building regulations have meant that business can no longer build, reshape or extend at free will. In case you want to achieve either of the three, you must provide the necessary paperwork to prove your estimations and plans for the building project. This is why you must have an environmental consultant by the side to help you maintain all the necessary protocols and guidelines so that your project doesn’t violate ecological standards.

9. Software Consulting

You must keep a software consultant in your business team at all times if your business involves complex software. There might be times when you are in desperate need of expensive or complex computer software. Having a competent software consultant can help you find the correct piece of software to support business demands. Furthermore, they will help you make the deal without spending a bomb on producing better results in the workplace and increased optimisation.

10. Legal Consultant

Finally, the primary job role of a legal consultant is to come good and aid situations if your business is involved in legal proceedings.  They will leverage their intellect and knowledge to prevent your company from committing any foul in the market or get favourable treatment if there is a crisis.

If you aim to run a successful business, you must ensure that every aspect and detail of the business running in the background is efficient and effective.  The best way to guarantee such a feat is to hire professional strategy consulting services.

In 2004, Saudi Telecom Company (STC) had the vision of ensuring and maintaining their position as industry pioneers in the region, through constant and continuous improvement of the services and products offered to their customers.

STC has over 24 million customers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), experiencing approximately 4 million daily interactions; 3 million calls into their Call Centers, 25000 visits into their branches and 15000 installations daily. This vast customer base was served through different sales and after sales channels like the toll free numbers, sales outlets, website and indirect sales channels.

Equipped with a clear mission to continuing the high standard of customer commitment, it was clear that one of the challenges to be faced with the vast geographic distribution and the need for world class standards of operations.

Telecomm Services a member of LEVENBERT Consulting, became the strategic partner for STC’s success. Embarking on the largest development and improvement initiative in the Middle East for STC, a detailed roadmap was placed to deliver an extensive people and process development program to establish, develop and build the capacity of staff for a number of contact centers for STC.

LEVENBERT has delivered training across KSA for more than 7,500 STC customer service employees with a total of 3,800 training days, involving 68 training consultants and coaches. The training consultants were of various backgrounds and expertise with 35 graduate degree holders, 12 Master degree holders and 16 certified trainers. After the successful completion of the development project in 2008, LEVENBERT is proud that the customers had noticed a considerable improvement, as indicated by some of the measured dimensions.

The challenge was not easy but achievable, and the attained results echoed not only through the offices of STC but through the nation. The completion of this program was marked by a noted celebration of appreciation.

LEVENBERT Consulting has concluded a project to define the strategic intent and formulate a three-year strategy for the Institute of Public Administration in the Sultanate of Oman.

Led by the core consulting team in LEVENBERT, the project included five workshops with IPA’s top management and middle management, conducting interviews with stakeholders and clients, as well as focused information gathering activities using methodical tools.

The new strategy for IPA is formulated in harmony with Royal Decree 28/2016, and entails a number of Strategic Goals in six pillar areas, with Strategic Objectives that are linked to specific initiatives for the IPA to execute over the coming 3 years. The strategy will be put in action and will span to deliver desired results to position the IPA as an enabler for national development and a supporter to the government by 2020.

The strategy focuses on the employment of new technologies in learning and development, the adoption of new learning models to accelerate the process of capacity building for different government organizations, as well as the diversification of IPA’s services to include consulting, coaching, knowledge publishing and transfer.

It is worth mentioning that IPA plans to launch its first batch of initiativesas of Q2 2017.

LEVENBERT Consulting has launched phase two of Himam, the Leadership Development Program that is targeting high-ranking executive staff.

The second phase will span for one year, and is aiming to develop the leadership and management skills of more than 350 executive staff members of different clients . With great focus on modern leadership competencies and skills, the program aims to equip the participants with what is required for the development of strategy, operations, and activities in the coming two decades.

The program for the second phase was carefully designed to focus on a number of pillars such as “The Fourth Generation in Government Excellence Criteria”, “Continuous Improvement of Working Practices and Personal Efficiency using the Japanese Business Philosophy KAIZEN”, “Innovation Leadership and Management”, as well as “The Strategic Leadership Personality”. During the second phase, the client will be amongst the first institutions implementing the 70-20-10 learning methodology that is focused on putting the knowledge and the skills attained during the program in the workplace.

It is worth mentioning that phase one of the program was concluded in 2016 and has targeted 62 top leaders who were exposed to different topics including “Leadership Personality”, “Strategic Leadership”, “Leadership Communications”, “Leadership Influence” and “Leadership Innovation”. Phase one was concluded by identifying a number of strategic leadership initiatives that are focused on modern and disruptive technologies.

LEVENBERT Consulting and the Secretariat General of the Consultative Council have joint hands to develop the Council’s and the SG’s strategy and action plan.

Engaging its strategy team, LEVENBERT Consulting have conducted a number of joint events with executives from the Secretariat General including some interviews with Consultative Council members to better understand the future requirements of the Council and its Secretariat General.

The strategic plan has focused on supporting the Council and the Secretariat General to develop the parliament performance by focusing on the achievement of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the development plans at the Sharjah Emirate level.

The strategy also focuses on building the capacity of both the Council and its Secretariat General in an effort to support both bodies apply and compete on Global Excellence and Quality Awards.

LEVENBERT Consulting continues to support the National Programs delivered through the Institute of Capability Development (ICD) at the Diwan of Royal Court in Oman; by providing technical and administrative support to the National CEO Program and the National Leadership and Competitiveness Program in the Public Sector, in addition to providing support to all other operations and activities of ICD.

The Institute of Capability Developmentwas founded under the blessings of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al Said to further develop the capabilities of the Diwan of Royal Court Staff at all levels, especially for the different Leadership levels.

Since its inception in 2013, the ICD has appointed LEVENBERT Consulting as its “Strategic Partner” to help ICD develop various competency frameworks for different staff levels of the Diwan, design and execute a large number of learning and development activities such as the specialized knowledge sessionsfor the DRC Undersecretaries, the leadership development programs for the Director Generals, Assistant Director Generals, Directors, and Managers. LEVENBERT has also provided seasoned development programs to Diwan’s division heads, current and newly appointed staff.

With LEVENBERT help and support, the ICD is engaged with strategic partners from leading organizations such as Oxford University, Henley Business School of Reading University, the Civil Service College of Singapore, the International School of Protocol and Diplomacy, the Institute of Management Development (IMD), in addition to other professional and academic bodies from the region.

LEVENBERT support also included developing the ICD’s strategy, its administrative and operational framework, new concepts and initiatives in learning and development, the ICD branding and communication strategy, its website, in addition to knowledge management, publishing, and transfer to its local staff.

LEVENBERT and Saudi Post have successfully concluded Phase Three of Saudi Post’s “Strategic Transformation Support Project” that aimed at helping Saudi Post to put its transformation strategy into action. The strategy when it is fully implemented will transform Saudi Post to work entirely on commercial basis and will transform Saudi Post Establishment into an investment conglomerate in logistics, technology, and postal services and will have its independent investment and operational arms incorporated using different pro-growth alternatives including mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, and partnerships.

Phase One of this strategic project started in 2012 with a comprehensive review of Saudi Post Strategy, defining crystal-clear objectives and setting KPIs for a 3-year period that spans from 2012 to 2015.This phase also included the establishment and staffing of Saudi Post’s Strategy Management Office (SMO), devising its objectives, and developing its operational framework that has enabled Saudi Post to head in the right direction. Saudi Post’s SMO was also empowered to be in charge of monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the Strategic Initiatives of Saudi Post’s Strategic Plan.

Building on the successes of Phase One, the Second Phase of the project started with a corporate-wide awareness program for Saudi Post, Capacity Building Program for the SMO staff, and an exercise to make sure that the Strategy, Process, People, and Technology are all aligned together in order to develop a state-of-the-art SMO which also had a specialized Project Management Unit as a technical arm to follow on the progress of all projects related to the Transformation Strategy.

Phase Three was launched in June 2014 to develop a full-fledge Corporate Performance Management System for Saudi Post using the Balanced Scorecard tool. The phase lasted for 18 months and resulted in the development of all processes, tools, and templates required to implement BSC in Saudi Post. This phase also included capacity building for more than 300 executive staff members in Strategic Management including the processes of Strategic Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Evaluation. BSC tool was successfully implemented and cascaded into the top 3 layers of the corporate.

With the aim of enhancing the performance of Saudi Ground Services company in the 4 major airports of KSA, LEVENBERT Consulting has successfully concluded its 7-month development project ADAA – “Achieving Excellence and Professional Performance in Customer Service”.

The project broader goal wasto support SGS endeavors in uplifting the levels of Customer Service especially at the main touch-points of the four international airports of KSA being King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, King Fahad International Airportin Dammam, and Prince Mohammad International Airport in Madinah.

The project composed of 4 phases and aimed to design, develop, and deliver a Customized Training and Development Program for more than 500 Customer Service Supervisors (CSSs), conduct an in-depth Training Needs Assessment Initiative for 3000 Customer Service Representatives (CSRs), conduct a Traveler Experience Measurement Exercise, and launch a Targeted Awareness Campaign for SGS Staff; all aimed to create “the Identity of Excellence” amongst Customer Service Staffat the four Main Airports.

As a result, an awareness campaign with a unique Brand, Logo, and Identity of the Program (ADAA) in addition to a Customer Service Strategic Intent and Charter for SGS were delivered. Also, a two-week, hands-on, in-depth training program for each group of the Customer Service Supervisors including on-job coaching were successfully delivered.

LEVENBERT and the Saudi Ministry of Health has successfully developed, launched, and communicated the Saudi e-Health Transactions Program’s brand: “Rabet”. The development and communication of the brand took place over a journey of 24 months and stretched to reach out to more than 2300 governmental health service touchpoints in the Kingdom.

“We have provided MOH with unparalleled services during this project” Mr. Ahmad Al Raie, LEVENBERT Consulting CEO said. “We have strived to develop a brand that will make the difference for the MOH e-Health Services in Saudi, a brand that will involve MOH staff, stakeholders, and customers together; and will make them share the same values and understanding of e-Health benefits to the community.” Al Raie added.

LEVENBERT’s deep understanding of true customer service, customer-centric organizations, and marketing services for the governmental sector has enabledthe consulting firm to work hand in hand with the MOH as a partner to build such brand. LEVENBERT has devotedits best-in-class marketing and branding consultants for this very important project.

From his side, Mr. Saad Al-Ajlan, Director of Marketing and Electronic Communications at MOH – eHealth Project has stressed the importance of this project for the Saudi MOH by saying “We aimed at benefiting from the world’s leading examples in e-Health Branding and Marketing initiatives. We have teamed up with LEVENBERT Consulting as we believe they are really capable of transferring the know-how to our team who will keep on promoting the brand for the coming years”, Al-Ajlan explained.

It is worth mentioning that the project consisted of eight separate, yet integrated phases; where the brand was designed, developed, and tested before it was launched in 2015.