The business consultant: pivotal in strategic decision-making
What do business consultants do? Business consultants help organizations move forward by exposing bottlenecks in processes and strategies and designing improvement paths. They combine analytical capacity with knowledge of business and technology to improve performance, develop new propositions and structure existing processes more efficiently.
In addition, they ensure that business objectives and technical preconditions are properly aligned.
So whether you work in the public sector, the private sector or at an NGO, as a business consultant (also known as a business intelligence consultant or IT business consultant) you work on visualizing processes, improving data governance and successfully implementing strategic changes.
These skills make for a successful business consultant
In business consultancy, you must be strong in both analytics and communication. These are the most important competences that every business consultant requires:
- Analytical thinking: Gaining rapid insight into processes and underlying structures enables the formulation of targeted improvements.
- Communication skills: Clear alignment with both technical and business parties contributes to successful collaboration.
- Problem-solving capacity: You think in terms of possibilities, shift gears quickly and translate challenges into tangible, feasible solutions.
- Knowledge of methods and tools: Frameworks such as Lean, Agile and Six Sigma are deployed effectively to optimize processes and achieve results.
- Change management: Guiding organizations through their transition requires sensitivity, structure and the ability to include people in the change. .
Essential professional knowledge for a business consultant
To be successful in the field of business consulting, you need to have the right competences. Certifications such as Lean Six Sigma and Agile offer the right tools to analyze processes and implement improvements effectively.
- Lean Six Sigma certification: This certification confirms that you are able to analyze processes in a targeted manner, to reduce waste and structurally improve performance.
- Agile Business Analysis certification: This certification demonstrates that you can apply Agile principles within analyses effectively to respond quickly and flexibly to changes.
- Scrum, SAFe and other frameworks: Knowledge of these methodologies enables consultants to collaborate effectively in multidisciplinary teams and to support large-scale transformations.
Together, this knowledge and these certifications form a solid basis for analyzing, improving and guiding business processes.
The must-have training for business consultants
A successful business consultant has a solid foundation in business analysis. This lays the foundation for analyzing processes keenly, identifying bottlenecks and substantiating improvement processes convincingly.
The ideal place to start for this is the Business Analysis Essentials training course in either Dutch or English). In this course, you learn how to identify information needs, analyze processes and structure improvements – all in a way that aligns with both business and IT.
Would you like to further strengthen your advisory skills? Then it is essential to learn how to present a convincing business case. The training course Working with Business Cases (NL) ties in well with this. In this course, you learn how to clearly map out costs, benefits, risks and alternatives, and how to involve stakeholders in well-founded decision-making.
View all of the business consultant training courses at Capgemini
Capgemini Academy offers a broad range of training courses for business consultants. Below is a selection of training courses that will help you develop your skills and perform your advisory role with greater impact.
Getting started or strengthening your foundation
Have you taken the first steps in business analysis? Then you can reinforce your foundation further with training in process modeling and data modeling. This way, you develop the insights and skills for advising more effectively and enabling change.
- Process modeling and analysis (NL): Learn to model and analyze processes to identify areas of improvement.
- Process modeling with BPMN (NL): Visualize processes clearly using the BPMN standard.
- Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN): Make processes transparent and standardized with BPMN.
- Introduction to Data Modeling (NL): Gain insight into setting up and interpreting data models.
Agile working as an additional foundation
Agile has become the standard working method for many organizations. As a business consultant, it is valuable to understand this methodology well and to use it yourself.
- Scrum Master (NL): Develop the skills to guide teams in Scrum.
- Scrum Master (EN): English language variant, suitable for international environments.
Consultancy and advisory skills
Strengthen your advisory skills and learn to communicate persuasively with stakeholders.
- Consultancy Skills – Advisory (NL): Learn to advise effectively, oriented to results.
- Pyramid Principle (NL): Structure information and argumentation for maximum persuasion.
- Presenting Professionally – Fundamentals (NL): Develop self-confidence and clarity for presentations.
- Realistic Persuasion (NL): Learn to convince others effectively with realistic arguments.
- Recognizing and influencing behavioral patterns with Insights (NL): Understand behavioral patterns and learn to affect these positively.
- Storytelling (NL): Use stories to convey your message with force.
- Presenting Professionally – Advanced (NL): Take your presentation technique to the next level.
Additional skills
Further expand your personal effectiveness and customer focus.
- Time management (NL): Manage your time more efficiently and increase your productivity.
- Client Conversation Mastery (EN): Improve your conversational skills in customer contacts.
With these training courses, you as a business consultant develop skills for analyzing and advising effectively, and for implementing changes – in every sector and at every organizational level.
Your springboard to success: Capgemini Academy
- Part of one of the largest, most innovative IT service providers in the world.
- A large range of training course offerings: available both fully online and in the classroom.
- Most training courses include certification and exams.
- Trainers with passion, didactic skills and practical experience.
- Average rating by course participants: 8.8
Do you have any questions about the role of the business consultant, or about which training fits best for you? Please do not hesitate to contact us. We will be glad to share thoughts with you – also if you’re looking for custom courses for yourself or for your team.