Why should you engage with a consultant?

Some of the world’s largest companies engage with relatively small logistics consulting companies to help then with the challenges faced by the ecommerce and logistics industry. Don’t these companies have internal expertise in this field? Of course they do, so what value do they find in engaging consultants?

One answer is that being a professional ecommerce and logistics consultant is a substantially different occupation to being an operations or logistics manager. While the best logistics consultants will have operational experience on their CV, they will also have exceptional analytical capability, and will be able to

Below are some common questions addressed by ecommerce and logistics consulting projects:

“Our systems won’t support out growth where do we start with replacing our system?”

“We’re growing, what should we do about our operations and fulfilment?”

“How do we make our operations more efficient and productive?”

“What equipment should we use in our warehouse?  How should it be laid out? How much should it all cost?”

“We need to understand our cost to serve and how to reduce this?”

“How can we reduce our stock holding without increasing lead times to our customer?”

“Should we handle our transport internally or outsource to an external carrier?”

While a professional operations and logistics consultant is dealing with these issues on a daily basis, operational managers will only have to address them occasionally.  An experienced consultant has seen these problems before and know how other businesses are handling these issues. A consultant will have seen many of these big projects before and will have developed structured approaches to handling these issues.

As these requirements are sporadic, it is simpler and more cost effective to use a flexible resource than to retain employees with the required skills.  The desire for an external view is another factor, and this is where consultants can come in and assist with taking a project from conception through to business as usual, handing a completed project over to the existing team to run.

When selecting a logistics consultant, it is important to ensure that they have the right capabilities and experience, and are independent of selling any product – some consultants will sell products as part of their offering, moving them away from being independent and able to provide you with advise that will improve your business.

So, whatever your reason for needing to employ the services of a operations and logistics consultant be assured that with Bertle Fisher you will get impartial advise from a team that are striving to help you become the best in the business.