An international management expert has said that companies in the UAE spend four times more than necessary, because of reasons like the absence of executive management and weakness in executing strategies developed by consultancies, forcing them to extend contracts from one year to over five years.
Zed Ayesh, Managing Director, Flagship Consultancy says the global financial crisis has boosted the consultancy business in the Gulf, especially amongst companies that saw a slowdown.
"Consultancy business in the region grew by 10 percent to reach $1.2 billion, with international companies grabbing more than 95 percent of the business, the bulk of them based in the UAE, where they are about 35 consultancies," added Ayesh.
Ayesh added that developing strategies specifically tailored for UAE organizations to provide world class services to customers, makes it imperative for consultancies to know the UAE market thoroughly. International companies hire local companies to enhance their knowledge. This is a time-consuming affair, with the clients paying for the familiarization process.
Ayesh said that the key to effectively servicing this region is to understand its uniqueness and peculiarities, which makes it difficult for international consultancies to import ready-made strategies and implement them in this market.
Ayesh said that roles and responsibilities of consultancies should be identified to develop strategies and tactics that can be implemented as per specified timelines by the clients themselves, without the assistance of the consultancies in implementing them.
Ayesh said that the general trend is to hire full time consultants so that they implement the strategies given to them by the consultancies. Extending the contract with the consultancy or hiring consultants from the consultancies themselves raises the costs by four or five times.
Ayesh said that companies should build stronger relationships with local consultancies that charge less and demonstrate greater dedication. Also, they have more knowledge of the market and they are often sub contracted by international consultancies to implement clients' strategies.
