Business consulting services Singapore play a crucial part in the success of any organization, investing time and energy to understand diverse organizational needs and implementing systems that enable sustainability and business growth.
The business consulting landscape is highly variable and encompasses commercial transformation, recruitment and HR excellence, IT and digital services development, logistics and insurance arrangements to support a myriad of industries and their operational requirements.
Critical to enabling an effective and productive consulting relationship is the ability to know our clients’ businesses – the environments in which they operate and the trends impacting their performance.
While each industry is facing different challenges, most businesses are working in an overall economic climate that can best be described as low growth and high competition.
A business consultant Singapore plays a crucial role in helping companies improve their strategies, operations, and overall performance, emphasizing the importance of expert guidance in achieving sustainable growth.
In such an environment, and recognizing the transformative successful consulting services work can deliver, a spotlight has been placed upon business consulting services to investigate the role they play in the performance of an organization and the perceived benefits of that advice to the client.
The Business Consulting Landscape in Singapore
Singapore’s consulting firms offer a range of services, including management consulting, strategic advice, operational improvement, technology consulting, and IT solutions. These services are in huge demand across multiple sectors both in Singapore and greater Southeast Asia.
The banking and financial services sector is the largest buyer, followed by the public and transport sectors. While the market is very supportive of new startups, there are only a few firms of significant size and reach to be classed as pure strategy consultancies.
The vast majority of large consulting firms operating in Singapore are either international strategy giants or diversified consultancies offering a combination of functional, technical, and strategic advice.
A large handful of global consultancies and accounting firms have significant offices in Singapore, alongside many successful domestic consulting firms.
The consulting industry in Singapore, like the rest of Southeast Asia, has seen strong growth in recent years, driven by a number of key trends. These include the increasing demand for advisory services around digital transformation, business process outsourcing, and strategic advice.
There is also a strong market for sustainability and organizational development consultants that staff professionals who can help companies to be more competitive by improving the way they think, their culture, and operations.
Due to market volatility driven in part by various factors, compliance and regulatory advice has also become a rapidly growing area driving demand for risk and assurance advice from some consulting groups.
However, these trends are primarily driving local business fortunes in the diversifying markets of the emerging economies in Southeast Asia. Managers and consultants in Singapore note that these services must be bolstered by a deep working knowledge of regional issues at both the government and consumer level.
Another challenge for the industry, locally and regionally, is to understand the new needs of the market, in particular what is increasingly expected from consultants in terms of expertise, skills, and approach.
Management advisory in the region is uniquely positioned. The consultancy must offer expertise, tools, and templates that come from an international focus, yet be adaptable by the consultant to partner with multilingual and multicultural businesses in the region, and bring in the local needs of the business and market to the table.
Trends and Challenges
In this section, we will look at the trends influencing the business consulting industry in Singapore and the challenges and opportunities that these trends create for consultants.
One of the most important trends in the business consulting industry in Singapore is a move towards ethical business practices to align the interests of businesses with economic, social, and environmental needs.
The other trend is digital transformation, which relies upon a constant stream of intelligent data in order to make well-informed, data-driven decisions.
There are several trends in the industry that are challenging consultants. As technology continues to rapidly evolve, businesses will have little time to adapt to new developments, which will make decision-making more complex.
Clients will look to consultants with fresh industry insights, changing the basis of competition in the industry. As this happens, consultants in the industry also risk becoming obsolete, making continuous learning for all consultants imperative.
While the right side of the trend can make a huge impact on an organization, clients must be wary of the risks involved, as they can lose much more if the trends are not identified well, where the potential opportunities and problems are likely to be encountered in the future.
Thus, they must be proactive in identifying those distinct trends that offer growth, value creation, potential upheaval, and uncertainties.
Strategic Planning and Implementation
Business consulting services are increasingly seen as essential, much like audit and tax services.
At the heart of business consulting is the capability of the consultant to help the client define their vision, mission, and objectives, and thereafter to help them craft an actionable strategy that is aligned with market dynamics, as well as the internal and external environment.
An effective strategic plan could deliver bottom-line results while maintaining organizational relevance and employee alignment. There are essentially two critical phases in strategic development: its formulation and implementation.
A consulting firm’s value-added dimensions lie in the extensive strategic planning methodology, enriched by best practices accumulated through years of working in this field.
However, while advanced frameworks and methodologies give a head start, successful strategic planning and implementation ride largely on sound thinking and good values.
Consultants understand in depth the interrelationship between developing strategic options that can create a winning edge, the execution process, and what it takes to turn strategic thinking into results.
A sound perception is an external perspective during the formulation process, which ensures corporate vision and ambition are not constrained by tradition, knowledge, or culture.
The execution aspect relates to defining responsibilities and accountabilities for the strategic plan, cascading strategic objectives to operational plans, managing risks, and aligning organizational resources, people, and systems to drive the plan.
Because the consulting team does not have any personal stake in either the strategic decisions or their effective introduction, the consulting team can assist management teams through challenges.
Business as usual is often not what it should be due to operational pressures and distractions. Consultants make strategic planning manageable by maintaining focus and reminding top management of why minor goals supplement rather than compete with strategic ones.
They act as both a sounding board and catalyst, and provide the kind of support and guidance that encourages the commitment of top personnel while minimizing the frustrations that cause the ripples of resistance to break out into mischievous waves.
Corporate Solutions and Tax Planning
Watershore offers corporate solutions and corporate tax planning for businesses, corporations, and beyond. In addition to advising on tax compliance, consulting services also involve consulting on corporate solutions.
Corporate solutions include tax planning activities, transfer pricing and documentation of transfer pricing, preparation of transfer pricing policy, advisory study, issuance of advance pricing agreement, tax due diligence, and tax diagnostic review.
Tax services are generally known as corporate tax planning, and tax compliance becomes one of the strategies in preparing taxes.
The complexity of tax regulations has made businesses notice the importance of managing their tax liabilities.
Tax planning is the simplest way to manage tax liabilities; it is also the formal process done by the tax consultant in order to achieve the objectives of establishing taxes to reduce the occurrence of a tax burden while ensuring compliance with tax law.
This will help the institution to set financial matters correctly as long as there is no criminal action caused by mistakes that occur. In connection with this, some of the essential activities that will impact the world of business to make strategic decisions include running investments and obtaining financing for the business, as reviewed from a tax perspective.
Importance of Corporate Tax Planning
When it comes to corporate tax, the prime concern in a finance professional’s mind is to conduct successful corporate tax planning and comply with financial statements.
The current corporate earnings play a crucial role in developing corporate programs for taxation that can both realize the dream of minimizing tax risk and make progress in a lasting and sustainable way.
An effective corporate tax position cannot only help in protecting valuable cash, but with the long-term impact of consumer costs lowered, the company can also flourish.
In order to achieve the key organizational aim of reducing overall tax efficiency, financial consultants must keep abreast of digital financial rating methods and mechanisms and provide strategic corporate tax options to ensure the key sustainability and resilience of the business objectives and the right corporate tax plan.
