Definitions of Consultancy on the Web:

- A contract to provide services which meet all the following criteria: expert analysis and advice which facilitates decision making of a specific task or a set of tasks involving skills or perspectives which would not normally be expected to reside within the Department making the decision.

- The practice of giving expert advice within a particular field or area.

- The practice of helping companies to improve performance through analysis of existing business problems and development of future plans.

To shed some more light on this subject let's turn to the World Wide Web. If you do a search on Google for business consultancy, here are some of the top businesses that show up on the first page of results:

- IBM
- Accenture
- Deloitte

These are some of the biggest and most reputable consultancy companies in existence today. Small businesses would probably be more suited to a smaller consultancy firm.

A more recent offset of business consultancy is something called Business coaching. Business coaching is a fairly new profession that has started to gain popularity in the business sector. Its origins appear to be from the sporting arena where coaches have helped athletes achieve their goals for centuries.

Business coaching is a slightly different concept to consulting. Business consulting implies that you identify a problem that a client has and you propose a solution. Coaching, on the other hand, is more about the facilitation of a process so that the client help them self. The business coach literally helps the client achieve their goals by teaching them the proper skill set required to do so.

Whichever type of business consultancy is ultimately chosen, the important part is that you reach your goal. Business consultancy is a common way for a business to achieve this.