Consulting is a very promising type of business if you have unique knowledge, experience or technology and are ready to provide consulting services to those who need it. Representatives of the business class have long come to the conclusion that it is impossible to know and be able to do everything in the modern economy. Therefore, in order to use the services of professionals in highly specialized industries, expert assistance from outside is needed.

Enterprise goals and risks

Nowadays consulting in the field of information technology is becoming quite popular, therefore, we offer you an approximate business plan of a consulting company that provides consulting services and technical assistance for organizations using computers.

Since now it is difficult to find a company that would not use computer technology in its work, then the widest opportunities open up for the activities of your company.

The place of business of the company is the regional center located not far from Moscow.

The main goal of the consulting firm is to generate profit through the provision of services in the field of computer technology. The social mission of the company will be to participate in the activities of charitable foundations in order to increase the company's reputation and contribute to the development of society. To achieve these goals, the company will use modern technologies, as well as the work of competent specialists who make up its staff. Commercial risks that hinder the achievement of the stated goals are limited funds used to start a company and high competition in the market.

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Selection of office and personnel

Starting an entrepreneurial activity is often associated with obtaining borrowed funds from credit institutions, but at the beginning of your company it is quite possible to do without them. What will be the costs of setting up a firm? Registration of your company with obtaining the status of a legal entity and registration with state funds and the tax service will cost you 20-25 thousand rubles. But first of all, you need an office space. Office space is the face of your company. Of course, you can count on the fact that many clients will contact you using communication networks, but you should not give up the traditional communication with the consumers of your services directly in the office.

The best option for the location of the office premises of the company is the business center of the city, and the size of the office should depend on the expected scale of activity. In any case, we are not talking about a cramped room, so renting this room will cost you about 50 thousand rubles. Consideration of the option with the location of the company in a microdistrict far from the center is possible only if you are sure that this will help you attract the organizations located there as clients.

If the premises of the company will have old furniture and out-of-date computer equipment, this will naturally give rise to doubts about the level of the company and the competence of its employees. This means that you will have to spend money on office equipment and the purchase of the necessary stationery, which will cost in the region of 350 - 450 thousand rubles.

The selection of qualified personnel is the key to the success of your company. After all, it is the employees who will work with clients and provide the services that the company specializes in. For a successful start, you will need 2-3 specialists (it is best if you know them personally), and if necessary, additional employees in the person of a secretary, courier, cleaner, etc. At the same time, it is assumed that you will take the position of director of the company; at the first stage of the company's activity, it is better to abandon unnecessary management personnel.

The maximum specified staffing will require monthly salary costs in the amount of about 150 thousand rubles. If you cannot afford these costs when starting a business, then you can limit yourself to hiring temporary employees or choose other recruiting options.

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Advertising campaign

Due to the high competition in the market for these services, it is necessary to conduct a competent advertising campaign. Particular attention should be paid to the company's website. It should not only contain all the necessary information about your company, but also be high enough in the list of sites when you enter the appropriate queries, ideally it should be in the top ten of Yandex or other popular search engines. Services of organizations engaged in SEO-promotion of sites will cost you 5-6 thousand rubles per month. If the qualifications of your employees allow, then you can achieve this on your own. Considering that more and more consumers find the goods and services they need via the Internet, this method of advertising should become one of your priorities.

Do not forget about traditional advertising methods. Electronic media services and ground-based advertising structures will be too expensive for you at the very beginning of your business, but print media should not be neglected. In every regional center there are newspapers for free advertisements, some of which have Internet versions. The most visual advertising material for you will be colored booklets telling about the activities of your company. They can be ordered in organizations that provide printing services, the cost of these products depends on the circulation you need. In addition to booklets, you can order stationery with the logo of your company - they can also be used as advertising.

Be sure to use your company location. Many organizations will gladly use your services if your office is located “around the corner”. First of all, this applies to small and medium-sized businesses, in which computer technology is widely used, but there are no special departments dealing with the elimination of technical faults.

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What services will your firm provide? Firstly, technical assistance and consulting support in case of emergency situations with computer equipment - from equipment malfunctions to protection against DDoS attacks, it all depends on the qualifications of your employees and the capabilities of the company. Secondly, constant maintenance of your clients' computer systems, and, if necessary, updating of hardware and software, network administration. Thirdly, consulting services for the purchase of equipment, installation of software, restoration of computer equipment after serious failures. Fourth, it is necessary to set ourselves the task of expanding the scope of services provided and starting work in such a market segment as the implementation of corporate projects to automate the activities of enterprises.

Thus, we smoothly move on to market research. Before starting the work of the company, you must clearly understand what kind of competition you will have to withstand and what strategy is better to choose. The peculiarity of the IT services market is that a huge number of large companies, small firms and individual entrepreneurs operate on it, occupying their specific niches. The competitive advantage of your company should be the competent use of the website and other advertising opportunities, the use of the company's location, loyalty to customers and an individual approach to solving their problems, as well as the high professionalism of employees, which will manifest itself in meeting all the requests of consumers of your services. But all this is not enough, you need to choose a market segment in which you will specialize.

The main target market for your company will be small and partly medium-sized businesses. Your business plan should reflect the dynamics of the main indicators of this market segment. you should know the rate of growth of entrepreneurial activity in your city or district, how many organizations potentially capable of becoming your clients are in the area of ​​closest coverage of your firm. You will not be hurt by information about the structure of the economy of the regional center in which your company is located, about the percentage of small businesses among all economic entities.

If the economy of the regional center is stagnant, programs to support small and medium-sized businesses are curtailed or maintained at a minimum level, and business growth has slowed down or even became negative, then it will be very difficult for you to find your niche in this market. If local authorities support small business development, business incubators are active, and the size of your target market is experiencing rapid growth, then you will easily find your clients.