VIEWPOINT - What next for the UK's business support industry?

Robert Craven looks into a future post-Business Link

"Business Link looks to be on its last legs. The Government is set to kill it off. We hear (some) cries of woe. But what about the clients??? What about the growing businesses in need of help and assistance?

Another re-organisation of the business support industry could put programmes on hold and leave staff in limbo. And the ones who suffer will be the clients.

Leaving aside the huge irony of a Government department trying to sort out UK entrepreneurship, there will still be a demand for some form of support and assistance for budding and growing businesses.

I will be the first to argue that inexperienced business people need help and assistance of some form. At the same time, the more experienced, growing businesses also need help and support as they break through new barriers and face new challenges. DIY is not an option. So who will help these businesses?

I am afraid ‘new’ consultants (ex-Business Link staff, ex-bankers, redundant managers, recently qualified MBAs) will copy up all over the place to accommodate the nascent need. Of course, this will be a good thing for the high-performing and trusted consultants - those with long track records and impeccable credentials (reputation, testimonials) have nothing to fear.

But it will be bad news for potential clients. People who ‘don't know what they don't know’ will get lured into buying wonderful promises and 'get rich quick' schemes as unscrupulous entrepreneurs fleece them of their money.

So what next?

1) All Business Link services go into freefall. (No-one knows what is going on; most don’t seem to care!)
2) Several hundred (ex-Business Link) business advisers are about to be let loose on the market.
3) New options will appear, scrambling to fill the hole that will be left by the eventual demise of Business Link.
4) The Government will create a new centralised solution to local problems. (How does that work?)
5) Something better than anything previously imagined might appear. (And pigs might fly!)

There is already an excess supply of consultant-types. Most people in the business support, advice and consultancy industry have had a rough few months.

Meanwhile, something needs to satisfy the curiosity of growing business owners. Maybe the market will solve the problem before the Government has finished its consultation?"

about the author

Robert Craven shows MDs and owners how to grow their sales and profits and focuses on how to do this in recessionary times. His latest book is “Beating the Credit Crunch – survive and thrive in the current recession” For more information visit: www.directorscentre.com

Robert Craven©2010

publication details

First published in Growing Business Magazine - September 2010