Custom or Standard?

There are many types of consulting firms in the marketplace, and one major distinction that separates products and service offerings is custom vs. standard. Each has its place, and neither is totally appropriate or inappropriate.

Customized products and services tend to be more appropriate for issues that are mission-critical, more complex, or more individualistic in nature.  For example, your strategic planning process is, by definition, mission-critical and should fit with your organization’s specific situation, goals, and resources.  Your organizational structure should be designed to execute your strategy and link your organization with your customers.  Your sales incentive compensation plan and the selection process for high-level positions are complex issues that should be customized to your organization.

Standardized products and services tend to be more appropriate for issues where the organization needs to know how it compares to others, which are less critical to the organization’s core, more straightforward, and affect larger groups of individuals.  For example, off-the-shelf may be more appropriate for your 401K program.  The selection system for lower-risk, entry-level positions with many incumbents could be an existing instrument that measures the top few skills needed in that job.  A survey on employee engagement might be more effective using an instrument developed and researched across organizations.

While CMA falls in the camp of providing customized products and services, we believe standardized solutions have their place.  How do you make the call between custom and standard?

Author: Dan Bean, M.A., M.B.A.,