Publication CEPYME500 2017

#PROFESSIONAL SERVICES SECTOR
Atomisation and specialisation, key features
of the sector
In general terms, this sector enjoys a better situation
compared to others which have suffered more from
the recession or did not adapt well to it. In any case, it
does not mean it was not affected by it. All the more
so if we bear in mind that, as companies that work
for other companies, they have suffered their own
difficulties directly, and in turn, those of their clients
and partners.
For instance, some of the sectors worst-hit by the
financial crisis, such as banking or public administrations,
are precisely among the main clients of consulting
and professional services. As they recover, the
sector does so too. The labour reform has helped a
lot, although further steps must be taken in order to
continue improving.
The last few years have also served as a certain natural
selection, since many small or hardly consolidated
companies have disappeared. On the other hand,
large, medium and the best small companies have
survived, reducing the great atomisation that characterises
this business. In any case, this remains one of
its main characteristics for better or worse.
Among the main advantages and opportunities of
the sector, we can highlight its capacity for outsourcing
and specialisation, as well as its potential
to provide expert and multidisciplinary approaches,
essential virtues nowadays.
Current issues such as digital transformation and all
aspects related to the so-called Revolution 4.0 should
be added. They are indeed very hard to face successfully
without the help of consultants and other professionals
from our sector.
Regarding the difficulties, some of them are precisely
the result of the composition of the sector, in which
the so-called Big Four (the largest four consultancies)
and the big offices have a great capacity to attract
the best talent. The situation worsens because of the
difficulty of SMEs to invest in human resources and
the shortage of profiles in the current labour market
with the necessary competence and experience to
respond to the new technological reality.
In addition, the mentioned atomisation of companies
of different sizes and subsectors also hinders their
association and representation, with the implications
of this for the defence of their interests. FENAC, as
a reference institution, is helping to correct this
aspect.
Another endemic problem in the sector is the late
payment by Administrations, which constitute one of
its main clients. This causes considerable difficulties
to many firms with a significant business volume in
public contracts and subsidies.
It is true that, especially in the former, institutional late
payment has been reduced considerably. Nevertheless,
it remains particularly burdensome, in most cases
exceeding legal deadlines. That is why it is necessary
to address the contracting of services through tenders
and not subsidies.
In this sense, one of the specific proposals involves
subsidies being governed by the same terms as the
rest of payments from the public and private sector.
This would avoid situations in which a company, after
providing a service to society through subsidies, has
to wait several years to get paid by the corresponding
Administration.
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