Creating a Digital Consulting Solution for Project Management Assessments at Dr. Kuhl Unternehmensberatung: Development and Initial Demonstration of a Fully Automated Asset-Based Consulting Approach

(a) Situation faced: Consulting provider DKUB GmbH & Co. KG was looking for options to achieve a positive marketing effect with only moderate effort, to raise the profile of the company through innovative consulting services, and to supplement the existing portfolio with digital services, which represent a “door opener” for the classical consulting business. Due to a personal contact between the first two authors of this contribution, the idea of a joint project emerged. It was decided to develop a digital assessment tool. The chosen pilot application area was project management assessment, as project management issues account for the core of DKUB business. (b) Action taken: Since a software system should be created, a design-science (DS) approach was employed. Within design and development, a prototype-oriented process model was used. The project took place without a particular client. Instead, the basis was a jointly developed business concept. Furthermore, a study of Nissen et al. (2017) on quality requirements for virtual consulting services and general features of advisory consulting were considered. The process within the web-based system should reproduce an expert report by gathering data from the client company and linking these with digitally stored expert knowledge to produce a well-founded assessment on the given subject. (c) Results achieved: The assessment is today available to clients on the initial website of the consulting firm via an online shop. After all participants (which might have different roles in the respective project) have successfully taken part in a survey related, the client can call up an expert report. As a result, he or she receives an approximate overview on the status of project management in this particular project. Moreover, recommendations for action to improve the situation are given. Currently, the system is being evaluated for use in a multinational company to assist in continuously monitoring internal projects. (d) Lessons learned: It is possible to create a flexible architecture for virtual assessments on in principle any conceivable subject. Whether virtualization is the right approach for a specific client or project should be clarified based on appropriate criteria, such as the ones proposed by Nissen and Seifert (2017a). The early integration of clients into design and development of digital consulting products is important to economic success. Consulting providers should get involved early and build up experience and knowledge in virtualizing own services without expecting immediate breakthroughs. We estimate that virtual consulting will not generally replace conventional on-site consulting, but rather supplement it.