Professional services


Professional services are occupations in the service sector requiring special training in the arts or sciences. Some professional services require holding professional degrees and licenses and they also require specific skills such as architects, accountants, engineers, doctors, lawyers and teachers. Other professional services involve providing specialist business support to businesses of all sizes and in all sectors; this can include tax advice, supporting a company with accounting, IT services or providing management advice.

Definition

Many industry groupings have been used for academic research when looking at professional services firms, making a clear definition hard to attain. Some work has been directed at better defining professional service firms. In particular, Von Nordenflycht generated a taxonomy of professional service firms, defining four types:
  1. Classic PSFs : characterised by a high knowledge intensity, a professionalised workforce, and low capital intensity
  2. Professional campuses : characterised by a high knowledge intensity, a professionalised workforce, and high capital intensity
  3. Neo-PSFs : characterised by a high knowledge intensity and a low capital intensity
  4. Technology developers : characterised by a high knowledge intensity and a high capital intensity
Frameworks such as this aid the ability of managers and academics to better understand how such firms manage themselves and how to judge benchmark practices.

Example occupations

There is no definitive list of occupations in professional services, but examples include the following:
Professional services can be provided by sole proprietors, partnerships or corporations. A person providing the service can often be described as a consultant. In law, barristers normally organise themselves into chambers. Businesses in other industries, such as banks and retailers, can employ individuals or teams to offer professional services for their customers. Major cities such as London and New York are leading global centres for professional services firms.

Marketing

The marketing and selection of professional-service providers may depend on factors such as skill, knowledge, experience, reputation, capacity, ethics, and creativity. Large corporations may have a formal procurement process for engaging professional services. Prices for services, even within the same field, may vary greatly. Professional-service providers may offer fixed rates for specific work, charge in relation to the number or seniority of people engaged, or charge in relation to the success or profit generated by the project.