Opportunities for professional services firms. Part 1. Offer dynamic transparency

Having been cowed by a global pandemic, challenged by the daunting demands of digital transformation, and squeezed by disruptive competition, clients are looking for a professional services firm to lead them forward. It’s up to you to muster the courage to advocate for your clients’ best interest and blaze ahead with a new and improved digital experience.

You have the confidence in your brand as a North Star to clear a path through the uncertainties that still surround us. (And if you don’t have that level of confidence in your brand, it’s time for a brand refresh to re-evaluate your positioning, value proposition and purpose; without a fortified brand, you cannot lead.)

Leaders take action

Based on our findings in this year’s Ratings, there are four distinct opportunities for you to improve your brand and digital intelligence – thereby better engaging your clients, more forcefully challenging your competitors, and upping your odds for a higher ranking in next year’s Ratings. Here's the first…

Offer dynamic transparency

Echoing our observation from Living Ratings for the top 100 global law firms, published in March, if 2020 was the year of authenticity – 2021 is the year to prove it. This applies to the professional services sector, where we endorse firms adopting ‘dynamic transparency’.

Clients– along with all your stakeholders – expect to understand your brand’s position on a number of hot topics of the day. From diversity, equity, and inclusion to sustainability and other ESG-related issues, your communications strategy should include a deliberate openness regarding the policies your firm adopts, the practices you commit to, and the actions you support.

Based on the nature of how audiences consume and react to such topics, your transparency must be dynamic, in that you must continually update your goals and the progress being achieved. Don’t bury these values deep in your website, surface them on your home page and social channels where you should share them in story form.

If you would like to know how we can bring dynamic transparency to your brand, please contact Duncan Shaw in New York , Greg Hobden in London or Gigi Yung in Hong Kong.