Consultants can function as bridges for information and knowledge, and that external consultants can provide these bridging services more economically than client firms themselves.

Consultants have specialised skills on tasks that would involve high internal coordination costs for clients, such as organization-wide changes or the implementation of information technology. In addition, because of economies of scale, their focus and experience in gathering information worldwide and across industries renders their information search less costly than for clients.

The use of management consultancy is becoming more prevalent in non-business fields including the public sector; as the need for professional and specialist support grows, other industries such as government, quasi-government and not-for-profit agencies are turning to the same managerial principles which have helped the private sector for years.