DBA to launch professional services providers database

The Design Business Association is to launch the industry’s first accredited list of professional services providers, it was announced this week, with specialists chosen for their design industry expertise.

Called the Experts Register, the database will be available on-line from December and will launch with a minimum of 20 consultants. All will be accredited by the DBA and must have a minimum of three years’ relevant industry experience. Consultants will have expertise across a variety of specialisms including legal, financial, human resources and business strategy.

The idea, according to DBA chief executive Deborah Dawton (pictured), is to provide design groups with advice on subjects such as succession planning, restructuring and new business. Often confidential, these are topics that generally can’t be addressed through training, she says.

‘Lots of design groups reinvent the wheel when they come up against these issues, and their solutions are not always the most effective and efficient way of working,’ says Dawton. ‘The consultants are experts in their field and will be offering fee-based professional advice; they are not suppliers.’ The DBA’s research revealed that more than 70 per cent of groups are looking for advice on new business development, marketing and business strategy; with client relationship management and intellectual property also of concern. Consultants will cover these issues along with finance, accounting and human resources-related topics such as coaching, training and health and safety.