Definition of 1. External Brain Services

External brain service (Brain-as-a-Service,BaaS) is an emerging service model that uses Internet platforms to provide professional knowledge, skills or ideas to customers in need in the form of projects or tasks. The provider of external brain services can be an individual, team or organization. They can provide customized solutions according to the customer's needs, or participate in the customer's project or process. The customers of external brain service can be enterprises, governments, social organizations or individuals. Through external brain service, they can obtain professional support, advice or cooperation to solve problems, improve efficiency or create value.

The emergence of external brain service is the combination of knowledge economy and platform economy. Knowledge economy refers to the economic form with knowledge as the core resource, innovation as the main driving force, information technology as the infrastructure, and knowledge-intensive industries as the leading factor. Platform economy refers to the platform-based, connecting supply and demand sides, providing transactions, collaboration or social economic form. The external brain service takes knowledge, skills or ideas as tradable commodities, and realizes the matching of supply and demand through the platform, realizing the flow, sharing and value-added of knowledge.

Classification of 2. External Brain Services

According to the content, form and purpose of external brain services, external brain services can be divided into the following four categories:

Consulting: Consulting external brain services refer to services that provide professional analysis, advice or guidance, such as market research, strategic planning, management consulting, legal consulting, etc. The characteristic of consulting extra-brain service is knowledge as the main output, with the purpose of solving the customer's problem or improving the customer's decision-making ability.

Execution class: Execution class external brain service refers to the provision of professional operation, implementation or management services, such as software development, design and production, data processing, project management, etc. The characteristic of performing extra-class brain services is to take skills as the main output and to complete the customer's project or task.

Creative category: Creative extra-brain services refer to services that provide original ideas, solutions or works, such as advertising planning, product innovation, content creation, and artistic creation. Creative extra-brain service is characterized by creativity as the main output, in order to create customer value or meet customer needs for the purpose.

Collaboration: Collaboration external brain services are services that provide professional communication, coordination or cooperation, such as education and training, team building, community operations, and crowdsourcing collaboration. Collaborative extra-brain services are characterized by collaboration as the main output, with the purpose of promoting customer learning, development or participation.

Scenarios for 3. External Brain Services

For consulting companies, external brain services can be used as an effective supplement to resources and capabilities to help consulting companies improve efficiency, reduce costs, expand business scope and improve customer satisfaction. The following are some typical usage scenarios of external brain services in consulting firms:

Expanding the pool of professionals: the core competitiveness of consulting companies is professionals, but the recruitment and training of professionals is a long-term investment, and the demand for professionals is often dynamic, it is difficult to match the supply. Through external brain services, consulting companies can quickly obtain professionals in different fields, different levels, and different regions to respond to different projects or customer needs, and improve the flexibility and adaptability of consulting companies.

Optimize the project management process: The project management process of a consulting firm usually includes multiple links, such as requirements analysis, program design, data collection, report writing, and result presentation. Some of these links are core, some are auxiliary, some are repetitive, and some are innovative. Through external brain services, consulting companies can outsource some non-core and non-innovative links to external brain service providers, thus saving time, energy and cost, focusing on core and innovative links, and improving the quality and efficiency of projects.

Expanding business areas and customer base: The business areas and customer base of consulting companies are important directions for their development, but expanding business areas and customer base requires a lot of resources and energy, and there are greater risks and uncertainties. Through external brain services, consulting firms can use the expertise, skills or ideas of external brain service providers to open up new business areas or customer groups, or to provide more added value to existing business areas or customer groups, thereby increasing the consulting firm's revenue and competitiveness.

Improve customer experience and satisfaction: The customer experience and satisfaction of a consulting company is an important manifestation of its brand and reputation, but improving customer experience and satisfaction requires continuous innovation and improvement, and needs to consider the diversity and individual needs of customers. Through external brain services, consulting companies can use the creativity, collaboration or communication skills of external brain service providers to provide customers with richer, diversified and personalized services, thereby enhancing customer trust, loyalty and recommend.

Advantages and Challenges of 4. External Brain Services

External brain services have both advantages and challenges for consulting firms. The following is an analysis of some of the advantages and challenges of external brain services:

Advantages:

Resource optimization: External brain services can help consulting firms optimize the allocation and utilization of resources, making resources more flexible, efficient, and low-cost, thereby improving the competitiveness and profitability of consulting firms. -Ability improvement: External brain services can help consulting companies improve the level and scope of their capabilities, making them more professional, diversified and innovative, thereby improving the quality and influence of consulting companies. -Value creation: External brain services can help consulting companies create value in ways and channels that make value richer, differentiated, and personalized, thereby increasing the value and attractiveness of consulting companies.

Challenges:

Quality control: The quality of external brain services is difficult to guarantee and evaluate, because the background, level, reputation and other factors of external brain service providers are different and opaque, and the content, form, purpose and other factors of external brain services are complex and changeable. Therefore, consulting firms need to establish an effective quality control mechanism to screen, monitor and evaluate external brain service providers to ensure the quality and standards of external brain services.

Security: There are risks and threats to the security of the external brain service, because the external brain service involves the sensitive information, core data, important knowledge and other resources of the customer, and the transaction, collaboration or social activities of the external brain service may be attacked, leaked or abused. Therefore, consulting companies need to establish effective security mechanisms to protect, encrypt and back up the resources involved in external brain services to prevent the security and privacy of external brain services from being violated.

Trust building: It is difficult to establish and maintain trust in external brain services because of the lack of face-to-face communication, exchange or interaction, and the uncertainty, instability or unpredictability of external brain services. Therefore, consulting firms need to establish an effective trust building mechanism to increase, transfer and maintain the trust of external brain services, so as to promote the cooperation and satisfaction of external brain services.

5.Conclusion

External brain service is a new service model, which takes knowledge, skills or ideas as tradable commodities, and realizes the matching of supply and demand through the platform, realizing the flow, sharing and value-added of knowledge. External brain services have both advantages and challenges for consulting firms. Through external brain services, consulting companies can expand their professional talent pool, optimize project management processes, expand business areas and customer base, and improve customer experience and satisfaction, thereby increasing efficiency, reducing costs, increasing revenue and competitiveness. However, consulting companies also need to pay attention to the quality control, security and trust building of external brain services to ensure the quality, safety and trust of external brain services, so as to avoid the risks and threats of external brain services.