1. Introduction

With the rapid development of science and technology and the continuous change of the market, enterprises are facing more and more complex and challenging problems, and need to constantly innovate and enhance their core competitiveness. However, companies often lack sufficient expertise and resources to solve these problems, or need to spend a lot of time and cost to develop and maintain these knowledge and resources. Therefore, more and more enterprises begin to seek the help of external consulting companies to obtain the required professional knowledge and resources through external brain services.

External brain service refers to the service that enterprises obtain professional knowledge and resources through external consulting companies. External brain services can be divided into two types: thematic projects and daily follow-up services. Thematic projects refer to the project manager of Shangpu Consulting Company as the core, using the on-site method or the method of forming a project team with the client to cooperate, mainly for strategic consulting, market research, and the writing of consulting reports. The daily follow-up service refers to the recruitment and training of Shangpu Consulting Company according to the daily work requirements of the entrusting party, the on-site work of the entrusting party, the work is carried out according to the work arrangement of the entrusting party, and the administrative management is carried out by Shangpu Consulting Company. The work mainly includes the organization of temporary meetings, travel management, writing of temporary documents, and preparation of materials for meeting reception.

External brain service has many advantages, such as: it can flexibly select the appropriate external brain team according to the needs of different stages and different fields of the enterprise; it can save the time and cost of training and management talents within the enterprise; it can learn from the experience and perspective of external consulting companies in the industry to improve the efficiency and quality of problem solving; it can enhance the innovation ability and competitiveness of enterprises. Therefore, the external brain service is more and more welcomed and recognized by enterprises at home and abroad.

Champu Consulting is a professional external brain service provider established in2009Headquartered in Beijing, it has14Years of practical project experience and accumulated service700More than a customer, complete1000More than a brain project. The members of the external brain team at Champ Consulting are all from985and211Universities, research institutions, Japan Institute of Industry, etc., with backgrounds covering finance, statistics, and,ITMaster, doctor and senior scholar in biology, medical, materials, energy, real estate, business administration and other majors. The external brain services of Shangpu Consulting Company cover a number of industries and fields, including industrial industry, lithium battery industry, travel industry, legal industry, photovoltaic industry, wind power industry, etc., as well as specialized new fields such as artificial intelligence, industrial Internet, intercity rail transit, big data center, new energy vehicle charging pile, etc.

The external brain service of Shangpu Consulting Company has been recognized and praised by many customers, including CRRC Tangshan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co., Ltd., Anji Automobile Leasing Co., Ltd., Matsushita Electric Machinery Co., Ltd., China Complete Engineering Co., Ltd. Customers have given high evaluation to the professional level, service attitude, delivery quality, communication and cooperation of Shangpu consulting company, and think that the external brain service can effectively meet their needs and enhance their competitiveness.

However, there is a lack of research on user experience and evaluation of external brain services, especially based on empirical data. Therefore, based on the case of external brain service of Shangpu Consulting Company, this paper uses the methods of questionnaire survey and in-depth interview to make an empirical study on the user experience and evaluation of external brain service. This paper aims to explore the following questions: (1) What are the experiences and comments of the external brain service users on the external brain service of Champ Consulting? (2) What are the main factors that affect the user experience and evaluation of external brain services? (3) What are the deficiencies and room for improvement in external brain services?

2. research methods

In this paper, two research methods, questionnaire survey and in-depth interview, are used to obtain more comprehensive and in-depth data.

2.1 questionnaire survey

Questionnaire survey is a commonly used quantitative research method, which can collect a large amount of data and carry out statistical analysis. This paper designs a questionnaire on the user experience and evaluation of external brain services, including the following parts:

（1) Basic information: including the name of the respondent's company, industry, position, etc;

（2) Usage of external brain service: including whether the interviewee has used the external brain service of Shangpu Consulting Company, how many times it has been used, and the duration of use;

（3) External brain service user experience: including respondents' satisfaction ratings of Shangpu Consulting Company in terms of professionalism, service attitude, delivery quality, communication and collaboration;

（4) Evaluation of external brain service users: including the overall satisfaction, loyalty and recommend willingness of the interviewees to the external brain service;

（5) External brain service improvement opinions: including the respondent's description of the shortcomings and room for improvement of external brain service.

In this paper, through the list of clients of Shangpu Consulting, randomly selected.100The survey was conducted by customers who had used the external brain service and sent and returned questionnaires by mail and telephone. Finally, a valid questionnaire was recovered.85The recovery rate is85%。

2.2 in-depth interviews

In-depth interview is a commonly used qualitative research method, which can collect more detailed and in-depth data and conduct thematic analysis. According to the results of the questionnaire survey, this paper selects10The number of customers with high and low evaluation of external brain services, respectively, were approximately.30minutes of semi-structured in-depth interviews. The interview focused on the following questions:

（1) What are your main purposes and needs for using Champ Consulting's external brain services?

（2) What are your specific experiences and feelings about the external brain service of Shangpu Consulting Company?

（3) In what areas do you think Champ Consulting's external brain services are doing better and what areas need improvement?

（4) What are your expectations and suggestions for Champ Consulting's external brain services?

This paper transcribes and organizes the interview recordings, encodes and classifies them according to the content and semantics, and extracts the main themes and viewpoints.

3. research results

In this paper, the data of questionnaire survey and in-depth interview are analyzed, and the following results are obtained:

3.1 External Brain Service User Experience

This paper employs a five-point scale (1Expresses great dissatisfaction,5Expresses great satisfaction) to measure the experience of external brain service users with Shangpu Consulting in terms of professionalism, service attitude, delivery quality, communication and collaboration. Table1The mean and standard deviation of each indicator are shown.

External brain service users gave high scores to Shangpu Consulting Company in all indicators, and the service attitude score was the highest.

In the in-depth interview, most of the interviewees also said that they had a good experience of the external brain service of Shangpu Consulting Company, and believed that Shangpu Consulting Company had the following advantages:

（1) Team members have high educational background and professional knowledge, and can provide professional suggestions and solutions for different industries and fields;

（2) Team members have strong communication and collaboration skills, be able to understand customer needs and feedback in a timely manner, and maintain good communication and collaboration with customers;

（3) Team members have high work efficiency and quality, can complete project tasks on time and in quantity, and deliver project results that meet customer expectations.

Here are some of the interviewees:

"The external brain team at Champ Consulting is very professional, they have a deep understanding of our industry and are able to provide valuable analysis and advice. They are also very communicative, able to respond to our questions and needs in a timely manner, and maintain close contact and collaboration with us." (AGeneral Manager of the Company)

"The external brain team at Champ Consulting is very efficient, they are able to complete the tasks we deliver in a short period of time, and the quality is high and meets our expectations. They are also flexible and can adjust the work plan and content according to our changes to meet our actual situation." (BCompany Project Manager)

"The external brain team at Champ Consulting is excellent, they have a high educational background and expertise, and are able to provide professional solutions for different areas. They are also very innovative and able to put forward some new and forward-looking ideas and suggestions." (CR & D Manager of the Company)

3.2 External Brain Service User Evaluation

This paper employs a five-point scale (1Expresses great dissatisfaction,5Expresses very satisfied) to measure the overall satisfaction, loyalty, willingness to recommend, etc. of external brain service users. Table2The mean and standard deviation of each indicator are shown.

External brain service users have given high scores on overall satisfaction, loyalty and willingness to recommend to external brain service, with the highest score on overall satisfaction and the lowest score on willingness to recommend. This shows that the external brain service users are satisfied with the external brain service as a whole, and are willing to continue to use or reuse the external brain service, and are also willing to recommend the external brain service to others, but there is still room for improvement in recommend willingness.

In the in-depth interview, most of the interviewees also said that they had a high evaluation of external brain services, believing that external brain services could effectively help them solve problems and enhance their competitiveness. Here are some of the interviewees:

"External Brain Services has helped us a lot, allowing us to achieve our project goals faster and better. We are very satisfied with External Brain Services and trust Champ Consulting very much. We will continue to use External Brain Services and will recommend External Brain Services to our partners." (DCorporate Marketing Manager)

"External Brain Services gives us access to more expertise and resources, which improves our innovation and competitiveness. We are very satisfied with External Brain Services and are very grateful to Champ Consulting. We will use External Brain Services again and will recommend External Brain Services to our peers." (ER & D Manager of the Company)

"External Brain Service has allowed us to save a lot of time and cost, and has improved our work efficiency and quality. We are very satisfied with External Brain Service and appreciate Champ Consulting very much. We will continue to use External Brain Service and will recommend External Brain Service to our customers." (FCompany Project Manager)

3.3 External Brain Service Improvement Suggestions

Through questionnaires and in-depth interviews, this paper collects opinions and suggestions on the shortcomings and improvement space of external brain service users. There are mainly the following points:

（1) Increase the type and scope of external brain services to meet more customer needs. Some interviewees said that they hope that Shangpu Consulting can provide more external brain services, such as professional consulting in the fields of data analysis, artificial intelligence, big data center, etc., as well as auxiliary services in enterprise training, industrial planning, expert invitation, etc.

（2) Improve the delivery quality and effectiveness of external brain services and increase customer satisfaction. Some interviewees said that they still have certain expectations for the delivery quality and effectiveness of Shangpu Consulting. They hope that Shangpu Consulting can provide more detailed and in-depth analysis and suggestions, as well as more innovative and forward-looking views and solutions.

（3) Strengthen the communication and cooperation mechanism of external brain services to improve work efficiency and cooperation. Some interviewees said that they hope that Shangpu Consulting can maintain closer and timely communication and cooperation with them, timely feedback on work progress and problems, and timely adjust work plans and content to adapt to customer changes and needs.

（4) Reduce the price and cost of external brain services, improve cost performance and competitiveness. Some interviewees said that they think that the price of external brain services of Shangpu Consulting Company is too high, which is not in line with their budget. They hope that Shangpu Consulting Company can provide more reasonable and preferential price plans, or provide more preferential policies and activities.

4. conclusions and recommendations

Based on the case of external brain service of Shangpu Consulting Company, this paper uses the methods of questionnaire survey and in-depth interview to make an empirical study on the user experience and evaluation of external brain service. In this paper, the following conclusions are obtained:

（1) External brain service users gave high scores to Shangpu Consulting Company in terms of professional level, service attitude, delivery quality, communication and collaboration, etc., and believed that external brain service can effectively meet their needs and enhance their competitiveness.

（2) External brain service users have given high scores on overall satisfaction, loyalty and willingness to recommend external brain service, expressing their willingness to continue to use or reuse external brain service and to recommend external brain service to others.

（3) The shortcomings and room for improvement of external brain service users are: increasing the type and scope of external brain service, improving the quality and effect of external brain service delivery, strengthening the communication and cooperation mechanism of external brain service, and reducing the price and cost of external brain service.

According to the results of this paper, this paper puts forward the following suggestions:

（1) According to market demand and customer feedback, we will continue to innovate and expand the types and scope of external brain services, provide more professional consulting and auxiliary services, and meet more customer needs.

（2) According to industry trends and customer expectations, continuously improve the delivery quality and effectiveness of external brain services, provide more detailed and in-depth analysis and suggestions, as well as more innovative and forward-looking ideas and solutions to increase customer satisfaction.

（3) According to the characteristics of the project and the customer's situation, continuously strengthen the communication and cooperation mechanism of the external brain service, timely feedback the work progress and problems, and timely adjust the work plan and content to adapt to the changes and needs of customers, and improve work efficiency and cooperation.

（4) According to market competition and customer budgets, continuously reduce the price and cost of external brain services, provide more reasonable and preferential price plans, or provide more preferential policies and activities to improve cost performance and competitiveness.