Internal consultant vs implementation consultant

The differences between internal consultants and implementation consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an internal consultant and an implementation consultant. Additionally, an internal consultant has an average salary of $91,097, which is higher than the $80,195 average annual salary of an implementation consultant.

The top three skills for an internal consultant include project management, process improvement and internal controls. The most important skills for an implementation consultant are technical support, customer service, and erp implementation.

Internal consultant vs implementation consultant overview

	Internal Consultant	Implementation Consultant
Yearly salary	$91,097	$80,195
Hourly rate	$43.80	$38.56
Growth rate	11%	11%
Number of jobs	70,927	70,450
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

What does an internal consultant do?

An internal consultant is responsible for providing consultation on the business process and operations to identify key areas of improvement and review its effectiveness to support the business goals and objectives. Internal consultants must have excellent organizational skills and expertise in business planning and project management to strategize and improve existing methodologies that would raise the company's performance. They also develop training and programs necessary for the employees to maximize their productivity and manage efficiency.

What does an implementation consultant do?

An implementation consultant is an individual who travels to various job sites to help clients with the installation of different software and hardware solutions. Implementation consultants must be knowledgeable of the software application so that they can conduct training sessions for internal and external customers. They develop system teaching aids such as training handbooks, demonstration models, and multimedia visual aids. Implementation consultants must also obtain technical certification, particularly on the specific software and hardware they install.

Internal consultant vs implementation consultant salary

Internal consultants and implementation consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Internal Consultant	Implementation Consultant
Average salary	$91,097	$80,195
Salary range	Between $67,000 And $122,000	Between $59,000 And $108,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	New Jersey	New York
Best paying company	Citi	McKinsey & Company Inc
Best paying industry	Technology	Pharmaceutical

Differences between internal consultant and implementation consultant education

There are a few differences between an internal consultant and an implementation consultant in terms of educational background:

	Internal Consultant	Implementation Consultant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Northwestern University	Northwestern University

Internal consultant vs implementation consultant demographics

Here are the differences between internal consultants' and implementation consultants' demographics:

	Internal Consultant	Implementation Consultant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 62.8% Female, 37.2%	Male, 53.8% Female, 46.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 12.4% White, 65.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 8.4% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.1% Asian, 12.5% White, 65.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	12%	12%

Differences between internal consultant and implementation consultant duties and responsibilities

Internal consultant example responsibilities.

Manage project and perform UAT of any changes from AppStore releases that relate to sales compensation elements.
Manage a team responsible for designing service-orient application architecture, standards and best practices guidelines, security and data access frameworks.
Conduct UAT sessions to validate requirements against application.
Perform gap analysis and create needed architecture and systems overviews documentation from existing Visio drawings, program coding and PowerPoint presentations.
Analyze internal knowledge infrastructure and develop optimized information system/organization.
Identify key performance indicators (KPIs), then used it to measure and set improvement targets.

Implementation consultant example responsibilities.

Facilitate teams, working directly with healthcare materials managers and executives to achieve non-salary expense reduction.
Utilize extensive payroll and human resource knowledge to coordinate and manage multiple complex implementation projects simultaneously.
Leverage industry experience, negotiation skills and communication competency to engage stakeholders to accomplish a trading system upgrade and database conversion.
Design and written custom reports and product reports using SQL and iReport report designer.
Create and deliver virtual training programs to be deliver via webinar using WebEx technology.
Prioritize user feedback and issues after UAT.

Internal consultant vs implementation consultant skills

Common internal consultant skills

Project Management, 18%
Process Improvement, 18%
Internal Controls, 9%
Sigma, 8%
Internal Clients, 7%
Business Development, 7%

Common implementation consultant skills

Technical Support, 11%
Customer Service, 5%
Erp Implementation, 4%
Implementation Process, 4%
Client Facing, 4%
Project Management, 4%

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Internal Consultant vs Implementation Consultant

Updated January 8, 2025

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