Why Do Consulting Firms Switch to Client Portals?
Reconstruct switching forces, form a job hypothesis and recommend an adoption experience.
18 minutes
Scenario
ClearSpace sells a client portal to small consulting firms. Marketing targets firms by headcount, but conversion varies widely within each size band.
- Your role
- Demand researcher
- Method
- Jobs to Be Done
Evidence pack
First thought
A consultant sent an outdated proposal to a client and spent two hours repairing the error.
Passive looking
The consultant bookmarked two portal products but continued using email for seven weeks.
Trigger
A new enterprise client required secure document exchange and named access.
Pull
A colleague demonstrated one trusted workspace with version history and client approvals.
Anxiety
The consultant feared clients would reject another login and that migration would expose missing files.
Habit
Email was familiar, searchable and already used by every client.
Decision
The consultant selected the only provider offering assisted migration and guest access.
After use
The portal was retained after the enterprise project because approvals no longer required searching email threads.
Constraints
- The analysis must remain solution-independent until the forces are mapped.
- Firm size cannot be used as the primary explanation without supporting evidence.
- Recommendations must address at least one resisting force.
Case steps
Work through each prompt using the evidence pack. Answers and rubric weights stay protected in the interactive flow.
Arrange e1–e8 into a switching timeline and identify the event that changed passive interest into active choice.
Map push, pull, anxiety and habit. Explain how each affected the decision.
Write a functional, emotional and social job hypothesis using the circumstance-progress-outcome structure.
Recommend two changes to the offer or adoption experience and define behavioural evidence for each.