This feature was published in the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce magazine, Business Comment , in February 2004

An interim manager is very different from a consultant who tends to work on a project basis and advises and facilitates rather than implements change.

Interim managers are employed on a short-term basis, typically over three to nine months, as part of the business's management team to achieve specific objectives. They are usually at least half the cost of a consultant, and act as a flexible management resource, an extra pair of hands, to get the job done. They tend to be highly experienced and more than capable of doing the required work. To quote Digby Jones, Director General of the CBI: "Interim executives bring a wealth of experience and business acumen that helps to set a company on the right course for its future."

Permanent recruitment is an obvious alternative but this can be higher risk, especially when undertaken in a hurry. On the other hand, interims can address immediate problems, buying time so that the longer-term options can be considered carefully, reducing risk and saving money.

Demand for interim managers is growing as companies realize what a practical, hands-on resource they can provide. There are many situations where an interim manager should be considered: where there is a shortage of management time; a lack of expertise; a new project; a sudden departure; an illness; or even for maternity cover. Interim managers are flexible and bring a wealth of valuable experience. They do not have political ambitions in the organization, and provide objective perspectives focused on achieving specific goals.

A BIE/MORI survey of 'captains of industry' (2002) found that about 40% had used interim managers at or near board level. This revealed that, when managing change and transition, interim executive management was preferred to management consultancy by more than 6:1, and often found to be both more suitable and more cost effective.

Over recent years interim management roles have often been in finance, special projects, IT or in managing director roles, but marketing assignments are rightly becoming increasingly popular. As marketing directors or marketing managers, interim marketers can meet a wide range of different marketing requirements. They can help develop and launch a new product, use PR to raise the organization's profile, cover for short term leave, provide an extra resource for a rapidly growing business, act as a marketing director to satisfy the needs of investors, or build up a marketing function from scratch.

Christopher Lamotte at Real Marketing, an interim marketing consultancy, comments:
"During the recent downturn many businesses have slashed their marketing budgets, sometimes mistakenly cutting costs to improve short term profitability. Why is it then, that marketing still tops the list of expenditure most likely to be cut when our most successful companies have planned marketing at the core of their business? Marketing should be seen as a long term investment, and hiring an interim marketer is a flexible way to get an organization's marketing back up to speed without being too expensive." The interim marketing option should certainly be considered by small or medium sized businesses which do not have a marketing specialist on board, particularly if they are not yet ready to commit to a permanent marketing resource. Interim marketing can be a useful solution for small businesses where key marketing activities are being ignored because no-one has the time or expertise. For smaller companies, an interim marketer can be employed on a part-time basis for one or more days a week.

Christopher Lamotte adds:
"Too often businesses don't make their limited marketing budgets work hard enough; marketing tends to be narrowly defined as promotion, with too much emphasis on advertising, PR, websites and brochures, often applied in an ad hoc way. Marketing should be seen as a much broader strategic activity that starts with research, competitor analysis and a careful review of the business, and runs right through to selecting clear customer targets, projecting a defined, differentiated image, setting prices and planning high impact, cost effective, integrated sales and communications."

An experienced interim marketer can address a business's marketing issues and leave behind robust marketing systems and tools, based on a sound strategy.

One potential source of an interim marketer is the Chartered Institute of Marketing's Interim Marketing Solutions website which can be found at www.interimmarketers.com.