One of the unseen victors of Tuesday’s presidential elections was Bitcoin. BTC prices rose to over $720 per bitcoin on early news of a Trump win. Since then, prices have corrected and Bitcoins are trading at around $709 – where they were prior to the election. Shares of the Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTCQX:GBTC) rose to nearly $107 early Wednesday and have since likewise returned to the $101 level as of mid-day Thursday. What we’ve been seeing recently with the Brexit vote and China’s recent announcement to further devalue their currency is Bitcoin becoming a hedge against currency volatlity as parties with interests in important elections seek to hedge against market and currency volatility.

Opinions Are Mixed Regarding Bitcoin As A Safe Haven

All that seems to be good for Bitcoin which,due to recent monetary policy decisions by China, is being boosted by demand for safe havens after Trump’s suprise victory. Prices were up to $733 at one point after being stuck in the $700-$709 range since November 4. Crypto Compare CEO Charles Hayter wrote in an email to CNBC Wednesday morning: “Bitcoin is yet again acting as a form of digital gold and correlating strongly with the commodity – when there is uncertainty safe haven assets see a boost”. He also commented on the idea that the original crypto currency is seeing boosts in markets where markets can temporarily be rattled by unexpected political or economic catalysts: “As with Brexit, bitcoin is seeing an upward jolt on the back of Trump’s election and the resultant lack of clarity on the global stage,” he added.

After Brexit, the price of Bitcoin jumped from $550 to $650. Not everyone feels the same way about Bitcoin. Gil Luria, director of research at Wedbush Securities disagees. He told Coinbase, a popular California-based bitcoin exchange this morning – “Bitcoin has plenty of risks that are unique to the technology, which is why it is best suited for investors that understand those risks,” Luria said. “I consider a safe-haven asset an asset that has inherent downside protection, which I do not believe bitcoin will have any time soon.” What you need to ask yourself before making that decision for yourself is if Bitcoin’s unique qualities as well as its ease of accessibility will be a future catalyst for growth by investors who don’t necessarily agree with the libertarian philosophy that has driven growth in Bitcoin since 2011. In regards to Bitcoin, the future is uncertain. Not all investors are convinced but the charts suggest there is still room for growth. Let’s take a look at some charts and what general trends we can determine when it comes to “the bigger picture”.

The above table gives us details about GBTC’s performance since it first starting trading in May of 2015. In that nearly year and a half, GBTC has returned 102%, or nearly 60% annualized. Bitcoin’s trends are overall creeping upwards.

Future Risk and Reward Catalysts

The Bitcoin Investment Trust and Winkelvoss Bitcoin Trust ETF (Pending:COIN) provide the opportunity to further diversify your save haven assets such as precious metals into cryptocurrency. There are a few good reasons to believe Bitcoin will remain an appreciating asset that can further improve portfolio’s yields. Here are three:

• Fiat currencies require increases in money supply to support inflation while gold and silver prices are driven in part by mining yields and industrial usage, but Bitcoin’s lifetime supply is capped to 21 million coins. On top of that, the rate of creation of new bitcoins was halved this summer from 25 bitcoins BTC per block to 12.5. That creates a decrease in supply growth – a structural feature designed to increase the digital currency’s value over time by eliminating supply-side depreciation risks.
• Greece, Venezuela, Argentina, Zimbabwe, Cyrpus… The list of fiat currencies losing purchasing with every blink of the eye can be partially attributed to sharp increases in money supply. Nations such as Mexico and Ecuador have been increasingly researching and developing blockchain techologies. China has held discussions with Citi (NYSE:C) and Deloitte and they’re already working on a blockchain. Tunisia has already implemented a national blockchain and Japan has embraced Bitcoin with open arms. On top of that, global corporate giants such as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Dell, and Paypal (NASDAQ:PYPL) have publicly invested in blockchain tech with other corporate giants such as Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) have been rumored to be working on implementing block chain tech into their future payment services strategies.
• In an increasingly global economy, using BTC payment remittance provides opportunities for even the smallest businesses to capitalize on purchasing services from anyone all over the world without the barriers to entry typically associated with sourcing global talent. It’s safe, secure, and it can be accessed by anyone with internet access.

Of course, many risks still exist in Bitcoin. Exchange hacks have sometimes cause the value to plummet, in large part due to the theft of over $450 million in bitcoins at the time, but Bitcoin has been resilient and moved forward with its agenda. Part of that has to do with the libertarian philosophy of competition in money. The likeliness of an alternative form of currency seemed like a slim chance at first. The industry of money was seen as a monopoly and Bitcoin provided the decentralized technology to limit control and regulation by governments over a competing currency something free market economists believe is essential for a free society to thrive economically. Whether or not you agree with the assessment, you can’t deny that Bitcoin is more and more becoming a store of value. The charts below display the volume of transactions in Bitcoin per day and the price of 1 BTC in USD. Both have been rising sharply since Bitcoin’s price bottomed out mid-2015.

The Bottom Line

Now is a good time to add Bitcoin to your portfolio. COIN, The Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust ETF, has yet to be approved by regulators although it is expected to eventually hit the market. What that will do is add the liquidity and open access that comes along with being listed in the U.S. equities market.

Aside from large hacks of and thefts from independently owned and operated Bitcoin exchanges, its innovation is very real and here to stay. Blockchain encryption technology is peaking a lot of interest in the FinTech industry and confidence in Bitcoin’s future value has been returning. Whatever your reservations about the risks and rewards of a digital currency are, BTC has seen a successful first five years as a remittance technology. The Bitcoin itself is highly robust. Its big selloffs were primarily due to embezzlement and thefts which exists in every form of money.

As investors, what we need to look at are the future prospects. The decentralized remittance technology does have its downsides including ecological implications. All those downsides, however, have to be weighed against its upsides. The lack of centralized control and ease of use provide us with a first of its kind – a technology allowing us to send money to anyone anywhere at any time at the click of a button. Its blockchain technology is becoming increasing popular as banking and financial giants begin to see the benefit in such a highly encrypted and low-cost method to remit transactions. I’m bullish on Bitcoin and the GBTC trust long term. Many new products backed by blockchain technology are coming and going but the Bitcoin is the original and, ultimately, blockchain technology is going to remain closely identified with Bitcoin for the foreseeable future. Adding GBTC to your portfolio can help you benefit from possible Bitcoin upside while reducing the risks associated with utilizing Bitcoin exchanges and wallets. Once COIN is trading, you’ll be able to harness the benefits of owning Bitcoin through an ETF.

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) released the newest iteration of its OSX operating system earlier this week to complement the release of the 2016 line of Macbook Pro and Macbook Air notebooks. Along with the latest software and security updates, macOS Sierra included hidden Apple Pay images featuring the new Macbook Pro set to be announced by Apple later today (watch the event live). The announcement couldn’t have come sooner given Apple’s decline in revenue growth; After all, personal computer, specifically laptops are what made Apple famous and the pressure is on once again for Apple to deliver. Apple isn’t only out to please investors but also brand loyalists which has been holding off on purchasing new laptops in anticipation of the long awaited update to the brand’s most popular series of notebooks. The new line will feature updated hardware for more power, better batter life and a new design reminiscent of its predecessor but that’s not all Apple fans are excited about.

The new line of Macbook Pro laptops will feature a Magic Toolbar OLED Panel which will replace the escape and function keys. The panel will let you access unique features in programs as well as access user settings, options, and shortcuts. It will also feature touch ID and more. The new notebook will possibly will shrug its 3.5mm headphone jack in favor of USB-C just like the iPhone 7 has. Of course, a converter can be purchased. A new Macbook Air will be introduced as well. The question is: is it enough to restore investor confidence in Apple’s ability to move up the ranks in the list of top 5 PC manufactures? Macintosh branded PC shipments have declined 8.3% year over year. In the second quarter of 2015, Apple shipped 4.82 million units which amounted for 7.4% of market share. In the same time period this year, Apple shipped roughly 400 thousand less units and saw market share decline to 7.1%. Apple trails behind ASUS by .1%, and anywhere between 9 and 14 points behind Dell, HP and Lenovo.

Apple announced its fiscal Q4 earnings (which ends Sep. 24) yesterday and put a focus on iPhone shipments which beat analyst expectations by nearly 700,00 units (45.51 million to 44.8 million). Apple also reported upgraded guidance for Q1 2017 with expected revenues between $76 and $78 billion with a cash dividend of $0.57 per share. International sales accounted for roughly 62% of revenue weighed down by slow business in China which CEO Tim Cook has cited slow LTE adoption rates which he expects to turn around by Q2 2017. Services business grew 24% to $6.3 billion as well, setting the company’s all-time record growth in the segment featuring the apple store and content.

So, growth in iPhone shipments and app sales have been fueling growth in their segments but notebooks shipments, which were a huge contributing factor to Apple’ success in the 2000’s and preceded the iPhone as Apple’s most high-selling product, have been waning. Apple has timed this release right in time for the holiday season and will likely finish up the year strong. After all, many Apple enthusiasts have been holding off purchasing a new laptop in anticipation for the new Macbooks. Despite all that, Apple’s stock tumbled after the release and closed out Wednesday at $115.59 (-$2.66/-2.25%). Investors are mostly concerned about Apple’s future catalysts for growth especially given all the buzz regarding the downsizing of Project Titan, their still largely undisclosed R&D automotive project. Although unverified, rumors suggest Apple has given Project Titan until the end of 2017 to research and develop an automated driving system. Recent rumors of an acquisition of McLaren had investors hoping for faster than anticipated news on the project but a deal hasn’t been substantiated and rumors have suggested the project’s ambitions have been downsized.

Apple is really gearing up to see steady and consistent growth in virtually all product segments going into 2017. Apple can deliver better than expected growth in the laptop segment in Q1. Given the demand from enthusiasts and the holiday shopping season, the new line of notebooks will likely be on route for a great quarter. Whether or not that’s enough to drive a rally in the stock is up to debate but it’s still important to keep in mind that next quarter will see solid performance in virtually all segments and China might even start to show signs of turning around.

Apple doesn’t seem to be set to reveal any new products anytime soon and that’s part of the reason why some aren’t expecting Apple to deliver on the same type of constant growth it has over the last 20 years. My opinion is “So What?”. If the changes to the Macbook Pro are widely accepted, we’re talking serious growth potential in the segment. Aside from Asus, who ships just nearly as many PCs as Apple, Apple’s next competitor in the PC industry would be Dell, which shipped nearly twice many PCs as Apple in Q2. Apple does have the opportunity here regain market share in the PC space and can build on notebook sales momentum with introduction of a new iMac early in 2017. In other words, if this thing is a hit, Apple will be raking in some serious cash.

AAPL has been trading a few bucks short of its six-month high near $118 but has been building steady momentum throughout the month despite the news on Project Titan. The stock is still roughly $8 away from its 52-week high of $123.82. Buying opportunities exist if you believe a turnaround in revenue growth can be fueled by growing computer and iPhone sales. If you’re waiting hints of the next big thing from Apple to signal a buy, you’ll be waiting for a while just like the rest of us.

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The phrase management consulting firm strikes many business owners as somewhat non-descriptive and can often be interpreted as an individual consultant or a group of consultants with no particular specialization. After all, the term “consultant” is often used to describe financial services firm representatives, project managers, web developers, financial advisers and analysts. Just about every field or specialization has its share of consultants who, as opposed to permanent employees, have more flexibility and deal with a wide range of products, services and clients. “Management consulting”, however, refers to a specific set of advisory practices relating to providing management guidance to well-established agencies and enterprises operating in a global capacity.

The value of hiring a consultancy is inherently obvious for large corporations, governmental agencies and nonprofits; But, when it comes to small and mid-size businesses, management consultants generally provide access to broad expertise and technical knowledge which many businesses lack internally as well as the experience of working with larger organizations. Another clear benefit is the ability to temporarily employ experts in particular technical fields (think information security or database design) who focus on implementation and delivery of industry standards. In other words, an external consultant(s) with a specific industry specialization determines the solutions that an internal employee or business owner (which has a very narrow range of external practices but expertise in company policy and practices) implements and manages.

Management Consulting Firm Types:

Strategy Consulting – Strategy consultancies are the most common type of management consulting firm and are primarily focused on improving organizational performance through a generation of new revenue streams, workflow management, process analysis and improvement, and competitor analysis. More often than not, strategy consultants deal with the corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, and enterprise change management concerns of multinational companies and government agencies.

IT Consulting – Information technology consultants solve organization challenges through the design and implementation of information systems. A majority of IT consulting firms provide solutions for both internal systems and customer-interfacing systems such as web architecture, design and development. The distinction between IT consulting firms and other forms of consultancies are becoming more blurred with increased utilization of task-specific technologies. The utilization of information systems to solve organizational issues is now a viable solution for most businesses and is a common practice making the understanding of the system development life cycle, project management, and implementation thereof a job requirement for consultants in any field. IT firms are the most diversified type of consulting firm. Each and every firms’ specialization is unique along with its product and service offerings.

FinTech Consulting – Financial technology consultants aim to centralize and improve global banking, lending, payments and remittance challenges using emerging technologies such as institutional and asset-management tools, digital currencies and financial information systems. Financial services firms are among the most heavily-regulated businesses on earth, and navigating regulatory requirements and processes for a wide variety of nations is a daunting task for even the largest organizations. New technologies help alleviate some of those burdens and simplify the process for both the business and investor alike.

Marketing Consulting – Marketing consultancies are a unique type of management consulting firm focusing on developing strategies to target consumers and successfully sell goods and services. Design of successful marketing strategy generally requires both industry-specific and broad market-wide knowledge of products, services, competitors as well as creativity and design expertise. Marketing agencies come in all shapes and sizes and may focus on traditional campaigns or digital marketing.

HR Consulting – Human resource consultants help navigate the challenges internal HR departments face. More often than not, a lack of sufficiently organized data and personal bias among hiring managers and HR professionals prevents the selection of the best candidate for the role. HR consultants can help organizations implement tools and policies which significantly improve candidate attraction, selection, assessment, training, and promotion while ensuring compliance with local, regional and national labor and employment policy. Nowadays, HR professionals play a larger role in M&A restructuring, succession planning, and industrial and labor relations than they have previously. HR consultants provide technical and interpersonal solutions to help organizations choose and retain the talent which provides the best value and return on investment.

PR Consulting – Public relations agencies and consultants help companies and governments determine the best practices for creating and managing an organization’s desired image with the public. Public relations specialists help manage reputations and construct narratives to benefit relationships between an organization and its customers, investors, partners, and employees. Reputation and crisis management are two of the most utilized PR services. More often than not, a consultancy stands more to gain by providing sound honest advice than a PR agency whose primary focus is the sale of their products and services.

Social Media Consulting – Social media consultants design and develop strategies for consumer-engagement on the web. Generally speaking, one of the primary goals of the organization in process is to increase relevant web traffic, sharing, and conversation about their products or services. Experienced social media consultants focus on creating and maintaining a strong online media presence and public brand recognition. Managing the dozens, and sometimes even hundreds, of social media platforms and sites a company may desire to maintain a presence on can be impossible for internal departments without retaining a social media consulting firm to design a strategy utilizing the latest in cross-platform technologies.

Financial/Investment Advisory Consulting – Financial advisory consultants provide the objective advice your organization needs about investment opportunities without the limitations inherently present with registered financial services firms and advisers. The main difference is the compensation structure. While financial service firm representatives attempt to secure your account as a client, these professions are generally commission and/or performance based causing various conflicts of interest. A consultancy rarely participates in the process of referring or managing accounts, which brings a certain level of impartiality to the subject providing businesses unbiased and objective investment advice.

Legal Consulting – As opposed to legal counsel, legal consultants externally identify the legal issues and challenges facing their clients and present effective solutions. Legal consultants are generally hired in addition to internal legal counsel in order to provide industry-specific knowledge and expertise. Legal consulting services are heavily utilized in specializations such as intellectual property, global banking, tax and compliance, real estate transactions, technological transactions, and legal structuring.

Want to learn about which consulting services may be right for you? Schedule a consultation to connect with our team of professionals.

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A strong understanding and application of industry best practices is what gives the clients of management consulting firms a strategic advantage over their competition. Backed by broad experience and deep expertise, Aboutboul & Company’s team of advisers can deliver combined expertise and strategic services, business performance, organizational performance and mergers and acquisitions.

Businesses today are likely dealing with an assortment of issues that involve specific multidisciplinary challenges. It can be a daunting task to seek out consultants who qualify to help in each respective discipline. Many of our institutional and global enterprise clients have come to rely on one source, one primary contact, for nearly any challenge they have. What’s more, they have confidence knowing they are working with highly accomplished consultants in their respective fields with broad market understanding and specific knowledge about competitors’ systems and strategies.

Management Consulting Firms’ Goals

Today’s complex organizational environment calls for sound business models that offer agility in the short term and stability in the long. Management consulting firms provide strategic business consulting services that offer uncommon insight into key business problems in their specific industry, delivering clients a new perspective that can lead to a sustainable competitive advantage. Our consultants have decades of combined experience building new businesses and innovate new revenue streams in the financial services and global management industries. Management consulting groups are experts in evaluating business risks and opportunities to generate resourceful strategies which reduce operate costs and cultivate long-term growth for their clients and we’re no different. Advisors can review and analyze a product and/or service delivery model and help fill in the gaps. Our consultants collectively have extensive hands-on experience helping government agencies and businesses accelerate the design and implementation of their transformational process.

The primary goal of a management consulting firm’s organizational performance advisory practice is to assist their clients in enhancing some aspect of their overall performance. They offer extensive experience within the financial services and global management industries, providing a range of performance improvement services to their clientele. Their work spans all functional areas of an organization and provides the foundation to prepare an environment for growth, efficiency and increased profitability.

Aboutboul & Company has a proprietary network of buyers and sellers that is leveraged on behalf of our clients. Drawing on experience from many unique mergers and acquisitions, we’ve pinpointed special patterns and factors crucial to the successful execution of the M&A execution process. Such a formal approach eliminates hazy second guessing or reliance on gut decisions after a merger. Our mergers and acquisitions advisory group considers all business units affected by a transaction, sets priorities, and defines the optimal schedule for the integration.

Why You Should Get In Touch

When you work with our management consultants, you benefit from an extensive sophisticated expertise and knowledge of competitor strategies in-industry. Our seasoned principles and consultants have worked in both the public and private sectors in the areas of executive management, operations, sales, marketing, IT, and financial and business advisory services. Collaborating with management consulting firms means partnering with consultants known in their industry for professionalism and integrity. That means responsiveness, accountability and personal commitment – everything you need in a trusted partner.

Schedule a consultation to connect with our team of professionals who are ready to help with your management, operational and technological needs.

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