Whilst much of the press seems intent on maligning the consulting industry this month, I was pleased to see a more measured article in today's FT counselling clients on how to get the best return from their investment in consultants. Rather than castigating investment in consultants as money down the drain, this piece gives some good insights into how and when to use consultants effectively. A good read for clients and consultants alike. See:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f6f90514-e6a7-11d9-b6bc-00000e2511c8.html
Rgds, Tony
Monday, June 27, 2005
Friday, June 24, 2005
Careers Fair preview... Management Consultancy Careers Fair coming to London
In just over 3 months I hope you'll be joining us for the largest Management Consultancy Careers Fair ever to be staged in the UK (and arguably the world!). We used to run smaller events for 200 candidates to meet with recruiters from half a dozen consulting firms. But this year the demand for new consulting hires has gone ballistic and so in partnership with the Management Consultancies Association we've organised a far more impressive event...
We're expecting some 350 company representatives and recruiters to be at Olympia, who combined will be looking to make several thousand new consulting hires this year. Already we've got many of the world's leading consultancies and niche players signed up to attend (Accenture, Capgemini, DiamondCluster, IBM, PA Consulting...). You'll be able to find out about opportunities both in the UK and across Europe.
Anyway, the reason for alerting you via my blog is because the reservation system went live today. As there are only enough places for 1% of our readers to attend, you'll want to get in quick if this sounds like the type of event you don't want to miss.
You can get full details of who'll be there and how to sign up by going to:
http://www.top-consultant.com/UK/events/Article_display.asp?ID=48
Look forward to seeing you there, Tony
We're expecting some 350 company representatives and recruiters to be at Olympia, who combined will be looking to make several thousand new consulting hires this year. Already we've got many of the world's leading consultancies and niche players signed up to attend (Accenture, Capgemini, DiamondCluster, IBM, PA Consulting...). You'll be able to find out about opportunities both in the UK and across Europe.
Anyway, the reason for alerting you via my blog is because the reservation system went live today. As there are only enough places for 1% of our readers to attend, you'll want to get in quick if this sounds like the type of event you don't want to miss.
You can get full details of who'll be there and how to sign up by going to:
http://www.top-consultant.com/UK/events/Article_display.asp?ID=48
Look forward to seeing you there, Tony
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
The Guardian takes a dislike to consultants
A number of articles in the Guardian these last weeks leave me pretty convinced. The Guardian has taken a dislike to consultants.
First there were a series of articles in which deep concern was expressed at the increasing role of consultants in the thinking of Number 10 and - horror of horrors - the appointment of some ex-McKinsey advisers into key government roles. The appointees are likely to drive through radical changes in the management and measurement of government departments, to push for efficiency gains and the adoption of online approaches to streamline departments.
Most organisations I know would love to hire as employees a team of ex-McKinsey consultants. Bring all that expertise in house, have the ability to push through more initiatives internally without the need for calling in consultants - and be in a position of strength when negotiating with consultancies for those engagements that are still deemed necessary. Most FTSE firms are trying to hire lots of ex-consultants, yet because this is happening in the public sector it is labelled as scandalous. Ridiculous.
This was followed up in the last days by another article in which the Observer / Guardian Unlimited tore shreds out of consultants for their unethical practices and client scams. This was all based on the rantings to be found within David Craig's recent book about how consultants rip off their clients. I've already submitted a letter of complaint to the Editor, copied below. If you'd like to do the same simply email: politics.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk
I write in response to Nick Cohen's article "Natural born billers" in which the majority of management consultants are made out to be charlatans and common thieves. I am concerned by the ease with which the author David Craig has been able to persuade mainstream media to tout his views of the consulting industry. We are, after all, talking about a chap who has a book to sell here.
I am a former management consultant myself and now work in the recruitment sector. Both sectors have a few rotten eggs - as does any sector where there's significant money to be made or lost - but the vast majority of professionals are going about their business in an honest and upright manner and delivering huge value to clients both in the public and private sectors.
If we look at the Enron scandal and how the reputations of Andersen employees were tarnished worldwide, we see how easily the media can fan the flames of isolated incidents and turn them into widely held beliefs and prejudices. In the case of Enron it was accountants worldwide that were dragged through the wringer and whose integrity was questioned; by promoting this book's premise you are taking consulting in the same direction on the basis of what can only be described as very limited testimony.
As you are undoubtedly aware, repeat business in the consulting industry is absolutely key and I would put it to you that any professional that succeeds in doing business with FTSE clients year after year is clearly doing a great many things right. Most consulting firms generate the majority of their revenues from repeat clients - which must result either from the success of the engagements or be down to gross negligence on the part of most FTSE Directors. Are you seriously suggesting the majority of FTSE Directors simply have the wool pulled over their eyes and pay up year after year? I thought not.
Finding examples of bad practice is easy in any industry, but portraying these practices as industry norms is doing both your readers and the country a gross disservice. I trust you will strike a more balanced view in your future commentaries
Yours faithfully
Tony Restell
Company Director
___________________________________________
www.Top-Consultant.com
Switchboard: +44 (0)207 667 6880
First there were a series of articles in which deep concern was expressed at the increasing role of consultants in the thinking of Number 10 and - horror of horrors - the appointment of some ex-McKinsey advisers into key government roles. The appointees are likely to drive through radical changes in the management and measurement of government departments, to push for efficiency gains and the adoption of online approaches to streamline departments.
Most organisations I know would love to hire as employees a team of ex-McKinsey consultants. Bring all that expertise in house, have the ability to push through more initiatives internally without the need for calling in consultants - and be in a position of strength when negotiating with consultancies for those engagements that are still deemed necessary. Most FTSE firms are trying to hire lots of ex-consultants, yet because this is happening in the public sector it is labelled as scandalous. Ridiculous.
This was followed up in the last days by another article in which the Observer / Guardian Unlimited tore shreds out of consultants for their unethical practices and client scams. This was all based on the rantings to be found within David Craig's recent book about how consultants rip off their clients. I've already submitted a letter of complaint to the Editor, copied below. If you'd like to do the same simply email: politics.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk
I write in response to Nick Cohen's article "Natural born billers" in which the majority of management consultants are made out to be charlatans and common thieves. I am concerned by the ease with which the author David Craig has been able to persuade mainstream media to tout his views of the consulting industry. We are, after all, talking about a chap who has a book to sell here.
I am a former management consultant myself and now work in the recruitment sector. Both sectors have a few rotten eggs - as does any sector where there's significant money to be made or lost - but the vast majority of professionals are going about their business in an honest and upright manner and delivering huge value to clients both in the public and private sectors.
If we look at the Enron scandal and how the reputations of Andersen employees were tarnished worldwide, we see how easily the media can fan the flames of isolated incidents and turn them into widely held beliefs and prejudices. In the case of Enron it was accountants worldwide that were dragged through the wringer and whose integrity was questioned; by promoting this book's premise you are taking consulting in the same direction on the basis of what can only be described as very limited testimony.
As you are undoubtedly aware, repeat business in the consulting industry is absolutely key and I would put it to you that any professional that succeeds in doing business with FTSE clients year after year is clearly doing a great many things right. Most consulting firms generate the majority of their revenues from repeat clients - which must result either from the success of the engagements or be down to gross negligence on the part of most FTSE Directors. Are you seriously suggesting the majority of FTSE Directors simply have the wool pulled over their eyes and pay up year after year? I thought not.
Finding examples of bad practice is easy in any industry, but portraying these practices as industry norms is doing both your readers and the country a gross disservice. I trust you will strike a more balanced view in your future commentaries
Yours faithfully
Tony Restell
Company Director
___________________________________________
www.Top-Consultant.com
Switchboard: +44 (0)207 667 6880
Monitor + A.T.Kearney = ?
Rumour has it in today's FT that the management buy-out of A.T.Kearney has collapsed and that another suitor has been lined up to takeover the firm within the next 4 months. The FT touts Monitor as the likely buyer.
Is this what's really going down in the States, or is it just a smoke-screen? I'm reminded of the saying "if you've got multiple buyers you've got a sale; if you've got one buyer you've got a giveaway". Could the appearance of a new prospective buyer simply be a ploy to secure better terms for the management buyout?
This ongoing saga reminds me of the rumours that abounded at the time of the collapse of Arthur D Little, which saw first PA Consulting then Monitor Group and then Mercer Management Consulting all talked of as potential suitors. Let's hope the A.T.Kearney situation is swiftly resolved before too many of its consultants decide that with all the uncertainty they are better off just moving on to pastures new...
Tony
Is this what's really going down in the States, or is it just a smoke-screen? I'm reminded of the saying "if you've got multiple buyers you've got a sale; if you've got one buyer you've got a giveaway". Could the appearance of a new prospective buyer simply be a ploy to secure better terms for the management buyout?
This ongoing saga reminds me of the rumours that abounded at the time of the collapse of Arthur D Little, which saw first PA Consulting then Monitor Group and then Mercer Management Consulting all talked of as potential suitors. Let's hope the A.T.Kearney situation is swiftly resolved before too many of its consultants decide that with all the uncertainty they are better off just moving on to pastures new...
Tony
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Wipro on the acquisition trail?
Is it just me or are the moves and counter-moves of US / European consulting firms and their Indian counterparts starting to look like mirror-images of one-another?
Both seem to be positioning themselves so as to have a strong go-to-market presence in the richer developed countries, whilst being able to resource sizeable chunks of the assignments won in operations based in the lesser developed nations. The outsourcing of consulting service provision to cheaper parts of the world if you like.
The likes of Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro are all trying to grow their presence in the mature markets of Europe and the US to leverage off their Indian operations. An article on Wipro earlier this year in the Economic Times (see here) claimed Wipro boss Azim Premji had plans to acquire businesses in European markets such as France, Germany and the UK. Whilst in the FT this week there's an article (see here) in which Premji highlights US and Indian acquisitions as being potentially imminent, with European deals still of interest but less well progressed.
The major US and European consultancies, meanwhile, are busy building operations out in the likes of India and China - so the footprints of all look pretty similar.
Consulting is certainly looking like a more and more homogenous service offering. Where's the differentiation in the market?!
Tony
Both seem to be positioning themselves so as to have a strong go-to-market presence in the richer developed countries, whilst being able to resource sizeable chunks of the assignments won in operations based in the lesser developed nations. The outsourcing of consulting service provision to cheaper parts of the world if you like.
The likes of Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro are all trying to grow their presence in the mature markets of Europe and the US to leverage off their Indian operations. An article on Wipro earlier this year in the Economic Times (see here) claimed Wipro boss Azim Premji had plans to acquire businesses in European markets such as France, Germany and the UK. Whilst in the FT this week there's an article (see here) in which Premji highlights US and Indian acquisitions as being potentially imminent, with European deals still of interest but less well progressed.
The major US and European consultancies, meanwhile, are busy building operations out in the likes of India and China - so the footprints of all look pretty similar.
Consulting is certainly looking like a more and more homogenous service offering. Where's the differentiation in the market?!
Tony
Monday, June 6, 2005
Consulting vs Outsourcing
Have just been ploughing my way through the latest report from the Management Consultancies Association and it's a pretty remarkable read. Take a look at this chart:
No matter how much has been written about outsourcing in the last years, it's hard to take on board just how much this business line has transformed the face of consulting and the companies that make up the consulting world. These latest figures show that outsourcing has now outgrown all your traditional consulting business lines taken in combination! (as a former strategy consultant, I intentionally sideline IT consulting from this comparison, call it a force of habit)
The MCA have been kind enough to allow us to reproduce some of the key charts and data and you'll find the full write-up of the report findings if you click here. I think you'll find some of the patterns and trends quite eye-opening! Tony
No matter how much has been written about outsourcing in the last years, it's hard to take on board just how much this business line has transformed the face of consulting and the companies that make up the consulting world. These latest figures show that outsourcing has now outgrown all your traditional consulting business lines taken in combination! (as a former strategy consultant, I intentionally sideline IT consulting from this comparison, call it a force of habit)
The MCA have been kind enough to allow us to reproduce some of the key charts and data and you'll find the full write-up of the report findings if you click here. I think you'll find some of the patterns and trends quite eye-opening! Tony
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