Advice from the experts

For a while now we’ve been sending out summaries of what we think is the best thought leadership on a given subject.  Leafing the newest selection, I was struck by material which, although aimed at client organisations, should also be required reading for consulting firms themselves.

In “Managing the global enterprise in today’s bipolar word”, Booz & Company argues that “globalization 2.0 also raises a host of thorny questions about what it means to be a global company today. The sheer pace of change, the asymmetries of market dynamics across a company’s portfolio, the need to localize products and services to different cultural appetites but leverage scale and synergies globally, and the demands of an increasingly diverse workforce all require multinationals to rethink how they run themselves.” It’s hard to find a better summary of one of the key organisational challenges facing consulting firms, as Booz concludes: “while companies vigorously prosecute a globalization strategy externally, their internal organisations struggle to keep pace. They are frequently unprepared to deliver on the full promise of globalisation.”  Few firms are genuinely global; many still struggle to overcome their own internal geographic boundaries in order to offer an integrated service.  As multinational projects absorb an increasing proportion of expenditure on consultants, finding a new model should be a top priority.

Social media poses threats and promises opportunities for consulting firms just as much as their clients, but how best to respond?  In “Which retailers are winning in social media, and why they win”, LEK has found that brands which are thought to have the best social media presence share three characteristics: they offer exclusive deals to keep their consumers engaged and respond quickly to the latter’s needs, but “first and most important, [they] amass large amounts of user content.”  Clearly, offering discounts to people who buy consulting services online is still some way off, but LEK’s points about user content and prompt response are directly relevant.  Even the most cursory scan of consulting firms’ websites shows that they’re dominated by firms broadcasting their view.  2012 should be the year in which consulting firms let their clients speak for themselves.

“How strategic is our technology agenda?” asks McKinsey, concluding that: “The swift and radical changes taking place today in the technology landscape create opportunities that extend far beyond IT’s traditional ambit.”  It’s a point consulting firms would do well to bear in mind as they look for new markets and services.  While technology consulting is an attractive proposition, especially in such harsh economic times, the type of help clients are looking for is changing rapidly.  Cloud computing projects won’t require anything like the consulting resources needed to implement conventional enterprising resource planning systems – to name just one example.

Looking further ahead, Roland Berger has produced a raft of trend data, creating a picture of what the world in 2030 may look like.  Among a host of slightly scary statistics is 46 million – that’s the projected shortfall in qualified employees in Europe and something that rams home the extent to which consulting firms need to think again about where the raw material for their businesses will come in the future.

Consulting advice - like charity, it would seem - starts at home.