ADAPT & PROSPER

CONSULTANCY IN A CHANGING CLIMATE

A WHITE PAPER SUMMARY OF DISCUSSIONS WITH BUSINESS LEADERS
BY NICK CLOSE & MEL CHAPLAIN OF EPI INTERNATIONAL

Mark Davies Andrew Wilcock Alasdair Robertson Ihsan Al-Zanki David Oldroyd Fergus Ryan George Ryder Bruce Lewin Liz Machtynger Stephen Murphy Bob Apollo Mark Burnett Kit Patel Anne Morris Marco Busi

Neil Morecraft Marc Roberts Len Todd John Atkinson Stephen McComb John Aneld Martin Riddell Rob Hines James Sale Ian Luke Darren Mee David Beck Peter Jones Anonymous Consultants

THE ABOVE CONSULTANTS FOR THEIR HELP IN THIS STUDY

EPI WOULD LIKE TO THANK

CONTENTS
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3 4 5 Thanks to Those Who Helped Contents Setting The Scene Response to Q1: What Changes In The Marketplace Have You Observed In The Last Few Years? Summary Q1 Response to Q2: Have You Made Any Strategic Changes To Your Consultancy Practice? Summary Q2 Response to Q3: What Do You Think Consultancies Need To Do To Thrive? Summary Q3 Response to Q4: What Do You Think About Strategic Alliances With Other Consultancies? Summary Q4 Response to Q5: What Trends Do You Foresee Over The Next Few Years? Summary Q5 Response to Q6: What Are Your Biggest Consulting Challenges? Summary Q6 CONCLUSIONS Contact Information

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OVERVIEW
This White Paper shares qualitative research sought from practicing consultants Q1/2013, and can be read in depth word-by-word, or as a useful quick-glance guide by going to the summary page for each question, or the conclusions page at the end. All pertinent responses have been reproduced verbatim, and at the end of each question section, the key points have been summarised to capture the main ndings.

SETTING THE SCENE

EPI has been helping reduce costs and improve efciency for over 20 years, and in that time its business model has changed quite radically. EPI moved away from traditional consultancy and towards software with service & knowledge transfer.
Over a period of years we developed software (with Warwick University) that captures consultant expertise and method. The result is iCEO - a suite of software tools that radically increases the speed and quality of analysis, and offers advantages to both consultant and clients for cost and relationship results. We created iCEO as it was the software we wanted, so we could more simply and easily VISUALISE, ANALYSE, PRIORITISE & ACTUALISE cost reductions & process improvements. As a consultant, the software speeds up and simplies process; it integrates data from disparate sources, and creates highly visual spend models that can be sliced and diced for deep drilling. Clients value the speed of turn around, exibility of the

data, and the knowledge transfer that can be part of the software-with-service package - delivering perceived extra value & expertise. As we moved into phase three of our business model and efforts, we began to look increasingly outwards and across the market place, and began wondering... If EPI has been changing to meet the changing market place, is the rest of the market doing the same to future proof itself? As we were already connecting with likeminded consultants within forums and LinkedIn, we thought lets make those LinkedIn transactions with others equally focused and create some research of real value. So we did, and this White Paper is the result - and will be the rst in a series exploring and answering questions on trends, challenges and opportunities within this sector. We hope you nd it insightful and useful, and we welcome any feedback on this paper or suggestions for future papers.

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THE MARKET PLACE HAVE YOU OBSERVED THE LAST FEW YEARS?
Clients want bespoke solutions at off the peg prices. This in itself is nothing new, but combined with increased availability of knowledge from the web, consultancy needs more than just tools & techniques to survive. Andrew Wilcock The market valuing focus & domain expertise. If you can demonstrate youve got that, you can command signicantly rising day rates & fees. Bob Apollo Customer demanding more added-value from the consultants, and they prefer the hands-on approach. Ihsan Al-Zanki I am of the opinion that the major clients markets have tended to use the big 4 primarily so as to be beyond criticism from the analysts. In other words consultancy has followed the same pattern as external accountancy. At the other end of the market, small businesses have shied away from consultancy usage as pressure on funding has intensied - courtesy of the tough recession. Only chronic under-performers and those with signicant growth aspirations have continued to make full use of consultants, but the space has become crowded c o u r t e s y o f i n t e r i m m a n a g e m e n t s u p p l y. David Oldroyd

Q: WHAT CHANGES IN

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Ive experienced clients become more open & receptive to our offerings as economic conditions have effected condence and forced change. Ive also observed in larger organisations, career orientated people are concerned about not doing the wrong thing - they are risk adverse, less nimble and generally dont feel market changes as quickly as smaller companies. They may take consultancy as an insurance policy to fall back on. Whereas the smaller company feels the market pain more readily, and is often more nimble and openminded from this receptive position. I believe the softer middle market is niche focus - if consultants can evidence their credentials. Bruce Lewin As the pressures on businesses increase, they are looking at more and more initiatives to try and reduce costs. However, the return on investment is even more heavily scrutinised than previously, and there are reservations on making big investments to truly transform processes, business & customer propositions. Whilst this may seem the right thing to do, after engaging on such projects for the last 3/4 years, it has led to a lot of the simple & easy to complete programmes on minimal budgets. Thus leaving more complex - but arguably more vital changes with little or no appetite to invest. The positive to this approach is that it has reduced the number of pet projects being engaged around business signicantly; driven improvement and reduced the operating costs of the business aligned with the challenges faced externally. The down side is that it has led to a culture of extreme short term views - and apathy within business to suggest vital improvement, as they know that unless it will return X with little or no spend, it wont get funding. This in turn has lead to work around processes: sticky plasters and local xes being applied which increases the stress and strain on the oor. Kit Patel

Noticeable is a tightening of the purse strings and a greater emphasis on outcome based charging. For the most part, consultants are chasing a reduced work pool of assignments with a consequential negative impact on rates. George Ryder Decreasing fees & shorter projects. Marco Busi A confusion between consultancy, interim and temporary management roles. Stephen Murphy I see a tendency to make the most of internal consultants/contractors as opposed to going to the big 4 - this may be perceived as a way to limit costs. Anon A major change for us has been a marked shift to International (now some 70% of billed hours) with particular focus on build/consultancy mix. John Atkinson The market place tends to have more consultants often people whose positions have been made redundant. Companies are tightening their belts in the recession and not increasing their permanent headcount, so those that require an income are often forced into consultancy. Often these consultants under cut on charges, and some do not deliver to the necessary standard due to lack of understanding of corporate business. Anne Morris Bigger bang for buck; less patience for journeymen consultants; more leverage of who you know and track record; less reporting/writing & more delivery. Mark Davies Move away from the straight consultancy in Government where they would bring in consultants to do general work. Much more is now in house. Much more of a demand for specic specialist expertise e.g. Lean, business change and delivering cost reductions. Stephen McComb

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Principally, the UK market in particular has become more competitive, but the line between consulting and contracting has become even more blurred than during the previous ten years. This I believe is due to clients balancing the risk of direct employment against short term contractors and the consulting community needing to compete for that type of work, just to survive. Martin Riddell There is more of a focus on: providing solutions rather than advice; implementation rather than recommendations, and increased importance on sector/industry knowledge and expertise. Anon A great deal of consolidation of established, smaller and medium sized consultancies into bigger entities by acquisition, merger or strategic partnerships. A number of good practices have lost their identity as a result. Many consultant practitioners, particularly the larger ones, have expanded their services without having the genuine in house capability to deliver they are trading on their old reputation, when it is not entirely appropriate. As companies down size due to the economic climate, there seems to be an increased need to utilise consultancies to ll the gap left by a loss of knowledge and expertise - thus increased demand for consultants. There is a growing market in services which businesses have not traditionally carried as in house expertise e.g. CSR, sustainability, diversity, IT support etc. Ian Luke Trends towards consumer focus, value for money, cost reduction, results driven environment (facts & gures). Dave Beck Clients reducing their consulting budget. Consulting fees being tied to results delivered. More creative billing propositions being offered by consulting rms such as contingent fees etc. More rms eyeing the implement pie which means longer projects. Anon

More reluctance of businesses to engage in longer term developments. Instead they seem more interested in the short term, quick wins even when they may see the merits of reviewing how they work through initial discussions. Rob Hines Massive. Where on earth would I start? Peter Jones Generic stuff is a bit past it - forget the big consultancy/high day rate model - its all about small, specic providers with something new to say. Alasdair Robertson

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SUMMARY
WHAT CHANGES IN THE MARKET PLACE HAVE YOU OBSERVED IN THE LAST FEW YEARS?
Principally, the UK market is becoming much more competitive. Largely due to there being more players in the market place, and budgets being cut whilst expectations rise. Clients are expecting more value in many ways - by results, service, expertise and fee structure. More and more, fees are tied to results, with greater focus on measurable outcomes & ROI. Projects have become shorter. Additionally, specialist knowledge & niche focus is being perceived as the benchmark of excellence, and expected to continue gaining gravitas. VALUE and SPECIALISM are the buzz words.

STRATEGIC CHANGES TO YOUR CONSULTANCY PRACTICE?

Weve become ever more narrowly focused on a market segment that we identify through a number of common demographics, structural, behavioural and situational factors. As a result, weve become better at qualifying in/out more accurately and earlier. Weve also moved away from day rate based fees to value-based charging (this has helped boost the notional day rate signicantly). Bob Apollo Yes I have, and Ive started to make alliances with other other consultants and consultancies. Ihsan Al-Zanki We are moving more towards knowledge transfer as this gives us the ability to help clients over a longer time frame, imbeds knowledge within the company, and reduces the pressure on our internal resources and from our perspective becomes a variable (project) cost rather than a xed cost. We are also looking at new business models for consultancy delivery. Andrew Wilcock Other than aligning our focus and resources to further exploit the shift to international business, no further strategic changes. John Atkinson

Q: HAVE YOU MADE ANY

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Pre 2008 I was happy to be small business focused. Then I effectively had 2.5 years away from consultancy as MD of a small business. When I returned to the market I found that interest in using consultants had declined markedly. In many instances, clients were preoccupied with cost rather than value. I have therefore elected to sell my services as contracted resource rather than as a consultant. David Oldroyd Within the practice we have restructured ourselves to focus on strategic objectives. But with the key difference of being the conscience of the internal colleague and customer. Whilst supporting on the ground delivery, we have identied and developed a nucleus of consultants that can work with the senior stake holders around the business, to identify and articulate a more holistic and longer term view on change and transformation. This proposition is being uniquely packaged by looking at ways to drive and deliver the short term benets. But rather than simply banking the savings, we are looking at reinvesting and longer term benets. This has meant further developing the run-rate savings, cost prole, and revenue prole models (to provide a holistic end-to-end view). In addition, challenging the structure from functional to value-stream based accountability; by truly looking at the big picture and working of Organisational and Operational design. Kit Patel Yes. Given my background (EDS, Perot Systems etc) my practice was very out-sourcing focused. Outsourcing in the interim has been a crowded market, as well as suffering from excessive commoditisation. I have since wound up my company (1stadvisory Ltd ) and incorporated Advisorment Ltd under the commercial mantra of manage, market, mentor (website under construction). George Ryder Yes. Ive lost faith in the validity of the consultancy model basically. Im turning my practice into more of an investment company (investing in the results of the consultancy we deliver). Marco Busi

I originally set out trying to work with local SMEs (Dumfermline, Scotland). I have put this on the back burner and will take suitable work anywhere for anybody. I still have a preference for smaller sites and smaller organisations. I wish to develop a business base in Scotland. Stephen Murphy As an internal consultant Ive seen more work come into my team than expected. We have made a conscious shift away from sheep-dip training and taking over smaller projects to train the trainer training, and taking over larger diagnostic pieces of work. Anon Not really. Eagle Partnerships, my business since 1996, has always operated in a exible manner. It has always been recognised by its ongoing customers as being an extension of their business, and providing a cost-effective and excellent service. Winning 4 Wales operates in the same way. Anne Morris Specialising in one area, instead of spreading our consultancy thinly: results in maximum focused performance and reputation...we focus on the automotive engineering sector. Dave Beck I have tried to make strategic change to my practice but have only limited success in moving into new areas. You get labelled and people do not see beyond it. Also, there is a reluctance to have new eyes looking into a problem. Lenn Todd No, but I network harder, and always look to help as many people as possible in the hope there will be a referral back. Mark Davies Move to specialism rather than generic project management etc. Stephen McComb Yes. Focus early 2013 on product, and then message. Just as I would advise my own clients. Peter Jones

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In 2010 I made a strategic change to move Beech Tree away from offering multiple programmes for several diverse audiences, to offering services in just one niche area: business ethics - as per my website, which was redesigned to reect this. This won me a major client. John Aneld Yes. We have moved into a more strategic delivery position and have developed an overseas company (Australia). Martin Riddell Yes. Huge changes and they are ongoing - plans are nothing, planning is everything and has to be kept under permanent review. The essence of it all is further niching, deeper value, more innovation, increased layering - a process by which the customer experiences simplicity but the competition encounters complexity. James Sale Refocusing on our core competencies and a mix of junior and senior recruitment. Anon Bearing Point are making more of a shift towards complimenting traditional consulting with asset based consulting. By this we mean that we are investing in assets that can be sold as services many rms are doing this: this is a trend in consulting that has building for some years. Marc Burnett Working with channel partners - they wrap their services around 4G software. Bruce Lewin Many. Re-organisation of internal teams to better staff projects. Stress on internal knowledge transfer, development of Intellectual Capital. M&A to gain new skills/clients quickly. Anon I am in the process of changing my approach to be more relevant, tying together marketing and operational functions. Rob Hines Yes - specialise in high value add analytics. Alasdair Roberton

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SUMMARY
HAVE YOU MADE ANY STRATEGIC CHANGES TO YOUR CONSULTANCY PRACTICE?
A large number of consultants and practices have, or are intending to identify their specialisms and create a market niche. Many are looking towards new business models: some delivering more knowledge transfer as it engages clients for longer and delivers additional value. Others bringing in assets such as software that can be sold as service packages. The continued focus on value is leading the change to value-based charging. Companies are strengthening core competencies, to deliver expertly and ensure value-based charging delivers back. Some are moving into overseas markets.

Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK

Dedication, commitment, enthusiasm, structure, top level CEO / GM drive and leadership. David Beck Certainly be exible - and up customer care standards. Anne Morris In my opinion develop niche specialisms to enable clients to select appropriate expertise from the marketplace. This also enables collaboration/ consortia bids. John Atkinson Evolve and listen to customer requirements and feedback. Ihsan Al-Zanki Radically change their prot model (basically charging out younger / less experienced consultants as a higher price). Marco Busi

CONSULTANCIES NEED TO DO TO THRIVE?

Flexibility is key. Listen to your customers needs and wants but also evaluate what their level of understanding is - could it be that they are not sure of what you can offer? Sometimes its worth doing a smaller piece of work to showcase what can be achieved - then the interesting stuff follows, assuming you have done a good job. Anon

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Adapt to current market conditions and look outside the UK - languages are key to making this work (and fortunately my practice has most of the important European ones). George Ryder The whole market has become ultra-conservative. You have had to have succ ess in the potential clients industry to be considered. David Oldroyd In essence they need to focus, although telling a client you cant help them but you know a man who can goes against the grain. Obviously they need lots of tools and techniques, but the major challenge is to gain trust from their client base, preferably with 3rd party white papers and quality recommendations from existing clients. Andrew Wilcock Be focused, be experts and be practitioners rather than ponticators. Bob Apollo Skills and expertise that will deliver against the specic requirements such as cost reduction, resolving operational issues, resolving quality issues. Stephen McComb Track record; network of referrals; the Ronseal effect - do what it says on the tin; no wafe or time wasting; the ability to introduce others of equal pedigree if you cant deliver or it isnt your expertise; ability to get right inside the issue empirically and with fact, and execute/implement/ assist with recommendations. Mark Davies Say NO more often. I believe that the difculties experienced over the past few years have meant that some consultancies have accepted commissions that do not align with their core activities - with the result they have diminished their reputation in the market place. STORM has avoided this tactic with the consequence that we have advanced our brand, particularly overseas. Martin Riddell

Religiously focus on adding value and providing real solution to problems; develop sector/industry focus; recruit great people; deliver great work. Anon Only sell what they can genuinely deliver and ensure that it is done in a high quality manner. Ensure that the product being offered is rened before trying to sell it. Where appropriate join with others who carry truly complimentary skills to provide a seamless service, and take away the need for the client to manage the interface. Set realistic timescales to deliver the end product/service and if possible try to beat those durations - but do not promise optimistic and almost impossible deadlines. Look for the smaller niche markets which differentiate the service and genuinely provide something the clients will need/benet from. Resist the current trend to sell what it looks like rather than what it is. Ian Luke Keep reinventing themselves and think of the value they can provide. Anon A difcult one to answer. If you are by yourself, do you compete with established businesses who have teams and more collateral to invest in marketing and promotional activities. I guess nd common ground with strategic partners, but my answer to 4 alludes to how difcult this may be. Rob Hines Partner, innovate, collaborate, be creative, offer value, deliver service. Peter Jones Have something new to say - quick, short, focused micro consulting offers are what the market is responding to. Alasdair Robertson For large consultancies to prosper they need to be able to articulate what value they can bring over and above what the associate pool can deliver. Many businesses are now enhancing their own internal capability to enhance their value proposition Marc Roberts

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SUMMARY
WHAT DO YOU THINK CONSULTANCIES NEED TO DO TO THRIVE?
Listen more & evolve to meet the customer and market. Align with your core competencies and only deliver high quality. Develop a niche and build these specialisms and expertise further. Be dedicated and structured, and always focusing on adding value. Look beyond the UK market.

Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK

Eagle Partnerships has always worked and formed strategic alliances with other consultancies. Winning 4 Wales operates the same policy. Anne Morris If knowledge and experience of the alliance business/personnel is known then it should be explored in certain circumstances. David Beck A positive opportunity. Key in my opinion is likeminded thinking, approach method and clear contractual arrangements. John Atkinson Why not. Consultants range from general business to people like myself with very specic manufacturing skills. If you have similar shared values then get in there and build on each others strengths. I have often thought of work as adventures with my mates rather than something I do to make money. Stephen Murphy When right, fabulous! When wrong, catastrophic. We use a BS11000 approach to strategic partnership which facilitates clarity and a clear exit strategy at the beginning of collaborative work. Martin Riddell

ABOUT STRATEGIC ALLIANCES WITH OTHER CONSULTANCIES?

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Depends on the scale and pedigree - the other consultancy needs to deliver to your standard as a minimum. Mark Davies They dont work because rarely 1+ 1 = 3 Marco Busi I truly believe that it is good and benecial for all parties. Ihsan Al-Zanki Not convinced....ties yes, but alliances may sometimes work counter-productively. A better way to see it would be looking at your USP and mapping which consultancies you need to have ties in; which you need to have as allies; and which you are direct competition with. A bit of stress in the system is not a bad thing. Anon Great idea but the established ones are not that interested unless you bring a client base and complimentary skill sets. George Ryder I think this would be a benecial thing in practice, as it leverages the experience and knowledge base of a wider population. This allows for cross fertilisation of techniques and thinking across industry segments, and also leads to innovation. The core skills in improvement and change management are common, but the application of these cannot be a one size ts all approach some of the Big 4 would suggest by the industry segment that they are working with. An example of this is demonstrated by one of the recent engagements we had, where we worked with two external consultancy services (one from the Big 4 - lets call them X . The other Y has worked with them for years). The topic was regarding spans of control in the operation, and X suggested an approach similar to what had been recommended with other FS clients they had worked with. This was sold to senior stakeholders on the credibility of Xs brand whilst Y looked at the proposition, and having insight of the business understood that the model simply can not be applied wholesale across a group due to the nature of the work and systems requiring support. The pilot area was not successful with the

proposition X put forward, but with some minor tweaks that X, Y and my team came up with, we demonstrated benet to adopting a revised model. Had X and Y worked together and leveraged each others strengths, it would have saved signicant time and cost, and improved credibility as well as relationships. Another example of cross pollination of techniques used in different industries can be seen in recent breakthroughs in the oil industry - as a direct result of the techniques used in medicine for a number of years, thus proven and just requiring some adaptation. Not only is this industry based, but there is also an element of learning from R&D in multiple areas that can be used in a segment other than where it is being investigated. Finally, I would question how well global consultancy rms utilise best practices from around the world in tackling the challenges faced by their clients, and whether there is an opportunity to leverage internal best practice as a stepping stone to strategic alliances. Kit Patel I am a fan of alliances but most of the market is not. It fails to recognise that the sum of all parts is often better than the one whole. David Oldroyd They can work, but informal tactical alliances are quick and easy to set up. More formal alliances are a bit of a challenge - size does matter here! In large organisations systems will tend to be against them as it can take weeks to put together a memorandum of understanding, which does not interfere or conict with another persons project. Andrew Wilcock We havent seen the value of partnering with other consultancies. We have seen value in partnering with specialists in other related parts of the ecosystem - for example, sales trainers, digital marketing agencies, and telemarketing companies. They are all part of the whole product and are all practitioners rather than consultants. Bob Apollo

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Only works if it is blind to the customer and is often needed to meet a requirement. Stephen McComb These are a good idea if they are genuinely complimentary, deliver a saleable package and a product that is of benet to the client. Quality of service must be equally as good from all parties in the alliance. If the reasons for the alliance are for geographic or resource availability reasons then the need to ensure genuine quality of service from all parties is very important. For the clients sake, such alliances need to be properly and legally set up even if the partners feel relaxed about the relationship. The reputation of a good consultant can be effected by who they team up with. An alliance that really combines complimentary services under one banner can be a Godsend to a client who doesnt want the problem of interface management, if it is well delivered and properly managed. Management of the alliances services needs to be through one focal point to avoid conicting messages to clients. A genuine alliance will be more likely to succeed than those consultancies who sell a wider service but in truth can not deliver. They can enable exibility of operations to suit the market if managed correctly and thus more opportunities. Ian Luke Can be very useful, but it is vital that the value proposition is very clear and that 2 + 2 = 5 ! Anon If you are in a good niche, alliances are less important. If you are in an alliance, it needs to be tightly formed. Bruce Lewin M&A is the way for bigger organisations. Niche consulting rms do collaborate. Anon I have discussed this with several people over the past few years, but one of the biggest stumbling blocks seems to be who leads and under whose brand and what the different levels of charging may

be. At the end of the day, it may be that it comes down to trust - which can only come over time. Maybe it depends on how you classify a consultancy: is it someone who merely advises, or is it hands-on in development of projects or even in terms of providing a service through their expertise? Rob Hines We should see the emergence of virtual networks to compete with the big boys. Peter Jones All in favour - its what we thrive on. Alasdair Robertson

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SUMMARY
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT STRATEGIC ALLIANCES WITH OTHER CONSULTANCIES?
Above all, parties MUST deliver to the same standards & share values. Otherwise far from achieving enhancement, reputation will be diminished. Benecial, especially in the emerging niche marketplace, as it can leverage experience & knowledge. Clear contractual arrangements help it run smoothly and manage expectations. BS11000 supports collaborative working, and a clear exit strategy at the beginning of the collaborative work (excellent guidance can be found at www.bs1100.com). Bad experiences have put some off, whilst others create informal alliances as needed.

YOU FORESEE OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS?

I see a big need developing in my area as the economy refocuses on manufacturing, and manufacturing is returned to the UK. There are more people as say, Head of Division nowadays, who are just saying continuous improvement heres the cash now just get on with it knowing full well the cost benets will be huge. As manufacturing organisations have trimmed back on manpower, I think they will start to use good quality, effective consultants rather than permanent staff to develop their organisations Stephen Murphy A further move from generalists to specialists with a closer client focus upon measurable value delivery. John Atkinson More emphasis on practices who can work abroad and are adaptable. More risk sharing. More results based charging typically for dened pieces of work/ projects. George Ryder Local business investment hubs, business skills hub, practice leaders emerging. Peter Jones

Q: WHAT TRENDS DO

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I think organisations will need to become much more exible and speed up the route to delivery signicantly to compete in the market place, where customer expectations are shifting more rapidly than at any point in the past. With more kick starter organisations/enterprises challenging the status quo; and more 24/7 always on; and instant gratication expectations - there will be wholesale shifts in business models. No one will be allowed to rest on market share/ successes of the past (e.g. signicant negative press and drop in share price for Apple for not pushing innovation enough with the iphone5; Microsoft loosing global organisations from their client lists for Windows and Ofce support; Blackberry dip as a result of not meeting the speed of delivery of competitors). As such consultancy services will also need to help organisations develop and change their approach and model. The key challenge for an organisation such as LBG (who are not early adopters and relatively risk averse) is how to move forward and drive that change at a group level, given all the challenges it faces. This is where astute consultancy services will be truly able to add value. Kit Patel Given that HMRC get to a position that is equitable for all, then consultancy and interim usage should increase as more and more businesses concentrate on their core skills and contract out change related costs. David Oldroyd The relative importance of the cost of labour will decrease further and faster in comparison to the importance of the cost and availability of capital, which may mean less work for off-shoring consultants and more work for manufacturing consultants. However, our manufacturing tends be very productive (Nissan & Toyota for example) so the number of jobs returning will be a fraction of those needed to complete the same tasks in China or India. As many companies now have Lean or Six Sigma as their process improvement systems, and this is being forced down the supply chains, the next big leap will come with the growth in advanced manufacturing strategies. These will

include additive manufacturing, robotics and bioengineering which will produce models which are totally new. Andrew Wilcock Companies will move away from large consultancies and will use smaller contractors. Ihsan Al-Zanki Niche consultancies with a clear focus and accumulated knowledge and best practice will thrive. Bob Apollo Less cash to waste but money to invest in things that really make a difference. Mark Davies For STORM the future is clear. We will further develop our business in Australasia and continue to deal with valued clients in the UK and elsewhere. Martin Riddell An increase in company outsourcing, thus more opportunity for consultants. A wider range of possible functions that a consultant could provide. A greater need for consultants to be wary of their clients from the point of view of professional indemnity cover, even for the very best in the market as there is a growing trend for a more critical outlook to be taken by clients. A lot more IT related consultancy products/services. An increase in corporate governance aspects of consultancy. Solution based services will be more in demand. Greater competition between consultants. Ian Luke Ability to respond to the large gaps that will appear as organisations realise they have lost a lot of staff but still need to deliver. Therefore efciency and productivity of existing resources is going to be a key skill and sales message. Stephen McComb Increase in SaaS. Opportunities from globalisation and virtual working. Impact of disruptive technologies. Anon

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More of what Ive written in response to the question what changes in the marketplace have you observed in the last few years? Anon Potentially more consultants come into play, especially on the technology front. Admittedly, advances in this eld are great, but will it end up having a long term benet if in the rush to get ahead, management practices and customer experience are not taken into consideration or even ignored. For example, I recently had some interaction with a content marketing company trying to get me onboard as a customer OR form my point of view as a potential marketing solutions provider for my clients, as I had expressed a real interest in nding out more about them from either point of view. Needless to say the whole experience was in the main unprofessional and disappointing, as they failed to understand where I coming from and were disjointed in their approach. A business crying out for some consultancy but do they care enough to do something about it. Rob Hines Big players becoming less relevant. Alasdair Robertson There will denitely be a place for consultancies working with good practice and exibility. We will have to show the gain in productivity, prot, service etc therefore value for money. Anne Morris More overseas contracts & huge reduction in skills base (all disciplines). Dave Beck Agile approach to customer demand, scalable solutions as more and more global companies struggle to save on costs; doing more with less. Anon

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SUMMARY
WHAT TRENDS DO YOU FORESEE OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS?
Continuing move from generalist to specialist. Niche consultancies with clear focus. More focus on value and consulting fees being tied to results delivered. Changing business models and creative billing propositions. Overseas opportunities. Opportunities as organisations move forward, and feel the gaps of previous staff loses - the space being lled by consultants. An increase in software/technology/SaaS.

BIGGEST CONSULTING CHALLENGES?

Growing my business in the next two years and expanding my customer base. I am planning to evolve my specialisation to serve the market. Ihsan Al-Zanki Being in the right place at the right time. Resisting the temptation to undertake work at which we do not excel. Martin Riddell The next role; job; introduction - and the huge footprint of the big players who try to be all things to all men and their dog! Mark Davies Cash ow, work acquisition, technical (digital/ mobility) refreshment. George Ryder Enough hours in the day to deliver all the work we are being asked for - long may it continue! Alasdair Robertson Fee structure. Neil Morecraft Balancing time working in the business as opposed to on the buiness. John Atkinson Finding the money - investors or corporates. Peter Jones Convincing the clients of the need to change to achieve their objectives. Stephen McComb

Q: WHAT ARE YOUR

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Making sure we continue to generate more revenue from our expertise - and creating sources of longtail revenue. Bob Apollo Growing protability, but quickly. Comes down to striking the balance between capacity and demand. Anon Consistent service quality. As the big guys expand and acquire they use their name to edge out the smaller competitors, putting pressure on the smaller guys to be more innovative and economic. Finding the niche market/getting the edge. Getting in the door as the number of consultancies grows and grows. Ian Luke Time is the biggest challenge, and balancing this resource between selling, enabling and delivering projects. In theory it would be simpler just to concentrate on selling, but that would mean I wouldnt add value to the client (and it wouldnt be interesting). Andrew Wilcock Find ways to get a foot in the door. Getting clients to focus on value. Transferring skills into new markets. Keeping up with change and selecting where and how to develop USPs. Finding alliance partners with a desire to play a different game. Most tend toward initially accepting work together and then try to undermine the relationship by abusing it. David Oldroyd Getting the right people. Anon The single biggest challenge is how to transform business processes on shoe-string budgets, after many years of Lean and Sigma based improvement. There are ways to do this, but it requires the ability to clearly articulate a vision and strategy, communicate effectively at all levels, and manage conicting priorities on a scale not previously experienced. This has to be combined with the ability to inspire and lead with trust and condence as well as suggest/sell the radical in a way that it does not feel daunting to the audience. In addition to this, having the right mix of skills, knowledge

and expertise within the team to execute and deliver on the plans is a challenge - when there is a nite resource pool internally and cost pressures to limit external spend (learning from the external consultants, and sharing the learning where possible is a must). Ensuring that you drive improvement in the consultancy team, up skill, and share best practice/learning across a diverse remote workforce is also a key focus area. Kit Patel Growth Marco Busi Getting leads in Scotland and developing business here. I nd the business environment very very conservative. Stephen Murphy Ensuring the results of consultancy shows true improvements and value and the consultancy is prepared to be evaluated. Anne Morris Easy - always client culture and behavioural change. David Beck Building enough credibility and network presence to be noticed or offering a number of services to underpin consultancy, either internally or though an umbrella approach involving carefully selected suppliers. Rob Hines Simple. Very few projects. Len Todd Obtaining the number of high quality Lean consultants. I have found using the associate network a far better way of selecting the capabilities I need. This can also be 50% more cost effective than using a well known consulting partner, who also pull from the same pool. Marc Roberts Managing the pipeline. Anon

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SUMMARY
WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST CONSULTING CHALLENGES?
Work acquisition and growth. Balancing time between developing business and servicing existing business. Managing the pipeline and cash ow. When the market is short on projects, resisting the temptation to do work that you dont excel at. Fee structure.

SO, IN CONCLUSION...

The market place is crowded and competitive, and those thriving will stand out by quality, expertise and capacity to show value. That value and the measurable results delivered will be tied to fees. Increasingly, knowledge transfer will become part of the consulting service, as will software. Technology will advance speed and process, enhance the client offering, and become part of the extended valuepackage that includes knowledge transfer & software as a commodity to sell on. As the consultants niche more and more, strategic alliances will grow if standards and values match. Natural worldwide market convergence - brought about by technologies - may see many more companies looking beyond the UK. All sole practitioners and consultancies share common challenges with fewer and shorter projects, and balancing time between developing business and delivering to clients. Growth was a challenge shared by all. Growth would seem to depend on all of the elements above.

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