Seven in the Middle: Crossing the Intersection Where Technology and Strategy Meet

Deborah Mazon
KPMG Consulting

Deborah Mazon has only been in consulting for a couple of years, but that hasn't stopped her from helping author what many now consider to be one of the profession's most innovative chapters.
Thanks largely to her efforts, last year KPMG and Cisco Systems finalized a deal that has the potential to remake the consulting industry. Or at least a sizable portion of it, as the consultancy architects an alliance destined to reshape and accelerate the marriage of consultancies to their information technology partners.
Before Mazon got involved a mere nine months after joining the firm, KPMG had not made much headway with Cisco, which was also talking to other firms. "We needed to give Cisco the confidence that KPMG was the right partner," Mazon recalls. To accomplish that, Mazon began helping to define a potential KPMG/Cisco relationship and clearly communicate what KPMG could bring to the table. A major part of this also was coaching KPMG's leaders to "convey that they understood what Cisco wanted," she says.
Luckily for KPMG, Mazon is no stranger to the high tech world. As a second-generation entrepreneur (her father founded and later sold Halcyon Communications), Mazon credits a "start-up mentality" for much of her success at KPMG. "I tell my team that we need to be flexible and creative, and to focus on problem-solving rather than politics."
She will need to heed that advice as she takes on her next challenge: managing director of the KPMG/Cisco alliance. "We need to get two gorillas to dance together," Mazon acknowledges, and to build the infrastructure to make the alliance appear seamless to KPMG's and Cisco's customers.
Out on the IT dance floor, the music has already started.