Jacqueline Olynyk
Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Excellence in Technology
Not a lot of consulting practices grew 61 percent in 2008, but Pricewaterhouse Coopers SAP Advisory Services practice did. And Jacqueline Olynyk, a
partner with the firm and national leader of the SAP Advisory Practice, has set an ambitious goal of doubling the practice again over the next 12 months. Pretty ambitious given this economic climate. And what's the thinking behind such unbridled optimism?
When IBM bought PwC Consulting at the end of 2002, much of the firm's implementation business went with it. Because of non-compete agreements, PwC was restricted from performing certain types of implementation services for five years. Those restrictions were gone at the end of 2007.
"It really comes down to us being a fresh entrant into the field," Olynyk says. "PwC has a really good brand so clients that have engaged us for other work are finding new ways to work with us."
Since the end of 2007, Olynyk says PwC has been busy hiring, acquiring and "building up the skill sets of those people who have worked very specifically in the SAP and enterprise applications world." As a result, the practice has grown to about 1,500
consultants globally.
Olynyk, who has been with PwC for 25 years, says right now clients are looking for smaller projects with more measurable results. "There used to be a focus on straight cost cutting, but now the focus is on finding a way to cut costs that's sustainable over the long term," Olynyk says. "We're seeing a lot of clients looking to transform the way they're doing things; they're looking to optimize by bringing together diverse units and standardizing their technology processes globally."
In addition, she says clients are looking for greater transparency for everyday users—not just the super user, allowing the end user to be able to get more meaning out of the data. "That's a trend and we're really excited about," she says.
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