Since coming to Capco from Accenture last year, Ismail Amla has been pretty busy—to say the least. Amla, a Partner at the New York-based financial services firm, has several key responsibilities: He leads the North American region, Human Capital worldwide, India and his latest job description is New York regional sales lead. Ask him which one is his priority and he'll tell you all of them. Seriously. His increasing responsibility coincides with Capco's recent strategy refresh that includes—among other things—a more client-centric approach, enhanced domain depth and better alignment between employees and the overall strategy. Consulting One-on-One caught up recently with Amla to discuss his many roles at the firm, the ever-changing state of the financial services market, talent, and the firm's recent strategy refresh.
Consulting: So, it's probably a bit of an understatement to say that you wear many hats.
Amla: These are the areas of consulting I enjoy. It's why I came to Capco from Accenture; I joined to be able to play a big part in creating the corporate culture at a growing firm.
Consulting: Why did Capco feel the need to undergo a strategy refresh this fall?
Amla: There are a couple of reasons: One, the market has changed so dramatically. We've never been where we are today… the returns on capital and equity will be dramatically lower, by all indications, than at any time in recent history. You can see that as a huge threat or a huge opportunity. When you look at the fact that there is a huge restructuring of the industry taking place, well, that's a huge opportunity for firms like us, I think. There's a great opportunity for service providers who keep their nerve and really align themselves with clients needs. The other part of the reason is that Capco's changed. We've grown and matured—and the FIS partnership certainly helped—to the point where I think we can leverage our enhanced capabilities. We've essentially said: "Who are the clients we want to focus on? What is it that's going to make a difference to them?" The strategy refresh is all about redefining our key clients and making sure that our solutions would make a difference to them. Everyone in financial services will have to do this eventually; we wanted to do it before we were forced to do it. Every single thing we do should be aligned with what our clients are facing right now, and what they are going through in this uncertain market.
Consulting: What do clients want right now?
Amla: Mainly, certainty amid all the uncertainty. They don't know what's around the corner; they don't know if they should stay or go; should they invest or not? There's no one answer, of course, but I think we can help in a number of areas. One, we bring enhanced domain experience. It isn't enough to be smart… to get into the game you have to have domain expertise. Two, they want execution. Articulating the problem and coming up with a plan aren't enough anymore. How can we make something that's executable? Right now, clients are open for structural change. I haven't seen anything like it since the mid-1990s, and I think all bets are off as far as what a good engagement looks like. Clients are asking us for better returns, to reduce costs and to grow business lines.
Consulting: How far out will we have to look before we see the financial services market turning the corner?
Amla: I think we have to look pretty far out, to be honest. Actually, I don't even think there's a corner. I think this is the new reality, but it's probably a three- to five-year horizon. I think we're right at the beginning of a complete restructuring of the financial services market. It reminds a little bit of Y2K. The year 2000 was unique in that it was inevitable. You couldn't sit on the side and wait to see what happens; you had to do something. And I think we're coming to the end of the waiting window. I think there's this sense of wanting to take back control. The time for paralysis is over; it's time to act. So, I think we'll see some action in 2012.
Consulting: What else do you see for 2012?
Amla: We see opportunity and growth—not steady, but more choppy growth. Organizations are moving at very different paces. The market is growing at 6 to 8 percent at the moment, but I think Capco's growth trajectory will probably be in the 30- to 50-percent range. There are several factors, of course, we don't control, such as what's going on right now in Europe and Greece. But we see significant growth ahead, and we'll need people to make that happen. Right now, we have about 100 job openings we're looking to fill, and we'll continue to recruit right through 2012. By the end of 2012, I would say that we would probably have hired between 150 and 300 people in New York doing pure consulting work.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.