By Erick Burchfield
Looking back, several market forces propelled global consulting demand, causing firms and clients to undertake larger and more ambitious engagements than in recent years. The rapidly changing nature of client needs and the continued evolution of provider capabilities converged around some key themes:
Digital Strategy & Transformation: Many clients, particularly in the publishing, telecommunications, and entertainment industries, are compelled to develop new digital business models to adjust to changing end-user consumption patterns. Consultants responded to this imperative with significant investments: Deloitte and PwC acquired firms specializing in digital business, using these acquisitions as a platform to launch new services. Several firms, including Booz and Co., Deloitte, and Capgemini, have launched dedicated Digital practices to bolster their credibility in this fast-growing consulting space.
"Disruptive" IT: Some clients remain bewildered by the abundance of new IT tools, such as cloud-based IT management and analytics, coupled with the fast-changing behavior of consumers increasingly using mobile devices and social media to make buying decisions and communicate brand perceptions. While the volume of customer data available to companies has increased, most clients still struggle to gain competitive advantage from that data, notwithstanding the maturation of technologies and tools to deliver "customer insight." Aligning technology investment with business goals from a cost management and business intelligence perspective remains a challenge for many clients.
Risk Management: Faced with lengthening global supply chains, volatility in raw material input costs and consumer demand, and increased awareness of the likelihood and cost of supply chain disruption, clients moved beyond compliance to tackle operating risk head-on. Moreover, client brands and corporate reputations are more intensely scrutinized by consumers sharing opinions via online channels, increasing brand visibility and corresponding vulnerability to brand reputation threats. These emerging sources of risk caused clients to integrate brand reputation integrity, IT risk, and supply chain disruption considerations into many engagements.
Change Management: Perhaps most of all, 2012 was characterized by clients' demand for "implementation" and "execution"—not merely advice. The confluence of issues confronting clients led to an uptick in "Transformation" projects with a goal of fundamental business model reinvention, including risk resilience, productivity improvement, cost reduction, and revenue growth. Both consultants and clients recognize that achieving such transcendent objectives is possible only when marshaled by a strong change management process, leading to a re-emergence of the discipline as a critical consulting competency.
So what's to come? Each year brings a new set of client challenges and corresponding service provider imperatives. We are sifting through the "next big things" that could alter the future consulting landscape, including environmentally and socially-responsible business, natural resource scarcity (e.g., water), the shift in innovation migration from emerging markets to developed markets, and the continued war for talent—both for providers and clients.
But as fun as it is to look into a crystal ball, our years covering the profession have taught us that one thing is certain: Consulting will continue to change, and the profession will inevitably surprise us. You can count on that.
Erick Burchfield is Managing Director, Research for Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory (KCRA). He can be reached at customercare@alm.com. For more information, visit Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory.
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