Chris Wright
Managing Director
ZS Associates
Q: Where is your firm today?
A: We're ending the year with 13 percent overall growth, which is a little more than we had planned. While we continue to maintain our focus on Sales & Marketing, we are also expanding our range of services within that domain. We've built on our origins in advisory work, and now have large and growing outsourcing and technology practices as well. In 2013, we were a bit surprised at the continued strong demand in a difficult economy.
Q: How would you describe your firm's outlook for 2014?
A: We're expecting 15 percent growth next year, and we see the application of technology to our clients' commercial functions leading that growth. We do a lot of work with healthcare and life sciences companies and those types of organizations are under pressure. They need more efficient solutions to their business problems, and we're bringing technology into the equation to help achieve that.
Q: What specific signs are you seeing that suggest an increase in demand?
A: All our people have been productively deployed on projects since May; there have actually been times this year when we've reached a nearly sold-out level. We see significant changes in some of the key industries we serve—healthcare—driven by end-customer upheaval. Our clients are likely to need more help with innovating in some aspects of their business while they use automation to create efficiency in others.
Q: How do you see the consulting profession evolving?
A: Today's clients expect specialization and expertise, and we see this trend intensifying. In part, this comes down to the fact that clients need efficiency. Budgets are tight and they don't have time to teach consultants about their business and their business problems. But another contributor is that consulting is in a more mature phase now.
Q: What do you see as the biggest opportunities in 2014?
A: At ZS, one of our big opportunities for 2014 is also one of our biggest challenges. We're fortunate to have a very established and loyal client base, but many of them still see only the one or two types of work we've historically done with them. Our challenge is to ensure that all our clients know the full range of what we do, particularly as we continue expanding our range of services within Sales and Marketing.
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