Eight years isn't a terribly long time. It is long enough, however, to see subtle changes end up as significant changes.
When I became Editor in Chief of Consulting magazine back in 2007, there were five distinct consulting service line offerings as defined by Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory, Consulting magazine's sister company. They were Strategy, Operations Manage- ment, Information Technology, Human Resources and Busi- ness Advisory Services, which eventually morphed into Financial Consulting.
Back then, firms typically fit neatly into one bucket or the other. Not anymore. Today, there is so much crossover between the types of consulting firms and the work they are doing that it's nearly impossible to tell the difference between an opera-
Gone are the days when a consulting firm clamored to be a "strategy" firm… now it's all about execution. Actions speak louder than words. Or at least louder than strategy.
tions firm that does IT or an HR firm dabbling in strategy. Even those firms once considered pure-play strategy firms—McK- insey, BCG and Bain—no lon- ger fit neatly into that time-test- ed category. And gone are the days when a firm clamored for the elite status symbol of a
"strategy" firm. Now it's all about execution. Actions speak louder than words. Or at least louder than strategy.
Eventually, KCRA came up with the Multi-Service catego- ry to define what was quickly becoming undefinable.
Which brings us to this issue and its cover story focused on the Operations service line. The "management" that tradi- tionally followed the word "operations" is gone and so too is the distinction between Operations and Strategy. You can't do one without the other, says a host of firm leaders in the story, as well as KCRA's Nathan Simon, Director, Lead for Strategy & Operations Research. "I don't think that line is even worth discussing in many cases because the strategy and the opera- tions are so intertwined."
Well, we discuss it. And they are intertwined, just as all the consulting service lines seem to have become since I showed up. A lot can happen in eight years.
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