I read with interest this morning that Accenture announced its intention to acquire strategy consulting firm Kurt Salmon for a cash consideration of $165 million. That's a drop in the bucket for a firm that reported $3.5 billion in cash on its balance sheet as of May 31, but what is the real value for Accenture?
The press release focuses on Kurt Salmon's retail consulting practice. Accenture Strategy CEO Mark Knickrehm said, "With digital disruption forcing retailers to rethink their entire business and operating models, we expect continued strong demand for strategy consulting services in this industry." Retail industry leader Chris Donnelly added, "Through this acquisition, we will be able to offer our clients a powerful combination of services to help shape the transformation of the retail sector."
While there's no explicit mention of human capital management consulting in the release, I'm sure Accenture's Talent and Organization practice is vetting Kurt Salmon's client list for new and cross-selling business opportunities. In my four years of researching the HR consulting market, I've heard more case studies involving the retail sector than ever before, and much of it has to do with deploying digital strategies to address front- and back-office talent challenges. Here's a sampling of some retail sector HR consulting engagements I've heard about this year.
- Reinvention of a UK retailer's employee performance management process to an employee experience for full-time and contingent workers, fueled by mobile device-enabled applications.
- Transformation of a global retailer's Officer succession planning process to an 'election night' experience, where a responsive-designed succession planning application provides real-time insights and a scenario planning tool.
- Global implementation of SuccessFactors' Employee Central across a retailer's HR operations in China, Europe, UK, and US.
Retailers are tough consulting customers, who demand very specific outcomes. HR consultants are tapping the vein, nonetheless, as the outlook is for more growth. The sector continues to grapple with a multi-channel environment and mobile payment technologies in an environment of heavy deal-making. According to PwC Deal Insights, 282 deals were announced in the second quarter of 2016 in the retail and consumer businesses sector, the highest level in the past four quarters and up 5% over the first quarter.
Nice shopping, Accenture.
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