In both our cover story, "EY's Transformative Age", and our Trend Watch story, Eric Krell's "Doubling Down on R&D", Consulting focuses the spotlight squarely on innovation this issue. In EY's case, the firm has a new Americas Vice Chair of Advisory—Hank Prybylski—and we caught up with him in one of the firm's17 innovation hub centers called "Wavespaces."
These Wavespaces are a global network of growth and innovation centers to help clients catch the next wave in radical breakthroughs in business transformation by tapping into innovative thinking across EY disciplines, experience and industry sectors. "This is the future of brainstorming and the future of business," Prybylski says. "It's completely interactive and the deliverables are built as you go. It's bringing together different types of people, a diversity of thoughts and styles. It's what we call 'suits and jeans integration,' and it works."
EY's hubs are part of a larger effort and fresh approach complete with a new branding campaign, but it's hardly alone. There's no shortage of firms opening up innovation hubs to meet clients' growing demands.
Clients are suddenly welcoming consultants into their brainstorming sessions, seeking bolder ideas and solutions to their problems. They know they're in the process of being disrupted and are looking for consultants to push the boundaries and offer up aggressive answers to their most vexing problems.
And the firms are heavily investing time, money and resources. Based on feedback, it appears to be money well spent. Lou Trebino, leader of KPMG's Denver Ignition Center, says one of the biggest advantages clients consistently mention relates to the energy and creative nature of the environment. They also rave about the ability to interact with a diverse group of KPMG experts on a moment's notice.
And it goes without saying, if the clients are happy and satisfied, the firms are, too.
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