Count on Capgemini North America President John Mullen to have a unique take. A few years ago, he authored a post that asked readers if their digital customer experience strategy possessed sufficient emotion. When he discusses the technological disruptions upending most industries, Mullen shares deeper thoughts on a new economic model "based on experience, utilization and trust." Last June, Capgemini North America consultants emerged from a global, six-month organizational transformation that involved highly empathetic work—more specifically, Mullen explains, how to put the client "at the center of everything we think about and then orchestrate all of Capgemini's experts around the world to move the client's agenda forward." Early returns suggest the transformation is paying off. In a recent interview with Eric Krell, Consulting's business editor, Mullen explained why he's excited by the firm's recent growth—especially in life sciences, consumer products and digital manufacturing among other sectors and capability areas.
Consulting: What is Capgemini North America focused on this year?
Mullen: Our top priority this year is to help our clients get their products and services to market much more rapidly and predictably. The effort has two primary dimensions. The first one involves helping clients scale and achieve the results of their digital transformation agenda—how are they driving their experience not just with customers but also with partners, particularly for clients that are moving from a product-based relationship with their marketplace to more of a services-based relationship? The second dimension involves helping clients build their organizational talent—and, frankly, the workforce between our organizations—to deliver on that ambition. Since I've taken on this role [in January 2017], talent has been absolutely foremost in how we invest for our future at Capgemini. And it's been just as important—and, in some cases, more important—to advise our clients on building their workforce of the future to capitalize on what's available to them.
Consulting: What capabilities have clients expressed the most interest in during the past 12 months?
Mullen: Cloud, machine learning and cybersecurity are critical topics of conversation for us on the capability side. Those rapidly emerging and pervasive capabilities are certainly a big part of enterprise-level transformation, but we hold conversations about those technologies to help our clients understand how the world that they operate in can be more easily disrupted.
Consulting: I've heard you talk about what might 'Uber' them. Can you elaborate?
Mullen: Uber is the 'uber-example' of that disruption, but I think people sometimes take away the wrong things. With Uber, the technology's not actually that critical. Instead, I think it offers a great lens on an economy that's based on experience, utilization and trust. Uber provides a unique experience. The utilization is about the payoff—how do you drive the optimal utilization of your assets? Think of the uberPool option. Trust relates to the relationship between Uber and its drivers as well as Uber and its customers. Trust also relates to any company's cybersecurity capability. That's why I'm so pleased with our acquisition of Leidos Cyber last year—and very proud of what they bring to the table. The acquisition lets us say to our clients: "Earning and sustaining trust in your marketplace is more challenging than it's ever been, and we can help with that."
Consulting: What do you view as some of Capgemini North America's best growth opportunities in the next year?
Mullen: From an industry sector perspective, I really like what we're seeing in life sciences where the conversation often focuses on taking what we know about B2C and applying it B2B2C. We're having similar conversations with manufacturers who are looking to move from a product-based relationship to a service-based relationship. With our engineering capabilities, our digital manufacturing capabilities and our data capabilities, we're really unlocking some really innovative opportunities in that space. We're also very pleased with where we're going with consumer products clients as well as in the energy and utilities space.
Consulting: What are you excited about in terms of client responses to your service offerings?
Mullen: I've mentioned machine learning/AI and cybersecurity, so I'll hit on digital manufacturing. In the next 12 months, the world is going to learn a lot about what Capgemini brings to the table in the area of digital manufacturing and engineering services. As companies are getting out of proof of concepts and striving to achieve tangible results on their digital journeys, we're having some great successes. I'm really excited with the team we have in place there…I want to mention three more areas that are growing quickly. Number one is our global Capgemini Invent business line. We've made acquisitions in that line and invested quite a bit to build it up. The other one is DCX, or Digital Customer Experience, and the final one includes our cybersecurity services.
Consulting: Thanks, John. Anything I didn't ask you that you thought I would? What didn't I give you a chance to discuss?
Mullen: I firmly believe that the marketplace we're in is undergoing its own transformation. The rate at which the marketplace is evolving places severe pressure on the C-suite inside all of our clients. That opens up an opportunity for the next chapter of the relationship between Capgemini and our clients. The foundation of this new phase is exploring how we cooperate together while making bets and investments, and while taking on risks and opportunities together. This model makes our relationship much more of a business partnership than a transaction. And that brings me back to my emphasis on trust: How do we bring that business partnership conversation to the marketplace in a context that our clients put their trust in us over the long haul? It's a very simple concept, but it can be challenging in execution. We're really pleased with our journey so far, and we think it will yield great results for our clients in the future as well.
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