SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won’s daughter Chey Yun-jeong, AmorePacific Group chairman Suh Kyung-bae’s daughter Suh Min-jung and LF president & CEO Koo Bon-keul’s niece Koo Min-jeong have a striking similarity.
The three women are all next-generation chaebol heiresses currently working as junior consultants at the Korean subsidiary of global consulting firm Bain & Company.
They did not enter their family business after graduating, instead choosing to work at a consulting firm to gain experience and broader their networks.
A number of “new daughters” ― second- to fourth-generation chaebol heiresses born in the 1980s and 1990s ― are increasingly choosing consulting firms as their job of choice to train in business management.
Previous chaebol descendants typically entered their family business in their mid-20s after studying overseas, then getting swift promotions within the first three to four years.
Now, there is the additional process of working at a global consulting firm.
Chaebol daughters, especially, have a tendency to work at global consulting firms as they have a more horizontal organizational culture. Additionally, many of them have studied overseas, a big plus when joining these firms.
Chey Yun-jeong attended an international school in Beijing and then graduated from the University of Chicago.
Suh Min-jung, the youngest of the stock rich in Korea ― with assets of over 430 billion won ($367.8 million) in both listed and unlisted companies ― graduated from Cornell University.
Another chaebol daughter who has worked at consulting firms is Chung Nam-i, the planning and communications director at the Asan Nanum Foundation and daughter of Hyundai Heavy Industries’ largest shareholder Chung Mong-joon.
Prior to working at the foundation that fosters youth start-ups, Chung Nam-i also obtained a Master of Business Administration from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked at Bain Korea.
One of the daughters of Mirae Asset Financial Group chairman Park Hyeon-joo previously worked at a consulting firm, while another continues to do so.
His eldest daughter Park Ha-min, who graduated from Cornell University, worked at McKinsey & Company and CBRE Group for a year each before joining Mirae Asset Global Investments in 2013, while younger daughter Park Eun-min graduated from Duke University and is currently working as a junior consultant at Boston Consulting Group Korea.
The two daughters each own 8.19 percent of the unlisted Mirae Asset Consulting shares, estimated at around 54.8 billion won each.
Cho Yeun-joo, the vice president of Hansol Chemical, is the granddaughter of Hansol Group advisor Lee In-hee and the great-granddaughter of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull.
She graduated from Wellesley College and earned an MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She also worked as an analyst at both the Boston Consulting Group and Victoria’s Secret before joining Hansol Chemical last March.
read more: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20151229000996
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Ethics issue cited on Erie County lawmaker’s tie to CWA
Erie County Legislator Patrick B. Burke backed a Legislature proposal to benefit health care workers represented by the Communication Workers of America at the same time he worked as a consultant for the union – and that has Burke under fire from the Legislature’s majority leader.
“Consulting, alone, with a group that is pushing something before a body he is elected to serve brings up a number of questions – ethical, legal,” Majority Leader Joseph C. Lorigo, C-West Seneca, said at last week’s meeting of the Legislature. “At this point, I’m shocked.”
Burke was one of three Democratic co-sponsors for a resolution supporting minimum nurse staffing ratios in acute care facilities and nursing homes. He said that he agreed to co-sponsor the resolution before he was asked to do consulting work with the CWA and that the union does no business with Erie County.
Burke called accusations of unethical behavior “ridiculous and outrageous.”
He also said he had only been a consultant with the CWA for two weeks and that the work he’s doing with the union is related to membership engagement, not nurse staffing issues. He said he did not believe he had a conflict of interest but decided to abstain from a vote on the nurse-staffing proposal to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
“I’ve been pretty upfront with what I’ve done,” he said. “To accuse me of having questionable ethics is personally upsetting.”
The resolution regarding minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios passed the Legislature in a 6-4 bipartisan vote last week, with Burke abstaining and having his name pulled as a resolution co-sponsor. A contingent of CWA members appeared to be in attendance at the Legislature meeting and seemed pleased with the outcome.
Burke and others said the measure is only a resolution of support for proposed state legislation and has no direct, immediate impact on the county.
“This is a nonbinding resolution asking the state government to pass a bill that may or may not impact the membership of CWA,” said Jeremy C. Toth, an assistant county attorney who also serves as a legal adviser for the county’s Board of Ethics. “There’s enough separation between what the Legislature did and the direct impact of this that I don’t believe there is a conflict. And if there is, the appropriate step is to recuse yourself from the vote, which is what Legislator Burke did.”
Both sides are asking the ethics panel to consider the matter.
“I’m turning everything I have over to the Board of Ethics so that I can clear my own name and get that piece of paper from them saying that I have done nothing wrong,” Burke said.
He added he has not yet received any compensation from the CWA and feels bad that the organization is being exposed to negative publicity as a result of his brief involvement with it.
Lorigo said the issue is not that Burke chose to recuse himself from the vote, but when he chose to do it. Even though Burke has consulted with the CWA for the last few weeks, he did not disclose that until the day of the vote. Before then, he participated in committee hearings on the issue and continued to “shepherd through” the resolution until the last minute, Lorigo said.
He also questioned whether Burke was not just advising the CWA, but also lobbying other politicians on the union’s behalf.
Staff members for the Legislature’s majority pointed out later that Burke also championed the expansion of affordable, high-speed Internet access, another local priority of the CWA. Burke responded the CWA strongly opposed his resolution for municipal broadband access.
see more: http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/ethics-issue-cited-on-erie-county-lawmakers-tie-to-cwa-20151221
“Consulting, alone, with a group that is pushing something before a body he is elected to serve brings up a number of questions – ethical, legal,” Majority Leader Joseph C. Lorigo, C-West Seneca, said at last week’s meeting of the Legislature. “At this point, I’m shocked.”
Burke was one of three Democratic co-sponsors for a resolution supporting minimum nurse staffing ratios in acute care facilities and nursing homes. He said that he agreed to co-sponsor the resolution before he was asked to do consulting work with the CWA and that the union does no business with Erie County.
Burke called accusations of unethical behavior “ridiculous and outrageous.”
He also said he had only been a consultant with the CWA for two weeks and that the work he’s doing with the union is related to membership engagement, not nurse staffing issues. He said he did not believe he had a conflict of interest but decided to abstain from a vote on the nurse-staffing proposal to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
“I’ve been pretty upfront with what I’ve done,” he said. “To accuse me of having questionable ethics is personally upsetting.”
The resolution regarding minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios passed the Legislature in a 6-4 bipartisan vote last week, with Burke abstaining and having his name pulled as a resolution co-sponsor. A contingent of CWA members appeared to be in attendance at the Legislature meeting and seemed pleased with the outcome.
Burke and others said the measure is only a resolution of support for proposed state legislation and has no direct, immediate impact on the county.
“This is a nonbinding resolution asking the state government to pass a bill that may or may not impact the membership of CWA,” said Jeremy C. Toth, an assistant county attorney who also serves as a legal adviser for the county’s Board of Ethics. “There’s enough separation between what the Legislature did and the direct impact of this that I don’t believe there is a conflict. And if there is, the appropriate step is to recuse yourself from the vote, which is what Legislator Burke did.”
Both sides are asking the ethics panel to consider the matter.
“I’m turning everything I have over to the Board of Ethics so that I can clear my own name and get that piece of paper from them saying that I have done nothing wrong,” Burke said.
He added he has not yet received any compensation from the CWA and feels bad that the organization is being exposed to negative publicity as a result of his brief involvement with it.
Lorigo said the issue is not that Burke chose to recuse himself from the vote, but when he chose to do it. Even though Burke has consulted with the CWA for the last few weeks, he did not disclose that until the day of the vote. Before then, he participated in committee hearings on the issue and continued to “shepherd through” the resolution until the last minute, Lorigo said.
He also questioned whether Burke was not just advising the CWA, but also lobbying other politicians on the union’s behalf.
Staff members for the Legislature’s majority pointed out later that Burke also championed the expansion of affordable, high-speed Internet access, another local priority of the CWA. Burke responded the CWA strongly opposed his resolution for municipal broadband access.
see more: http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/ethics-issue-cited-on-erie-county-lawmakers-tie-to-cwa-20151221
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Baton Rouge consulting firms with expertise in different areas merge into one entity
Willie Johnson is wise enough to know what she does not know.
She had experience in education and nonprofits, but none in the growing health care field. But she wanted to broaden the scope of her firm, WCJ Consultants, to include that sector.
When the opportunity arose six months ago to merge her firm with another that had experience in the health care industry and was led by her former student in BRAC’s Leadership Institute, Kimberly Bardell, Johnson knew it was a good fit.
A rebranded WCJ Consultants launched three months ago. The company’s current client is the Health Resources and Services Administration, a division of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The duo provides technical assistance and grant writing reviews.
But they are also still looking for clients in other sectors like strategic planning and emergency preparedness.
Bardell and Johnson, the firm’s principal partners, both say their cross-generational makeup makes them unique.
“I’m learning how to work with someone much younger than I am and she’s learning how to work with a more mature, wiser person,” Johnson, the older of the two, says with a chuckle. “She had skills and expertise that I did not have and I had some that she didn’t have.”
Johnson launched her firm in 2008 after 15 years at BRAC, retiring as a senior vice president. Before that, she was a teacher and assistant principal at Woodlawn High School in Baton Rouge.
At BRAC, she handled a plethora of issues, including public safety, leadership training and—what she calls her most rewarding achievement—overseeing the desegregation case in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System with volunteers and community leaders.
But in 2008, she retired from BRAC, wanting a new challenge. She opened WCJ Consultants and tapped into her contacts made over the years from teaching and at BRAC to build a good client base. But she wanted to break into the health care industry.
In came Bardell and her firm, Bardell and Associates, with 10 years experience consulting in the health care field.
Bardell, the former planning and policy manager at the state Department of Child and Family Services, and Johnson knew of each other’s expertise from Bardell’s time in Johnson’s leadership class in 2012.
Once they starting talking about merging, things moved quickly. Bardell moved her business to WCJ Consultants and became a co-owner of the company.
“We just kind of put two and two together and said this would make a great a partnership,” Johnson says. “She has expertise in that area and the opportunities are now available to go into that area.”
A database of associates with varied areas of expertise allows WCJ Consultants to address a variety of challenges for its clients.
see more at: https://www.businessreport.com/article/baton-rouge-consulting-firms-expertise-different-areas-merge-one-entity
She had experience in education and nonprofits, but none in the growing health care field. But she wanted to broaden the scope of her firm, WCJ Consultants, to include that sector.
When the opportunity arose six months ago to merge her firm with another that had experience in the health care industry and was led by her former student in BRAC’s Leadership Institute, Kimberly Bardell, Johnson knew it was a good fit.
A rebranded WCJ Consultants launched three months ago. The company’s current client is the Health Resources and Services Administration, a division of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The duo provides technical assistance and grant writing reviews.
But they are also still looking for clients in other sectors like strategic planning and emergency preparedness.
Bardell and Johnson, the firm’s principal partners, both say their cross-generational makeup makes them unique.
“I’m learning how to work with someone much younger than I am and she’s learning how to work with a more mature, wiser person,” Johnson, the older of the two, says with a chuckle. “She had skills and expertise that I did not have and I had some that she didn’t have.”
Johnson launched her firm in 2008 after 15 years at BRAC, retiring as a senior vice president. Before that, she was a teacher and assistant principal at Woodlawn High School in Baton Rouge.
At BRAC, she handled a plethora of issues, including public safety, leadership training and—what she calls her most rewarding achievement—overseeing the desegregation case in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System with volunteers and community leaders.
But in 2008, she retired from BRAC, wanting a new challenge. She opened WCJ Consultants and tapped into her contacts made over the years from teaching and at BRAC to build a good client base. But she wanted to break into the health care industry.
In came Bardell and her firm, Bardell and Associates, with 10 years experience consulting in the health care field.
Bardell, the former planning and policy manager at the state Department of Child and Family Services, and Johnson knew of each other’s expertise from Bardell’s time in Johnson’s leadership class in 2012.
Once they starting talking about merging, things moved quickly. Bardell moved her business to WCJ Consultants and became a co-owner of the company.
“We just kind of put two and two together and said this would make a great a partnership,” Johnson says. “She has expertise in that area and the opportunities are now available to go into that area.”
A database of associates with varied areas of expertise allows WCJ Consultants to address a variety of challenges for its clients.
see more at: https://www.businessreport.com/article/baton-rouge-consulting-firms-expertise-different-areas-merge-one-entity
Friday, December 11, 2015
A startup is disrupting the consulting industry
For a $200 billion industry, the American consulting business is mysterious to most. Clients tell consultants to keep quiet about what they’re doing. And their work is kind of hard to explain anyway. You may know someone in consulting, but do you know what they actually do all day?
In any case, the consulting industry remains a pricey help line for giant companies and a powerful career magnet for elite college grads and MBAs. But the business of recruiting is changing. Consulting careers are known for long hours and endless travel. Top graduates these days think very differently about work-life balance, so they may not find consulting worth the tradeoffs, especially when their skills are in demand at growing tech companies with lavish perks. And for those who are committed to consulting as a career, going freelance—once a path reserved for consultants with many years of experience and contacts—is becoming more of an option.
Carlos Castelán is on that path now. With a Harvard MBA and previous professional experience at a big retailer, he’s the type of candidate consulting firms go after. And they did. But he chose a different path out of business school. He now offers up his service directly to corporate clients. It’s something he greatly prefers to the life of a first-year consultant, when there’s little choice over the types of projects one can work on and being on the road every Monday through Thursday is a near certainty.
“It would be very tough for me to go to a big company at this point,” Castelán explained. “Having a family is very important to both my wife and me, so that travel element really is difficult to manage.”
He does travel for projects, but he has the choice of which projects to take on, including those that allow him to stay in the Minneapolis area. Castelán says he’s making more money than a typical starting consulting salary at a major firm.
He gets these projects by offering his services through a company called HourlyNerd, a startup that connects businesses to freelance consultants and takes a cut of the fees. The idea is a space where companies that don’t need seven-figure consulting engagements can find experts to help them with small and medium-size problems. It’s proving popular with businesses and consultants, not to mention venture investors, who have poured in more than $11 million into the company.
HourlyNerd is based in Boston, a city which is in many ways the cradle of consulting. Several of the biggest firms began here, and all of them flood campuses every year to recruit Harvard and MIT students in bulk.
The ex-consultants working there sometimes talk about the industry the way Uber execs talk about the taxi business: bloated, inefficient, incumbent, all the startup swear words. But for the most part, they’re not really competing for the same projects.
“Their model is so expensive that they can’t be working on the 30, 40, 50-thousand dollar projects that we are, so it’s not necessarily all that attractive to them to pursue,” said Rob Biederman, one of HourlyNerd's founders.
He added that some big-name consultants have even referred business to HourlyNerd, projects too small for them to bother with. The company sees itself as expanding the potential market for consulting, by generating new business from companies that don’t have the budgets to hire giant consulting firms. Big businesses are coming on board too.
While much of HourlyNerd’s work at this point is projects on a smaller scale than the big consulting firms, it does compete directly with them for consulting talent.
Right now, MBA students at elite schools are prepping hard and for high-stakes interviews that’ll determine whether they get coveted summer internship offers. Many of them will be gunning for Bain & Company, where partner Keith Bevans leads global consultant recruiting. He and his team have been pitching Bain to MBAs for a long time.
Whether the competition is tech companies, banks or freelancing, when candidates ask him about long hours and travel, he’s clear there can be some of that. But he makes the case that it’s part of a bigger overall experience that pays off for employees. And like any good consultant, he cites data.
see more at: http://www.marketplace.org/2015/12/09/business/startup-disrupting-consulting-industry
In any case, the consulting industry remains a pricey help line for giant companies and a powerful career magnet for elite college grads and MBAs. But the business of recruiting is changing. Consulting careers are known for long hours and endless travel. Top graduates these days think very differently about work-life balance, so they may not find consulting worth the tradeoffs, especially when their skills are in demand at growing tech companies with lavish perks. And for those who are committed to consulting as a career, going freelance—once a path reserved for consultants with many years of experience and contacts—is becoming more of an option.
Carlos Castelán is on that path now. With a Harvard MBA and previous professional experience at a big retailer, he’s the type of candidate consulting firms go after. And they did. But he chose a different path out of business school. He now offers up his service directly to corporate clients. It’s something he greatly prefers to the life of a first-year consultant, when there’s little choice over the types of projects one can work on and being on the road every Monday through Thursday is a near certainty.
“It would be very tough for me to go to a big company at this point,” Castelán explained. “Having a family is very important to both my wife and me, so that travel element really is difficult to manage.”
He does travel for projects, but he has the choice of which projects to take on, including those that allow him to stay in the Minneapolis area. Castelán says he’s making more money than a typical starting consulting salary at a major firm.
He gets these projects by offering his services through a company called HourlyNerd, a startup that connects businesses to freelance consultants and takes a cut of the fees. The idea is a space where companies that don’t need seven-figure consulting engagements can find experts to help them with small and medium-size problems. It’s proving popular with businesses and consultants, not to mention venture investors, who have poured in more than $11 million into the company.
HourlyNerd is based in Boston, a city which is in many ways the cradle of consulting. Several of the biggest firms began here, and all of them flood campuses every year to recruit Harvard and MIT students in bulk.
The ex-consultants working there sometimes talk about the industry the way Uber execs talk about the taxi business: bloated, inefficient, incumbent, all the startup swear words. But for the most part, they’re not really competing for the same projects.
“Their model is so expensive that they can’t be working on the 30, 40, 50-thousand dollar projects that we are, so it’s not necessarily all that attractive to them to pursue,” said Rob Biederman, one of HourlyNerd's founders.
He added that some big-name consultants have even referred business to HourlyNerd, projects too small for them to bother with. The company sees itself as expanding the potential market for consulting, by generating new business from companies that don’t have the budgets to hire giant consulting firms. Big businesses are coming on board too.
While much of HourlyNerd’s work at this point is projects on a smaller scale than the big consulting firms, it does compete directly with them for consulting talent.
Right now, MBA students at elite schools are prepping hard and for high-stakes interviews that’ll determine whether they get coveted summer internship offers. Many of them will be gunning for Bain & Company, where partner Keith Bevans leads global consultant recruiting. He and his team have been pitching Bain to MBAs for a long time.
Whether the competition is tech companies, banks or freelancing, when candidates ask him about long hours and travel, he’s clear there can be some of that. But he makes the case that it’s part of a bigger overall experience that pays off for employees. And like any good consultant, he cites data.
see more at: http://www.marketplace.org/2015/12/09/business/startup-disrupting-consulting-industry
Friday, December 4, 2015
Strong revenue growth for rebranded EFESO Consulting
EFESO Consulting has gotten off to a flying start under its new brand. Two months after rebranding from Solving Efeso, the global management consultancy has seen its revenues grow by 12% to €16.5 million, compared to the same period last year.
With more than 480 consultants across 30+ offices in Europe, the US, South America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, EFESO Consulting is one of the larger management and business consulting firms of the globe. The business advisory focuses mainly on services in the area of strategy, operations and human capital.
Between 2007 and just under two months ago, the consultancy operated under the Solving Efeso brand, following the merger between the French Solving and Italian Efeso in the summer of 2007. Eight years down the line, the firm’s management team decided to rebrand the firm, with EFESO Consulting unveiled as the new brand, formally adopted on 16 October this year. “With our new name EFESO Consulting, we are seeking to highlight one of our distinguishing features. Namely, our ability to put strategy into action, to coordinate complex global transformation programmes with all employees mobilised on behalf of our clients so that, in tandem with our teams, they take ownership of the dynamics of change and work towards the same objective,” said Filippo Mantegazza, who founded Efeso in 1979 and now serves as Chairman of EFESO Consulting, in a statement accompanying the rebranding communiqué.
In its first published results since the name change (the firm is stock listed on Alternext Paris), EFESO Consulting has re-confirmed the growth trajectory it first embarked on a few quarters ago. In Q3, EFESO Consulting achieved revenues of €16.5 million, an increase of 12.2% compared with the third quarter of 2014, while its revenue for the 2015 financial year to date now stand at €53.8 million, up 13.7% in comparison with the first nine months of last year.
Across the board results are mixed however. In Europe total fee income grew by 15% to €11.4 million, driven mainly by the acquisition of Empact in Belgium* (which added €1.5 million in revenue), and growth outside France, the firm’s home-base and largest market (accounts for roughly 20% of global revenue). In Spain, the strong growth in revenue (59%) relates to a large-scale project that began in the third quarter of 2014 and still is running, while following several quarters of decline, revenue in Italy has been stabilised on the back of several measures taken in late 2014.
Business grew strongly in the Middle East (83% growth), particularly in the Gulf states, but fell in Russia, and looking ahead Mantegazza says Russia will remain a challenging market due to the country’s falling attractiveness for foreign direct investment. Income in North America, which accounts for a 15% share of EFESO Consulting’s portfolio, contracted by 3% in comparison with Q3 of the previous year, partly due to fierce competitive environment, says Mantegazza, and the suspension of a large project.
read more: http://www.consultancy.uk/news/3009/strong-revenue-growth-for-rebranded-efeso-consulting
With more than 480 consultants across 30+ offices in Europe, the US, South America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, EFESO Consulting is one of the larger management and business consulting firms of the globe. The business advisory focuses mainly on services in the area of strategy, operations and human capital.
Between 2007 and just under two months ago, the consultancy operated under the Solving Efeso brand, following the merger between the French Solving and Italian Efeso in the summer of 2007. Eight years down the line, the firm’s management team decided to rebrand the firm, with EFESO Consulting unveiled as the new brand, formally adopted on 16 October this year. “With our new name EFESO Consulting, we are seeking to highlight one of our distinguishing features. Namely, our ability to put strategy into action, to coordinate complex global transformation programmes with all employees mobilised on behalf of our clients so that, in tandem with our teams, they take ownership of the dynamics of change and work towards the same objective,” said Filippo Mantegazza, who founded Efeso in 1979 and now serves as Chairman of EFESO Consulting, in a statement accompanying the rebranding communiqué.
In its first published results since the name change (the firm is stock listed on Alternext Paris), EFESO Consulting has re-confirmed the growth trajectory it first embarked on a few quarters ago. In Q3, EFESO Consulting achieved revenues of €16.5 million, an increase of 12.2% compared with the third quarter of 2014, while its revenue for the 2015 financial year to date now stand at €53.8 million, up 13.7% in comparison with the first nine months of last year.
Across the board results are mixed however. In Europe total fee income grew by 15% to €11.4 million, driven mainly by the acquisition of Empact in Belgium* (which added €1.5 million in revenue), and growth outside France, the firm’s home-base and largest market (accounts for roughly 20% of global revenue). In Spain, the strong growth in revenue (59%) relates to a large-scale project that began in the third quarter of 2014 and still is running, while following several quarters of decline, revenue in Italy has been stabilised on the back of several measures taken in late 2014.
Business grew strongly in the Middle East (83% growth), particularly in the Gulf states, but fell in Russia, and looking ahead Mantegazza says Russia will remain a challenging market due to the country’s falling attractiveness for foreign direct investment. Income in North America, which accounts for a 15% share of EFESO Consulting’s portfolio, contracted by 3% in comparison with Q3 of the previous year, partly due to fierce competitive environment, says Mantegazza, and the suspension of a large project.
read more: http://www.consultancy.uk/news/3009/strong-revenue-growth-for-rebranded-efeso-consulting
Monday, November 30, 2015
Soaring consultant costs cancel out public service salary savings
The money federal government departments are saving through job cuts is being cancelled out by a massive increase in the costs of high-paid consultants and contractors.
It's a classic false economy.
Michael Tull, Community and Public Sector Union
The 18 major Commonwealth departments reduced their wages bill by $109 million last financial year, according to Fairfax Media analysis of their recently released annual reports.
But consultant and contractor costs increased by a whopping $205 million – almost double the money saved. The increase took the departments' total consultant and contractor bills for 2014-15 to a little over $1 billion.
Advertisement
Thirteen of the 18 departments recorded an increase in outsourcing costs.
About half of the overall increase can be attributed to a $100 million Department of Human Services contract to update its creaking computer system. The department also increased its wage bill by $16 million.
Five other departments – Treasury, Finance, Social Services, Immigration and Infrastructure – saved on wages but had their savings outstripped by rising outsourcing fees.
Together, they saved $53 million on wages, but spent an extra $81 million on consultants and contractors.
The 18 departments also spent $78 million on redundancy packages during the year.
These figures refer only to the umbrella departments themselves, not the 90-plus other agencies under their purview.
The figures also do not take superannuation or leave costs into account.
An estimated 15,000 public servants lost their jobs under Tony Abbott's short-lived government. But the new figures suggest the downsizing did not necessarily help the budget bottom line.
They also add to the debate about the increasing outsourcing of public service duties, which some believe has left the bureaucracy bereft of the in-house experience it needs to function properly.
The Community and Public Sector Union's assistant national secretary, Michael Tull, said the public sector had been "cut to the bone".
"That's why 26 million calls to the Department of Human Services went unanswered last year, why the Australian Tax Office doesn't chase more multinational tax avoiders, and why the CSIRO stopped research into Alzheimer's disease," he said.
"Arbitrary budget cuts force departments to use contractors and consultants to replace workers who should not have been made redundant in the first place. It's a classic false economy."
The government's "growing addiction" to multinational consulting firms also raised questions about how much influence big corporate interests had over policy development, he said.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/soaring-consultant-costs-cancel-out-public-service-salary-savings-20151127-gla53b.html
It's a classic false economy.
Michael Tull, Community and Public Sector Union
The 18 major Commonwealth departments reduced their wages bill by $109 million last financial year, according to Fairfax Media analysis of their recently released annual reports.
But consultant and contractor costs increased by a whopping $205 million – almost double the money saved. The increase took the departments' total consultant and contractor bills for 2014-15 to a little over $1 billion.
Advertisement
Thirteen of the 18 departments recorded an increase in outsourcing costs.
About half of the overall increase can be attributed to a $100 million Department of Human Services contract to update its creaking computer system. The department also increased its wage bill by $16 million.
Five other departments – Treasury, Finance, Social Services, Immigration and Infrastructure – saved on wages but had their savings outstripped by rising outsourcing fees.
Together, they saved $53 million on wages, but spent an extra $81 million on consultants and contractors.
The 18 departments also spent $78 million on redundancy packages during the year.
These figures refer only to the umbrella departments themselves, not the 90-plus other agencies under their purview.
The figures also do not take superannuation or leave costs into account.
An estimated 15,000 public servants lost their jobs under Tony Abbott's short-lived government. But the new figures suggest the downsizing did not necessarily help the budget bottom line.
They also add to the debate about the increasing outsourcing of public service duties, which some believe has left the bureaucracy bereft of the in-house experience it needs to function properly.
The Community and Public Sector Union's assistant national secretary, Michael Tull, said the public sector had been "cut to the bone".
"That's why 26 million calls to the Department of Human Services went unanswered last year, why the Australian Tax Office doesn't chase more multinational tax avoiders, and why the CSIRO stopped research into Alzheimer's disease," he said.
"Arbitrary budget cuts force departments to use contractors and consultants to replace workers who should not have been made redundant in the first place. It's a classic false economy."
The government's "growing addiction" to multinational consulting firms also raised questions about how much influence big corporate interests had over policy development, he said.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/soaring-consultant-costs-cancel-out-public-service-salary-savings-20151127-gla53b.html
Monday, November 23, 2015
Most Corridor superintendents allowed to do consulting
CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids Community Schools Superintendent Brad Buck, hired in March, already has turned down two requests to work for pay outside the district. He’s been too busy learning about the district of more than 16,000 students, meeting teachers and principals and getting reacquainted with his hometown.
But when Viterbo University, based in Wisconsin with satellites in Iowa, approached him about teaching an introductory course for principals, Buck couldn’t refuse.
“At my heart, I’m still a teacher,” said Buck who started his career as a middle school science teacher. “I’ll likely end up teaching a course this summer. I’ll take paid time off if I need to.”
School officials in Iowa and across the country are moonlighting for educational companies, universities and professional organizations. These opportunities can help administrators hone their skills and promote home districts — but they also can lead to potential conflicts of interest.
“It’s not just about the extra money you’re making on the side,” said Samuel Abrams, director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Columbia University.
“The superintendents are making money from counseling other school districts about getting scores up. They’re consequently that much less likely to criticize an accountability system that should be criticized.”
The Iowa City school board on Tuesday will discuss Superintendent Stephen Murley’s discretionary leave — 10 days he may use for consulting or other professional activities.
Murley moonlighted from 2012 to 2014 for the SUPES Academy, a Chicago-area private educational company indicted in a kickback scandal in the Chicago Public Schools. Murley has said he and other superintendents had no knowledge of the scheme.
The Iowa City school board released records this past week showing Murley received permission to work 13 days out of the district in 2015-2016 for two for-profit companies and an education association. His compensation for these groups, if he worked eight-hour days, would be about $3,600.
A Gazette review of five Corridor school districts shows all allow superintendents to do outside work as long as it doesn’t interfere with their day jobs.
“If John wants to take his vacation do consult, he can do that,” Steve Doser, spokesman for the College Community School District, said of Superintendent John Speer.
Speer must seek prior approval from the school board for outside consulting or professional activities unless he uses vacation. Speer, hired in 2012 and paid $194,040 this year, is entitled to 20 vacation days, according to his contract.
He has never asked the board for time to do outside work, Doser said.
Discretionary leave
The Clear Creek-Amana Community School District allows superintendents to accept consulting work or other outside employment as long as it’s on the superintendent’s own time. The school board does not require the superintendent to report outside work, but reserves the right to ask the leader to stop side jobs.
“I’m confident that if something like this came up, the superintendent would talk with us about it,” School Board President Steve Swenka said about Superintendent Tim Kuehl, hired in April 2013.
After working 9 to 5 and then attending evening student events, many superintendents don’t have extra time for consulting work, Swenka said. Area superintendents are paid well enough not to need extra income, he added.
Kuehl’s salary is $164,798.
Linn-Mar’s contract with Superintendent Quintin Shepherd, hired last December, allows him to consult, lecture and engage in speaking and writing activities that don’t impede his job. If Shepherd, with an annual salary of $215,000, wants to be paid for outside work, he must get prior written approval.
read more: http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/k-12-education/most-corridor-superintendents-allowed-to-do-consulting-20151122
But when Viterbo University, based in Wisconsin with satellites in Iowa, approached him about teaching an introductory course for principals, Buck couldn’t refuse.
“At my heart, I’m still a teacher,” said Buck who started his career as a middle school science teacher. “I’ll likely end up teaching a course this summer. I’ll take paid time off if I need to.”
School officials in Iowa and across the country are moonlighting for educational companies, universities and professional organizations. These opportunities can help administrators hone their skills and promote home districts — but they also can lead to potential conflicts of interest.
“It’s not just about the extra money you’re making on the side,” said Samuel Abrams, director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Columbia University.
“The superintendents are making money from counseling other school districts about getting scores up. They’re consequently that much less likely to criticize an accountability system that should be criticized.”
The Iowa City school board on Tuesday will discuss Superintendent Stephen Murley’s discretionary leave — 10 days he may use for consulting or other professional activities.
Murley moonlighted from 2012 to 2014 for the SUPES Academy, a Chicago-area private educational company indicted in a kickback scandal in the Chicago Public Schools. Murley has said he and other superintendents had no knowledge of the scheme.
The Iowa City school board released records this past week showing Murley received permission to work 13 days out of the district in 2015-2016 for two for-profit companies and an education association. His compensation for these groups, if he worked eight-hour days, would be about $3,600.
A Gazette review of five Corridor school districts shows all allow superintendents to do outside work as long as it doesn’t interfere with their day jobs.
“If John wants to take his vacation do consult, he can do that,” Steve Doser, spokesman for the College Community School District, said of Superintendent John Speer.
Speer must seek prior approval from the school board for outside consulting or professional activities unless he uses vacation. Speer, hired in 2012 and paid $194,040 this year, is entitled to 20 vacation days, according to his contract.
He has never asked the board for time to do outside work, Doser said.
Discretionary leave
The Clear Creek-Amana Community School District allows superintendents to accept consulting work or other outside employment as long as it’s on the superintendent’s own time. The school board does not require the superintendent to report outside work, but reserves the right to ask the leader to stop side jobs.
“I’m confident that if something like this came up, the superintendent would talk with us about it,” School Board President Steve Swenka said about Superintendent Tim Kuehl, hired in April 2013.
After working 9 to 5 and then attending evening student events, many superintendents don’t have extra time for consulting work, Swenka said. Area superintendents are paid well enough not to need extra income, he added.
Kuehl’s salary is $164,798.
Linn-Mar’s contract with Superintendent Quintin Shepherd, hired last December, allows him to consult, lecture and engage in speaking and writing activities that don’t impede his job. If Shepherd, with an annual salary of $215,000, wants to be paid for outside work, he must get prior written approval.
read more: http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/k-12-education/most-corridor-superintendents-allowed-to-do-consulting-20151122
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Enterprise Strategies Announces Formal UK and Central European Expansion With Strategic Hire
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - November 17, 2015) - Enterprise Strategies, a consultancy committed to Delivering the Future of Work℠ through practical digital strategies and adoption programs, today announced the hiring of Lesley Crook as their Internal Digital Strategy Advisor. In this role, Lesley will work directly with Enterprise Strategies's clients in the United Kingdom and Central Europe provide local support for internal digital strategy and enterprise social network adoption initiatives.
Lesley brings over 15 years of internal communications and employee engagement experience to the Enterprise Strategies team. She is the founder of Working Out Loud in a Network "#wolan" helping organizations embrace the business value of enterprise social networks. The #wolan framework demonstrates how enterprise social networks can be aligned to strategy, share tacit knowledge, demonstrate the right cultural behaviors/values and introduces the relevance of using "business intelligent" hashtags. The emerging #wolan framework convinced the GSK German Works Council to use Yammer. #wolan has been endorsed by the Digital Workplace Group, Oxford University social academics and Microsoft.
"I am excited to welcome Lesley Crook to our fast expanding team," Enterprise Strategies Managing Director and Founder Andy Jankowski said. "She is a passionate and experienced internal communications professional with knowledge, insights and personal successes in driving the adoption and business value internal social networks such as Yammer. I look forward to working with Lesley to continue to provide world class #futureofwork solutions to our current and future United Kingdom and Central European clients."
Prior to creating #wolan, Lesley was an Internal Digital Communications Manager for GlaxoSmithKline, where she inspired employees to use Yammer to improve employee empowerment and engagement. Working in a mutually successful Internal communication and IT partnership, Lesley helped launch and adopt the company's Yammer strategy. She also led many other GSK internal communication digital channel programs, supported the GSK Brand team, led GSK's Yammer adoption and facilitated their monthly SharePoint governance board.
Lesley's GSK lean sigma/ESN #wolan approach can be found at http://enterprisestrategies.com/2015/11/16/demonstrating-yammers-business-value/.
She was recently interviewed regarding #wolan in advance of International Working Out Loud Week (Nov. 16-20). A transcript of two interviews can be found at https://wolweek.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/working-out-loud-in-a-network-interview-with-lesley-crook/.
Lesley is a GSK Lean Sigma green belt practitioner, and earned a diploma with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR UK).
Lesley volunteers on the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC-UK) Chapter Board, and is an Enactus Business Advisor at Brighton University. She works and resides in Brighton, UK with her husband Steve and two terrier dogs.
source: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/addition-to-consulting-team-supports-rapid-international-growth-and-client-success-2074304.htm
Lesley brings over 15 years of internal communications and employee engagement experience to the Enterprise Strategies team. She is the founder of Working Out Loud in a Network "#wolan" helping organizations embrace the business value of enterprise social networks. The #wolan framework demonstrates how enterprise social networks can be aligned to strategy, share tacit knowledge, demonstrate the right cultural behaviors/values and introduces the relevance of using "business intelligent" hashtags. The emerging #wolan framework convinced the GSK German Works Council to use Yammer. #wolan has been endorsed by the Digital Workplace Group, Oxford University social academics and Microsoft.
"I am excited to welcome Lesley Crook to our fast expanding team," Enterprise Strategies Managing Director and Founder Andy Jankowski said. "She is a passionate and experienced internal communications professional with knowledge, insights and personal successes in driving the adoption and business value internal social networks such as Yammer. I look forward to working with Lesley to continue to provide world class #futureofwork solutions to our current and future United Kingdom and Central European clients."
Prior to creating #wolan, Lesley was an Internal Digital Communications Manager for GlaxoSmithKline, where she inspired employees to use Yammer to improve employee empowerment and engagement. Working in a mutually successful Internal communication and IT partnership, Lesley helped launch and adopt the company's Yammer strategy. She also led many other GSK internal communication digital channel programs, supported the GSK Brand team, led GSK's Yammer adoption and facilitated their monthly SharePoint governance board.
Lesley's GSK lean sigma/ESN #wolan approach can be found at http://enterprisestrategies.com/2015/11/16/demonstrating-yammers-business-value/.
She was recently interviewed regarding #wolan in advance of International Working Out Loud Week (Nov. 16-20). A transcript of two interviews can be found at https://wolweek.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/working-out-loud-in-a-network-interview-with-lesley-crook/.
Lesley is a GSK Lean Sigma green belt practitioner, and earned a diploma with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR UK).
Lesley volunteers on the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC-UK) Chapter Board, and is an Enactus Business Advisor at Brighton University. She works and resides in Brighton, UK with her husband Steve and two terrier dogs.
source: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/addition-to-consulting-team-supports-rapid-international-growth-and-client-success-2074304.htm
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Tasman Consulting Named Kennedy Vanguard Leader in New Report on Global HR Consulting in Corporate Transactions
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Silicon Valley-based Tasman Consulting LLC announced today that it has been recognized as a Kennedy Vanguard Leader in a new report on HR Consulting in Corporate Transactions by Kennedy, the leading consulting research and advisory firm. This new report introduces Tasman as a leader among global HR M&A consulting firms for the first year since its 2011 launch, and one of just six Vanguard Leaders in 2015.
Tasman Consulting's customized approach for clients helped lift their ranking to the top of the charts against the Big Four consulting firms. Identifying the firm as exemplary for the delivery of a seamless end-to-end M&A experience for their clients, the report lauded Tasman for its hands-on approach as well as for its hiring of senior talent with deep industry experience.
Tasman is a women-owned small business that has been in operation for five years. Shari Yocum & Niki Lee, Managing Partners of Tasman Consulting LLC, said: "We are honored to be recognized for the first time in Kennedy's Vanguard for HR Consulting. Moreover, the identification as one of only six Vanguard leaders in a global comparison is without a doubt a result of the experience and customized end-to-end, flexible service we provide each client."
Tasman's senior level team members have 10+ years' experience in corporate M&A and have completed a number of due diligence projects for Fortune 500 clients. They all have in-depth knowledge of HR operations and services as well as organizational change expertise. Most importantly, Tasman's consultants operate as a true extension to their client's HR and Corporate Development teams, providing services as needed and strategic guidance for the most complex deals.
Shari Yocum is quoted in the report on the issue of culture, an area in which Tasman has continued to expand new offerings and provide thought leadership.
Yocum brings nearly twenty years of experience working in global firms, along the way becoming an industry leader in HR, M&A, change management and process re-engineering. She has held various HR executive and consulting roles at Cisco, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nortel and MSA, and holds a Master of Business Administration from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
Prior to co-founding Tasman, Lee led Cisco's HR Mergers and Acquisitions organization. Over the past 15 years, Lee has managed more than 60 domestic and cross-border acquisitions. Both Yocum and Lee publish and are interviewed regularly on the subject.
see more: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tasman-consulting-named-kennedy-vanguard-leader-in-new-report-on-global-hr-consulting-in-corporate-transactions-300175731.html
Tasman Consulting's customized approach for clients helped lift their ranking to the top of the charts against the Big Four consulting firms. Identifying the firm as exemplary for the delivery of a seamless end-to-end M&A experience for their clients, the report lauded Tasman for its hands-on approach as well as for its hiring of senior talent with deep industry experience.
Tasman is a women-owned small business that has been in operation for five years. Shari Yocum & Niki Lee, Managing Partners of Tasman Consulting LLC, said: "We are honored to be recognized for the first time in Kennedy's Vanguard for HR Consulting. Moreover, the identification as one of only six Vanguard leaders in a global comparison is without a doubt a result of the experience and customized end-to-end, flexible service we provide each client."
Tasman's senior level team members have 10+ years' experience in corporate M&A and have completed a number of due diligence projects for Fortune 500 clients. They all have in-depth knowledge of HR operations and services as well as organizational change expertise. Most importantly, Tasman's consultants operate as a true extension to their client's HR and Corporate Development teams, providing services as needed and strategic guidance for the most complex deals.
Shari Yocum is quoted in the report on the issue of culture, an area in which Tasman has continued to expand new offerings and provide thought leadership.
Yocum brings nearly twenty years of experience working in global firms, along the way becoming an industry leader in HR, M&A, change management and process re-engineering. She has held various HR executive and consulting roles at Cisco, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nortel and MSA, and holds a Master of Business Administration from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
Prior to co-founding Tasman, Lee led Cisco's HR Mergers and Acquisitions organization. Over the past 15 years, Lee has managed more than 60 domestic and cross-border acquisitions. Both Yocum and Lee publish and are interviewed regularly on the subject.
see more: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tasman-consulting-named-kennedy-vanguard-leader-in-new-report-on-global-hr-consulting-in-corporate-transactions-300175731.html
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Virtusa Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire a Majority Interest in Polaris Consulting & Services, Ltd.
WESTBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Virtusa Corporation (NASDAQ GS:VRTU), a global business consulting and IT outsourcing company that combines innovation, technology leadership and industry solutions to transform the customer experience, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest in Polaris Consulting & Services, Ltd. (“Polaris”) (BSE: POLARIS NSE: POLARIS MSEI: POLARIS), a global provider of IT solutions primarily to the banking and financial services industry segment, for approximately $270 million. The transaction consideration includes both the 51.7% majority interest and an unconditional mandatory open offer to purchase up to 26%(3) of the outstanding shares of Polaris from the public shareholders of Polaris (as further described below in “Terms and Financing of the Polaris Transaction”). In addition, upon closing of the Polaris transaction, Citigroup Technology Group, Inc. (“Citi”) has agreed to designate Virtusa and Polaris as a preferred vendor for Global Technology Resource Strategy (“GTRS”) for the provision of IT services to Citi on an enterprise-wide basis.
“Virtusa and Polaris share a common goal of delivering best-in-class solutions and the highest level of service excellence to our clients. I believe the combination of the two companies will enable us to better address our clients’ most critical business objectives.”
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As of September 30, 2015, Chennai, India-based Polaris had approximately 7,650(1) employees, serving its global client base through 12 development centers. For the six months ended September 30, 2015, Polaris generated total pro forma revenue(2) of approximately $150 million. Polaris had cash, cash equivalents, and short-term and long-term investments of approximately $44.8 million(4) as of September 30, 2015.
Upon the closing of the Polaris transaction, the combination of Virtusa and Polaris would create a leading global provider of IT services and solutions to the banking and financial services industry segment. The acquisition would combine Virtusa’s deep domain expertise in consumer and retail banking with Polaris’ proven strength in corporate and investment banking. This combination would provide an end-to-end portfolio of differentiated solutions to the global banking and financial services industry segment, improving the combined entity’s competitive position, and expanding its addressable market. Virtusa expects to realize over $100 million of cumulative revenue synergies over the next three fiscal years from the business combination.
The Polaris transaction is expected to close during Virtusa’s fourth fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2016. The closing of the definitive agreement and the unconditional mandatory open offer to purchase shares from the public shareholders of Polaris are each subject to customary conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approvals.
Commenting on the transaction, Kris Canekeratne, Virtusa’s Chairman and CEO, stated, “Polaris brings a terrific team and an attractive, blue-chip client base to our organization. The combination of Virtusa and Polaris will enable us to provide end-to-end global BFS services and solutions, expand our addressable market, and position us to pursue larger consulting and outsourcing opportunities. We are enthusiastic about working with the Polaris team to build out our platform and offer clients a distinctive set of offerings.”
Jitin Goyal, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director of Polaris, said, “Virtusa and Polaris share a common goal of delivering best-in-class solutions and the highest level of service excellence to our clients. I believe the combination of the two companies will enable us to better address our clients’ most critical business objectives.”
Terms and Financing of the Polaris Transaction
Virtusa, through its India subsidiary, Virtusa Consulting Services Private Limited (“Virtusa India”), has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Polaris held by Mr. Arun Jain, founder and chairman of Polaris, Orbitech Private Limited, and certain other minority stockholders, representing an aggregate of approximately 51.7%(5&6) of the fully diluted outstanding shares of Polaris for $3.38 per share (INR 220.73 per share) (7), for an aggregate purchase consideration under the definitive agreement of approximately $180 million (INR 11,728.08 million) (7).
In addition, in accordance with the requirements of the Indian securities regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India ("SEBI") and the applicable Indian rules on Takeovers, Virtusa India shall make an unconditional mandatory open offer to Polaris’ public shareholders to purchase up to an additional 26%(3) of the outstanding shares of Polaris. The aggregate price for the shares to be purchased in the unconditional, mandatory open offer, assuming full tender and the offer price remaining unchanged, is estimated at approximately $90 million (INR 5,877 million) (7).
read more: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151105005759/en/Virtusa-Announces-Definitive-Agreement-Acquire-Majority-Interest
“Virtusa and Polaris share a common goal of delivering best-in-class solutions and the highest level of service excellence to our clients. I believe the combination of the two companies will enable us to better address our clients’ most critical business objectives.”
Tweet this
As of September 30, 2015, Chennai, India-based Polaris had approximately 7,650(1) employees, serving its global client base through 12 development centers. For the six months ended September 30, 2015, Polaris generated total pro forma revenue(2) of approximately $150 million. Polaris had cash, cash equivalents, and short-term and long-term investments of approximately $44.8 million(4) as of September 30, 2015.
Upon the closing of the Polaris transaction, the combination of Virtusa and Polaris would create a leading global provider of IT services and solutions to the banking and financial services industry segment. The acquisition would combine Virtusa’s deep domain expertise in consumer and retail banking with Polaris’ proven strength in corporate and investment banking. This combination would provide an end-to-end portfolio of differentiated solutions to the global banking and financial services industry segment, improving the combined entity’s competitive position, and expanding its addressable market. Virtusa expects to realize over $100 million of cumulative revenue synergies over the next three fiscal years from the business combination.
The Polaris transaction is expected to close during Virtusa’s fourth fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2016. The closing of the definitive agreement and the unconditional mandatory open offer to purchase shares from the public shareholders of Polaris are each subject to customary conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approvals.
Commenting on the transaction, Kris Canekeratne, Virtusa’s Chairman and CEO, stated, “Polaris brings a terrific team and an attractive, blue-chip client base to our organization. The combination of Virtusa and Polaris will enable us to provide end-to-end global BFS services and solutions, expand our addressable market, and position us to pursue larger consulting and outsourcing opportunities. We are enthusiastic about working with the Polaris team to build out our platform and offer clients a distinctive set of offerings.”
Jitin Goyal, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director of Polaris, said, “Virtusa and Polaris share a common goal of delivering best-in-class solutions and the highest level of service excellence to our clients. I believe the combination of the two companies will enable us to better address our clients’ most critical business objectives.”
Terms and Financing of the Polaris Transaction
Virtusa, through its India subsidiary, Virtusa Consulting Services Private Limited (“Virtusa India”), has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Polaris held by Mr. Arun Jain, founder and chairman of Polaris, Orbitech Private Limited, and certain other minority stockholders, representing an aggregate of approximately 51.7%(5&6) of the fully diluted outstanding shares of Polaris for $3.38 per share (INR 220.73 per share) (7), for an aggregate purchase consideration under the definitive agreement of approximately $180 million (INR 11,728.08 million) (7).
In addition, in accordance with the requirements of the Indian securities regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India ("SEBI") and the applicable Indian rules on Takeovers, Virtusa India shall make an unconditional mandatory open offer to Polaris’ public shareholders to purchase up to an additional 26%(3) of the outstanding shares of Polaris. The aggregate price for the shares to be purchased in the unconditional, mandatory open offer, assuming full tender and the offer price remaining unchanged, is estimated at approximately $90 million (INR 5,877 million) (7).
read more: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151105005759/en/Virtusa-Announces-Definitive-Agreement-Acquire-Majority-Interest
Monday, November 2, 2015
6 Steps to Getting Your First Consulting Contract
In 2014, companies spent $42.4 billion on training according to The Training Industry Report. After locked in an $80,000 consulting contract last week, I can attest to the fact that solopreneurs and lifestyle entrepreneurs have the opportunity to add significant income through paid consulting. The opportunity is there, you may just not have known how to find it.
Getting a company to hire you and give you a consulting contract may test the limits of your comfort zone. You wonder if you’re qualified to approach a company. When you think about the details, you get frustrated because you’re not sure how to build a consulting business.
My first business was a service company in the bread industry. My second business is a lifestyle business that involves a good deal of paid consulting with companies all over the world. How I book contracts is not a mystery and you probably have the skills and knowledge to land the deal. Here are six steps to building a lucrative and freedom based consulting business.
1. Make a list of your areas of expertise.
To get the contract, you have to understand what areas you could possible train on. Tap into your experiences to see what you enjoy and are knowledgeable about. Write those areas down somewhere. List as many as you can come up with.
2. Start with targeting companies where you live.
I have a consulting contract to train in six countries next year, but my first contract was in my former hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (I now live on Maui). You want to start locally because there’s a good chance you have a connection with a local company. Also, you can show a local company that you’re part of the community and are committed to doing good work.
Related:
3. Get a meeting with the owner or a decision maker.
Another reason to start local is that you have to talk to someone who can make the deal. Chances are you aren’t going to make deals with Fortune 500 companies when you start out, but you can get a consulting contract at a local restaurant or factory. After you’ve identified your areas of expertise, research nearby companies to determine which has a problem costing it money that you know how to solve. Tell the owner that you want to show them how they’re losing money. Ask for a quick 20-minute meeting over coffee.
4. Prove your fee is worth it to solve the problem.
When you get the meeting, show up and prove you know what you’re talking about. Your research is a big part of proving why you should get the contract. Don’t show up with a lot of promises but no content. This meeting is to prove you can help this company stop losing money. Prove it.
read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/252026
Getting a company to hire you and give you a consulting contract may test the limits of your comfort zone. You wonder if you’re qualified to approach a company. When you think about the details, you get frustrated because you’re not sure how to build a consulting business.
My first business was a service company in the bread industry. My second business is a lifestyle business that involves a good deal of paid consulting with companies all over the world. How I book contracts is not a mystery and you probably have the skills and knowledge to land the deal. Here are six steps to building a lucrative and freedom based consulting business.
1. Make a list of your areas of expertise.
To get the contract, you have to understand what areas you could possible train on. Tap into your experiences to see what you enjoy and are knowledgeable about. Write those areas down somewhere. List as many as you can come up with.
2. Start with targeting companies where you live.
I have a consulting contract to train in six countries next year, but my first contract was in my former hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (I now live on Maui). You want to start locally because there’s a good chance you have a connection with a local company. Also, you can show a local company that you’re part of the community and are committed to doing good work.
Related:
3. Get a meeting with the owner or a decision maker.
Another reason to start local is that you have to talk to someone who can make the deal. Chances are you aren’t going to make deals with Fortune 500 companies when you start out, but you can get a consulting contract at a local restaurant or factory. After you’ve identified your areas of expertise, research nearby companies to determine which has a problem costing it money that you know how to solve. Tell the owner that you want to show them how they’re losing money. Ask for a quick 20-minute meeting over coffee.
4. Prove your fee is worth it to solve the problem.
When you get the meeting, show up and prove you know what you’re talking about. Your research is a big part of proving why you should get the contract. Don’t show up with a lot of promises but no content. This meeting is to prove you can help this company stop losing money. Prove it.
read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/252026
Friday, October 23, 2015
The Procurement Consulting Industry is Desperately in Need of a 21st Century Peter Kraljic
I’m somewhat amazed by the lack of sizable new entrants in the procurement and supply chain consulting market in recent years given the overall growth of the sector. I’ve been privately asked to look at market growth and market size for clients in the investment space and the growth picture, for larger firms, appears incredibly healthy, seeing double-digit compound annual growth rate practice growth, which would suggest, under many circumstances, new entrants as well. Yet that’s not happened, at least not at scale.
The Big 5, especially, with KPMG and Deloitte out in front, appear largely limited by the number of skilled advisors they can put on projects more than anything else. (That is, if you don’t count Accenture in this group anymore, a firm that has gravitated more to business process outsourcing and managed services.) Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers are also growing at high clips, albeit from what our estimates suggest is a smaller base.
Strategy firms aren’t sitting still either, with BCG and Bain — the former perhaps more than the latter — making material investments in procurement and operations, yet with tiny practice areas compared with perhaps the best sector brand: McKinsey. McKinsey continues to build from a surprisingly large procurement base as well. Back in 2014, McKinsey had roughly 8,000 consultants overall — a third who focused on operations consulting, and a third who focused on procurement, according to our own discussions.
As interesting are those on the periphery of consulting also doing consulting (and some seeing quite significant growth/uptake). Software developer and BPO provider GEP is also a sizable advisor on the consulting front. Deep procurement experts such as Proxima are worthy of mention here, too, even if their core business tends to trend more to managed services. And of course boutiques like Source One, Insight Sourcing Group, Denali, Protiviti, Profit Recovery Partners and others are carving out clever not-so-small practices and niches in the broader market and realizing similar or even greater practice growth than larger firms. Sector specialists like Censeo Consulting (public sector) and Huron Consulting (higher education) of course are worthy of mention as well.
Finally, no discussion of procurement consultants would be complete without mentioning A.T. Kearney as well, but personally, I see its business as more protecting their traditional cash cow — good business if you can get it, of course. To ATK’s credit, though, it has at least ventured into developing technology-based offerings and productized services and frameworks — even if we don’t always agree with them. Examples include the ROSMA benchmark, “chess boards,” and their homage to Eli Goldratt’s book “The Goal” with their own book titled “The CPO.” (Some of the Amazon book reviews are pretty humorous, actually).
Of course, there are dozens of boutique providers worthy of mention as well, on which perhaps we’ll do a more formal sector roundup after we issue a formal RFI to providers in the coming months — the market will see what Kennedy Information comes back with first given its recent research foray into the topic in the meantime.
So, Where is the 2015 Version of Peter Kraljic?
But what concerns me today is not market or provider analysis, but more an observation — namely that procurement consultants are almost all sounding the same these days with little in the way of thought leadership to do anything but generate slightly more thoughtful collateral and ideas to bring to customers that marketing teams can. Consulting firm partners have become skilled salespeople, presenters and, in the best of cases, mentors to younger practice leaders. But where’s the 2015 version of Peter Kraljic, an individual in a firm that stood for truly rethinking the profession and did something about it?
read more: https://spendmatters.com/2015/10/22/the-procurement-consulting-industry-is-desperately-in-need-of-a-21st-century-peter-kraljic/
The Big 5, especially, with KPMG and Deloitte out in front, appear largely limited by the number of skilled advisors they can put on projects more than anything else. (That is, if you don’t count Accenture in this group anymore, a firm that has gravitated more to business process outsourcing and managed services.) Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers are also growing at high clips, albeit from what our estimates suggest is a smaller base.
Strategy firms aren’t sitting still either, with BCG and Bain — the former perhaps more than the latter — making material investments in procurement and operations, yet with tiny practice areas compared with perhaps the best sector brand: McKinsey. McKinsey continues to build from a surprisingly large procurement base as well. Back in 2014, McKinsey had roughly 8,000 consultants overall — a third who focused on operations consulting, and a third who focused on procurement, according to our own discussions.
As interesting are those on the periphery of consulting also doing consulting (and some seeing quite significant growth/uptake). Software developer and BPO provider GEP is also a sizable advisor on the consulting front. Deep procurement experts such as Proxima are worthy of mention here, too, even if their core business tends to trend more to managed services. And of course boutiques like Source One, Insight Sourcing Group, Denali, Protiviti, Profit Recovery Partners and others are carving out clever not-so-small practices and niches in the broader market and realizing similar or even greater practice growth than larger firms. Sector specialists like Censeo Consulting (public sector) and Huron Consulting (higher education) of course are worthy of mention as well.
Finally, no discussion of procurement consultants would be complete without mentioning A.T. Kearney as well, but personally, I see its business as more protecting their traditional cash cow — good business if you can get it, of course. To ATK’s credit, though, it has at least ventured into developing technology-based offerings and productized services and frameworks — even if we don’t always agree with them. Examples include the ROSMA benchmark, “chess boards,” and their homage to Eli Goldratt’s book “The Goal” with their own book titled “The CPO.” (Some of the Amazon book reviews are pretty humorous, actually).
Of course, there are dozens of boutique providers worthy of mention as well, on which perhaps we’ll do a more formal sector roundup after we issue a formal RFI to providers in the coming months — the market will see what Kennedy Information comes back with first given its recent research foray into the topic in the meantime.
So, Where is the 2015 Version of Peter Kraljic?
But what concerns me today is not market or provider analysis, but more an observation — namely that procurement consultants are almost all sounding the same these days with little in the way of thought leadership to do anything but generate slightly more thoughtful collateral and ideas to bring to customers that marketing teams can. Consulting firm partners have become skilled salespeople, presenters and, in the best of cases, mentors to younger practice leaders. But where’s the 2015 version of Peter Kraljic, an individual in a firm that stood for truly rethinking the profession and did something about it?
read more: https://spendmatters.com/2015/10/22/the-procurement-consulting-industry-is-desperately-in-need-of-a-21st-century-peter-kraljic/
Monday, October 19, 2015
Big Four PwC pushing into digital design consulting
Providing a full range of services to clients seeking complete digital solutions has in recent years seen professional services firms enter the digital design space. To meet client demands, PwC now has more than 3,000 professionals in the space, and will be launching two ‘Experience Centres’ later this year to provide a sandbox arena in which it will prototype its latest digital offerings.
Designing internal as well as external apps, portals and mobile solutions to engage staff and customers has become an important tool for a wide range of businesses. Everything from postal services to police forces are seeking for functional digital solutions. The design of digital interfaces that provide process and aesthetic design benefits for employers and employees has consequently become a fiercely competitive field.
One new area of competition stems from PwC that last year rolled out its own digital services line, employing creative directors, strategists, designers and engineers. Providing marketing and design services has become a trend in the industry. As it stands, the firm has digital design teams in 31 countries, serving more than 200 clients globally – with 80% of those clients also using the firm’s consulting line. Following the rise of digital demand – the second fastest growing segment in the US consulting market – the firm has in recent years been bolstering its digital offering through acquisitions, picking up Ant’s Eye View, Intunity and Optimal Experience. So far, the new line generates $750 million in revenues, which is projected to increase between 40% and 50% this year.
The Experience Centre
To add to the competition further, PwC will, later this year, launch what it calls an ‘Experience Centre’ outside Miami and another one in California. The new centres provide a location in which the firm’s digital creatives can come together in a ‘sandbox’ space in which prototype digital products and services for clients are developed. “It’s a lot of creative designers, industrial designers, experience designers that really complement what we had in PwC consulting more broadly,” says Tom Puthiyamadam, Principal for PwC Advisory and Digital Services Lead. “We are combining the MFA, the MBA and the engineer to work together to solve problems.”
The centres further provide an interface for clients to engage with the firm’s wider professional service offerings, thereby giving them access to a wider variety of possibilities than offered by a pure marketing or digital design firm. “It’s a very easy sell to say, not only are we going to give you access to great design talent but you’re also going to have all these other tools at your disposal to deploy as a designer,” explains Eric Boisvert, Group Creative Director at PwC. Puthiyamadam adds: “Our ability to take that great new idea and drive a business transformation behind it by using the breadth of PwC -- that’s when we get into true innovation. We’re very much rooted in that.”
read more: http://www.consultancy.uk/news/2768/big-four-pwc-pushing-into-digital-design-consulting
Designing internal as well as external apps, portals and mobile solutions to engage staff and customers has become an important tool for a wide range of businesses. Everything from postal services to police forces are seeking for functional digital solutions. The design of digital interfaces that provide process and aesthetic design benefits for employers and employees has consequently become a fiercely competitive field.
One new area of competition stems from PwC that last year rolled out its own digital services line, employing creative directors, strategists, designers and engineers. Providing marketing and design services has become a trend in the industry. As it stands, the firm has digital design teams in 31 countries, serving more than 200 clients globally – with 80% of those clients also using the firm’s consulting line. Following the rise of digital demand – the second fastest growing segment in the US consulting market – the firm has in recent years been bolstering its digital offering through acquisitions, picking up Ant’s Eye View, Intunity and Optimal Experience. So far, the new line generates $750 million in revenues, which is projected to increase between 40% and 50% this year.
The Experience Centre
To add to the competition further, PwC will, later this year, launch what it calls an ‘Experience Centre’ outside Miami and another one in California. The new centres provide a location in which the firm’s digital creatives can come together in a ‘sandbox’ space in which prototype digital products and services for clients are developed. “It’s a lot of creative designers, industrial designers, experience designers that really complement what we had in PwC consulting more broadly,” says Tom Puthiyamadam, Principal for PwC Advisory and Digital Services Lead. “We are combining the MFA, the MBA and the engineer to work together to solve problems.”
The centres further provide an interface for clients to engage with the firm’s wider professional service offerings, thereby giving them access to a wider variety of possibilities than offered by a pure marketing or digital design firm. “It’s a very easy sell to say, not only are we going to give you access to great design talent but you’re also going to have all these other tools at your disposal to deploy as a designer,” explains Eric Boisvert, Group Creative Director at PwC. Puthiyamadam adds: “Our ability to take that great new idea and drive a business transformation behind it by using the breadth of PwC -- that’s when we get into true innovation. We’re very much rooted in that.”
read more: http://www.consultancy.uk/news/2768/big-four-pwc-pushing-into-digital-design-consulting
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
10 Ways to Get a Consulting Job in Your Niche
In 1998, I became a “consultant.” What that means in plain language is that I wasn’t working for a corporation anymore and that I had to find work to make money. Since the only requirement for being a consultant was knowing a lot about a particular topic, it seemed the obvious way to go.
But that wasn’t enough.
Saying that you’re a consultant in any niche isn’t enough to make the phone ring. You’re going to need a little sizzle to sell that steak.
When I went out on my own, I had the luxury of having saved up some cash and you know what I did with it? I wasted it. I spent my money on things that did nothing to get me customers. Today, I’m going to show you the 10 steps I took that cost me nothing and attracted outstanding, loyal and profitable customers.
These aren’t as sexy as having a cool logo or website. They aren’t as easy as placing ads, but they are by far what works every single time I want cash to come through the door.
I’ll tell you right now — the first four steps will feel like training for and running a mental marathon. But the rewards are truly worth the time and effort, so I urge you to:
Find Your Pond
One of the first things I did when I started my consulting business was go to networking events. I saw dozens of “insurance providers”, “financial advisors” and a ton of other generic sales people. Everyone was focusing on their product or service and no one was focusing on a specific niche.
Here’s an easy way to define a niche. A niche is any group of people who — (insert your topic here) — own Chihuahuas , sell products online, run marathons, read mysteries, etc. When you find your niche this way, the rest of the steps become infinitely easier.
Define Your Offer
Who would you rather work with? A trainer or a marathon trainer.
I know nothing about running marathons, but if I decided to run one, I’d definitely go with a marathon trainer because I can imagine that they will focus on everything I need to do to run a marathon: food, exercise, even tricks and hacks to leverage my training.
Notice that we’ve gone beyond exercise here and we’re focusing on everything having to do with marathons. This is a key distinction between products and services and offers.
Offers are whole and complete. They are a package of deliverables and experiences. An irresistible offer delivers a complete experience in a desired way for a price that feels like a great deal.
Identify Your Ideal Customer
Who is the person that values what you do more highly and needs what you do most desperately? Sticking with our marathon example, you might choose first-time marathon runners.
Notice that your ideal customer is different than a niche; it’s a further focus on the specific value that you provide and for whom.
read more: http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/10/10-ways-to-get-a-consulting-job.html
But that wasn’t enough.
Saying that you’re a consultant in any niche isn’t enough to make the phone ring. You’re going to need a little sizzle to sell that steak.
When I went out on my own, I had the luxury of having saved up some cash and you know what I did with it? I wasted it. I spent my money on things that did nothing to get me customers. Today, I’m going to show you the 10 steps I took that cost me nothing and attracted outstanding, loyal and profitable customers.
These aren’t as sexy as having a cool logo or website. They aren’t as easy as placing ads, but they are by far what works every single time I want cash to come through the door.
I’ll tell you right now — the first four steps will feel like training for and running a mental marathon. But the rewards are truly worth the time and effort, so I urge you to:
Find Your Pond
One of the first things I did when I started my consulting business was go to networking events. I saw dozens of “insurance providers”, “financial advisors” and a ton of other generic sales people. Everyone was focusing on their product or service and no one was focusing on a specific niche.
Here’s an easy way to define a niche. A niche is any group of people who — (insert your topic here) — own Chihuahuas , sell products online, run marathons, read mysteries, etc. When you find your niche this way, the rest of the steps become infinitely easier.
Define Your Offer
Who would you rather work with? A trainer or a marathon trainer.
I know nothing about running marathons, but if I decided to run one, I’d definitely go with a marathon trainer because I can imagine that they will focus on everything I need to do to run a marathon: food, exercise, even tricks and hacks to leverage my training.
Notice that we’ve gone beyond exercise here and we’re focusing on everything having to do with marathons. This is a key distinction between products and services and offers.
Offers are whole and complete. They are a package of deliverables and experiences. An irresistible offer delivers a complete experience in a desired way for a price that feels like a great deal.
Identify Your Ideal Customer
Who is the person that values what you do more highly and needs what you do most desperately? Sticking with our marathon example, you might choose first-time marathon runners.
Notice that your ideal customer is different than a niche; it’s a further focus on the specific value that you provide and for whom.
read more: http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/10/10-ways-to-get-a-consulting-job.html
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
IBM Launches Industry's First Consulting Practice Dedicated to Cognitive Business
ARMONK, N.Y., Oct. 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today launched the industry's first consulting organization dedicated to helping clients realize the transformative value of cognitive business.
IBM Cognitive Business Solutions extends the exclusive cognitive leadership of IBM Watson and the company's established market leadership in business analytics. The new practice draws on the expertise of more than 2,000 consulting professionals spanning machine learning, advanced analytics, data science and development, supported by industry and change management specialists to accelerate client journeys to cognitive business.
Cognitive represents an entirely new model of computing that includes a range of technology innovations in analytics, natural language processing and machine learning. Industry analyst firm IDC predicts that by 2018, half of all consumers will interact regularly with services based on cognitive computing.
"Our work with clients across many industries shows that cognitive computing is the path to the next great set of possibilities for business," said Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president, IBM Global Business Services. "Clients know they are collecting and analyzing more data than ever before, but 80 percent of all the available data -- images, voice, literature, chemical formulas, social expressions -- remains out of reach for traditional computing systems. We're scaling expertise to close that gap and help our clients become cognitive banks, retailers, automakers, insurers or healthcare providers."
A survey of more than 5,000 C-suite executives to be released this fall by IBM's Institute for Business Value (IBV) finds that executives from the highest-performing companies place significantly greater priority on cognitive capabilities than peers in market-following enterprises. Industry-specific IBV research shows that:
Insurance: Sixty-five percent of industry CXOs are pursuing some form of business model innovation, but nearly 30 percent feel the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data in their organization is insufficient. Nearly all said they intend to invest in cognitive capabilities.
Retail: Sixty percent of retail executives do not believe their company is equipped to deliver the level of individual experiences consumers demand, and 95 percent say they will invest in cognitive in the next five years.
Healthcare: The industry forecasts a 13 million person gap in qualified healthcare workers by 2035, and more than half of healthcare industry CXOs report that current constraints on the ability to use all available information limits their confidence about making strategic business decisions. Eighty-four percent of these leaders believe cognitive will be a disruptive force in healthcare and 95 percent plan to invest in it over the next five years.
Across all industries, executives surveyed by the IBV cite the scarcity of skills and technical expertise as the primary barriers to cognitive adoption -- surpassing concerns about security, privacy or the maturity of the technology.
read more: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibm-launches-industrys-first-consulting-practice-dedicated-to-cognitive-business-300154661.html
IBM Cognitive Business Solutions extends the exclusive cognitive leadership of IBM Watson and the company's established market leadership in business analytics. The new practice draws on the expertise of more than 2,000 consulting professionals spanning machine learning, advanced analytics, data science and development, supported by industry and change management specialists to accelerate client journeys to cognitive business.
Cognitive represents an entirely new model of computing that includes a range of technology innovations in analytics, natural language processing and machine learning. Industry analyst firm IDC predicts that by 2018, half of all consumers will interact regularly with services based on cognitive computing.
"Our work with clients across many industries shows that cognitive computing is the path to the next great set of possibilities for business," said Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president, IBM Global Business Services. "Clients know they are collecting and analyzing more data than ever before, but 80 percent of all the available data -- images, voice, literature, chemical formulas, social expressions -- remains out of reach for traditional computing systems. We're scaling expertise to close that gap and help our clients become cognitive banks, retailers, automakers, insurers or healthcare providers."
A survey of more than 5,000 C-suite executives to be released this fall by IBM's Institute for Business Value (IBV) finds that executives from the highest-performing companies place significantly greater priority on cognitive capabilities than peers in market-following enterprises. Industry-specific IBV research shows that:
Insurance: Sixty-five percent of industry CXOs are pursuing some form of business model innovation, but nearly 30 percent feel the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data in their organization is insufficient. Nearly all said they intend to invest in cognitive capabilities.
Retail: Sixty percent of retail executives do not believe their company is equipped to deliver the level of individual experiences consumers demand, and 95 percent say they will invest in cognitive in the next five years.
Healthcare: The industry forecasts a 13 million person gap in qualified healthcare workers by 2035, and more than half of healthcare industry CXOs report that current constraints on the ability to use all available information limits their confidence about making strategic business decisions. Eighty-four percent of these leaders believe cognitive will be a disruptive force in healthcare and 95 percent plan to invest in it over the next five years.
Across all industries, executives surveyed by the IBV cite the scarcity of skills and technical expertise as the primary barriers to cognitive adoption -- surpassing concerns about security, privacy or the maturity of the technology.
read more: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibm-launches-industrys-first-consulting-practice-dedicated-to-cognitive-business-300154661.html
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Consultant to try to reverse UT’s enrollment drop
The University of Toledo will pay a consulting firm more than $430,000 to create a plan to reverse a yearslong enrollment slide.
UT President Sharon Gaber signed an 18-month contract for $431,333, plus travel expenses, with consultants Ruffalo Noel Levitz of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, according to documents released in response to The Blade’s public-records request.
Hiring a consultant to develop a strategic plan is among the first steps Ms. Gaber has taken to grow enrollment — among her top priorities since starting the job July 1.
This fall, the university lost students for the fifth consecutive year, resulting in an $11.5 million budget shortfall. This year’s budget anticipated an enrollment increase, but a September headcount revealed a 301 student decline to 20,325, down from a high of 23,085 students in 2010.
Ms. Gaber is still determining how UT will counter that deficit. She plans to speak to the faculty senate about options and prefers not to make across-the-board cuts.
“I want people to understand, ‘Here’s where we are. Here’s how we’re going to get out of it,’” she said. “I am optimistic that we won’t be in this situation in the future.”
Ruffalo Noel Levitz will help redesign UT’s website and provide marketing and recruitment consulting, among other services that aim to boost undergraduate and graduate numbers.
“It’s getting outside perspective to help lead that area,” said Ms. Gaber, who worked with the firm in a previous role at Auburn University. “It’s an investment that should reap dividends in the future.”
The consultant’s arrival comes amid other enrollment office changes. The firm will work with a newly named interim administrator, James Mager, who will oversee enrollment efforts and help find someone to fill the position permanently.
Last month, Cam Cruickshank, the former vice president for enrollment management and online education, and the president mutually agreed he would leave his post. He remains on UT’s payroll as a consultant through February.
Now semiretired and living in Westerville, Ohio, Mr. Mager was a Noel Levitz consultant from 2002 to 2010 and worked at Ohio State University. Terms of his UT contract have yet to be finalized. He is expected to hold the part-time position until a successor is hired or through mid-May.
Consultants will provide short-term guidance to improve recruitment for next year and a three-to-five year enrollment plan, he said.
“I wouldn’t have taken this position if I didn’t see a very strong possibility of good things happening,” he said.
Universities often seek consulting services when an administration turns over because it’s a good time to get people engaged and new leaders can have an easier time bringing about changes, said Rob Baird, a Ruffalo Noel Levitz senior vice president.
Increased competition and demographic changes mean colleges face “incredible pressures” that have made hiring consultants more prevalent, he said. An outside firm can focus on goals, not internal relationships, he said.
“We are working for the institution, and we are working for the institutional good. And thus, we don’t have favorites. I don’t make a recommendation because I like or dislike you,” Mr. Baird said.
Helping create a new website and enhance the university’s online presence through search engine optimization will be a key part of the consultant’s services. A university’s website is a core marketing and recruitment tool, he said.
Bowling Green State University signed a three-year, $330,000 agreement with Noel Levitz in 2013 to review admissions, enrollment, and scholarships. The university’s fall enrollment count of 19,172 students represents its first enrollment gain since 2010. Spokesman Dave Kielmeyer said the strategies the firm helped BGSU develop contributed to its recent success.
To avoid a conflict of interest, Mr. Baird said the firm will assign different teams to work with UT and BGSU — fierce football foes separated by about 25 miles. Ruffalo Noel Levitz has completed the bulk of its Bowling Green work, and won’t provide certain services to the two competing institutions at the same time, he said.
Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/Education/2015/10/01/Consultant-to-try-to-reverse-UT-s-enrollment-drop.html
UT President Sharon Gaber signed an 18-month contract for $431,333, plus travel expenses, with consultants Ruffalo Noel Levitz of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, according to documents released in response to The Blade’s public-records request.
Hiring a consultant to develop a strategic plan is among the first steps Ms. Gaber has taken to grow enrollment — among her top priorities since starting the job July 1.
This fall, the university lost students for the fifth consecutive year, resulting in an $11.5 million budget shortfall. This year’s budget anticipated an enrollment increase, but a September headcount revealed a 301 student decline to 20,325, down from a high of 23,085 students in 2010.
Ms. Gaber is still determining how UT will counter that deficit. She plans to speak to the faculty senate about options and prefers not to make across-the-board cuts.
“I want people to understand, ‘Here’s where we are. Here’s how we’re going to get out of it,’” she said. “I am optimistic that we won’t be in this situation in the future.”
Ruffalo Noel Levitz will help redesign UT’s website and provide marketing and recruitment consulting, among other services that aim to boost undergraduate and graduate numbers.
“It’s getting outside perspective to help lead that area,” said Ms. Gaber, who worked with the firm in a previous role at Auburn University. “It’s an investment that should reap dividends in the future.”
The consultant’s arrival comes amid other enrollment office changes. The firm will work with a newly named interim administrator, James Mager, who will oversee enrollment efforts and help find someone to fill the position permanently.
Last month, Cam Cruickshank, the former vice president for enrollment management and online education, and the president mutually agreed he would leave his post. He remains on UT’s payroll as a consultant through February.
Now semiretired and living in Westerville, Ohio, Mr. Mager was a Noel Levitz consultant from 2002 to 2010 and worked at Ohio State University. Terms of his UT contract have yet to be finalized. He is expected to hold the part-time position until a successor is hired or through mid-May.
Consultants will provide short-term guidance to improve recruitment for next year and a three-to-five year enrollment plan, he said.
“I wouldn’t have taken this position if I didn’t see a very strong possibility of good things happening,” he said.
Universities often seek consulting services when an administration turns over because it’s a good time to get people engaged and new leaders can have an easier time bringing about changes, said Rob Baird, a Ruffalo Noel Levitz senior vice president.
Increased competition and demographic changes mean colleges face “incredible pressures” that have made hiring consultants more prevalent, he said. An outside firm can focus on goals, not internal relationships, he said.
“We are working for the institution, and we are working for the institutional good. And thus, we don’t have favorites. I don’t make a recommendation because I like or dislike you,” Mr. Baird said.
Helping create a new website and enhance the university’s online presence through search engine optimization will be a key part of the consultant’s services. A university’s website is a core marketing and recruitment tool, he said.
Bowling Green State University signed a three-year, $330,000 agreement with Noel Levitz in 2013 to review admissions, enrollment, and scholarships. The university’s fall enrollment count of 19,172 students represents its first enrollment gain since 2010. Spokesman Dave Kielmeyer said the strategies the firm helped BGSU develop contributed to its recent success.
To avoid a conflict of interest, Mr. Baird said the firm will assign different teams to work with UT and BGSU — fierce football foes separated by about 25 miles. Ruffalo Noel Levitz has completed the bulk of its Bowling Green work, and won’t provide certain services to the two competing institutions at the same time, he said.
Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/Education/2015/10/01/Consultant-to-try-to-reverse-UT-s-enrollment-drop.html
Monday, September 28, 2015
Denver gives red light to inspectors consulting for marijuana industry
Denver city inspectors for marijuana licensing asked the Board of Ethics for its blessing to work as paid consultants to the cannabis industry elsewhere.
The board's answer was a resounding no. Its advisory opinion cites concerns about potential conflicts of interest and bad appearances, saying such work would violate the city's Code of Ethics.
When the board discussed the inspectors' request for an ethics opinion last week — before issuing its formal guidance Tuesday — chairman Brian Spano spoke more plainly.
"I just think it's too close a call to be a paid consultant in the industry you're regulating for the city," Spano said. That would be true, he added, even if potential clients aimed to open businesses outside Denver or even Colorado.
The inspectors' request reflects some remaining uncertainty as Denver and Colorado traverse the new landscape of legal recreational marijuana.
Denver has drawn praise for its efforts to regulate retail marijuana. Both government officials and entrepreneurs in other states that have followed suit more recently have been looking to learn from the city's experience.
Jered P. Garcia, the chief business license inspector for Denver's Department of Excise and Licenses, said in his Sept. 9 request for the ethics opinion that his staff members "have been approached on several occasions to do consulting for the marijuana industry."
But they had not yet done so while they waited for a green light. Dan Rowland, a spokesman for the Office of Marijuana Policy, noted that the employees followed an ethics rule requiring them to seek supervisor approval, and potentially an ethics opinion, before beginning any outside business activity.
read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28865714/denver-gives-red-light-inspectors-consulting-marijuana-industry
The board's answer was a resounding no. Its advisory opinion cites concerns about potential conflicts of interest and bad appearances, saying such work would violate the city's Code of Ethics.
When the board discussed the inspectors' request for an ethics opinion last week — before issuing its formal guidance Tuesday — chairman Brian Spano spoke more plainly.
"I just think it's too close a call to be a paid consultant in the industry you're regulating for the city," Spano said. That would be true, he added, even if potential clients aimed to open businesses outside Denver or even Colorado.
The inspectors' request reflects some remaining uncertainty as Denver and Colorado traverse the new landscape of legal recreational marijuana.
Denver has drawn praise for its efforts to regulate retail marijuana. Both government officials and entrepreneurs in other states that have followed suit more recently have been looking to learn from the city's experience.
Jered P. Garcia, the chief business license inspector for Denver's Department of Excise and Licenses, said in his Sept. 9 request for the ethics opinion that his staff members "have been approached on several occasions to do consulting for the marijuana industry."
But they had not yet done so while they waited for a green light. Dan Rowland, a spokesman for the Office of Marijuana Policy, noted that the employees followed an ethics rule requiring them to seek supervisor approval, and potentially an ethics opinion, before beginning any outside business activity.
read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28865714/denver-gives-red-light-inspectors-consulting-marijuana-industry
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Marcum Search begins consulting practice in Fort Lauderdale
Marcum Search LLC, the executive recruiting affiliate of accounting and advisory firm Marcum LLP, has launched a national consulting practice based Fort Lauderdale.
The Consulting Division will place certified consultants for engagements averaging three to six months or longer. Consultants will include accounting managers, financial analysts, finance directors, controllers, business analysts and project management professionals.
Bonnie Koppelman will be vice president of business development. Randi Valdes will be vice president, responsible for talent acquisition.
source; http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/careers/fl-marcum-search-fort-lauderdale-20150922-story.html
The Consulting Division will place certified consultants for engagements averaging three to six months or longer. Consultants will include accounting managers, financial analysts, finance directors, controllers, business analysts and project management professionals.
Bonnie Koppelman will be vice president of business development. Randi Valdes will be vice president, responsible for talent acquisition.
source; http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/careers/fl-marcum-search-fort-lauderdale-20150922-story.html
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Best Practices For Customer Support: Consulting The Head Of Adobe Customer Service
The landscape of customer support, customer care and customer service has changed nearly overnight. Customers now expect a nearly real-time response to any concern they express via social media or on a user forums. And customer support now often depends on crowdsourced answers as much as it does on professional full-time company support.
One of the experts I’ve enjoyed discussing this with recently is Rani Mani, who is the director for customer success, social media strategy and engagement at Adobe, the graphics software company. As you can imagine, presiding over Adobe’s efforts to support their passionate user base brings issues to the fore quickly and with a lot of force. Here are four guiding principles I’ve gleaned from discussions with Ms. Mani. (Before you ask—and believe me, I did—Ms. Mani’s department was not involved in handling and fixing the Flash security flap earlier this summer, which, Ms. Mani explains to me, were addressed by corporate support rather than customer support.)
1) Curate before you create. ”At Adobe,” says Ms. Mani, “our best practice is to assume that when a ‘new’ customer question is voiced, it has likely been asked before.” Which is why Adobe invests a lot of “curation time” making sure that, rather than endlessly re-creating the wheel or some semblance thereof, they succeed in finding the roundest wheel that has been previously created, the answer that is not just correct but most complete and correct, and flag that answer for use when similar queries come up.
see more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2015/09/19/customer-support-best-practices-consulting-the-head-of-adobe-customer-service/
One of the experts I’ve enjoyed discussing this with recently is Rani Mani, who is the director for customer success, social media strategy and engagement at Adobe, the graphics software company. As you can imagine, presiding over Adobe’s efforts to support their passionate user base brings issues to the fore quickly and with a lot of force. Here are four guiding principles I’ve gleaned from discussions with Ms. Mani. (Before you ask—and believe me, I did—Ms. Mani’s department was not involved in handling and fixing the Flash security flap earlier this summer, which, Ms. Mani explains to me, were addressed by corporate support rather than customer support.)
1) Curate before you create. ”At Adobe,” says Ms. Mani, “our best practice is to assume that when a ‘new’ customer question is voiced, it has likely been asked before.” Which is why Adobe invests a lot of “curation time” making sure that, rather than endlessly re-creating the wheel or some semblance thereof, they succeed in finding the roundest wheel that has been previously created, the answer that is not just correct but most complete and correct, and flag that answer for use when similar queries come up.
see more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2015/09/19/customer-support-best-practices-consulting-the-head-of-adobe-customer-service/
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Google's answer to Microsoft Office just got a huge vote of confidence from tech consulting giant Accenture
2007 helping businesses install Google Apps just got bought by one of the 100-pound gorillas in the consulting world, Accenture.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed but we expect this was a good exit for Cloud Sherpas, which had more than 1,100 employees and had raised more than $63 million in venture investment.
Cloud Sherpas helps companies move from traditional software to cloud-only alternatives, and it made its name helping companies move from Microsoft Office to Google Apps (now called Google for Work), earning an award from Google as the best Google for Work Partner four times.
It then started helping companies implement Salesforce and ServiceNow products, earning high status as partners from both of those companies.
You might not know Accenture if you're not familiar with enterprise tech, but it's a huge and influential companies — other big companies and government agencies often hire Accenture to help set up and run their computer systems, and the company has more than 300,000 employees and earned about $3 billion on $31 billion in sales last year.
Accenture will be using Cloud Sherpas to launch a new cloud business practice called the Accenture Cloud First Applications team.
This team will help companies roll out cloud-only services including Google for Work, NetSuite, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Workday, and so on. Companies are stampeding into the cloud these days, and these newer apps are taking the place of software from old enterprise giants like Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP — particularly at young companies.
Google sees this exit as a big validation for Google's ability to build a big ecosystem of partners to sell and support its enterprise products. That's a relatively new phenom for the search giant.
Google for Work president Amit Singh emailed us this statement about the deal:
We’ve always believed the cloud can be transformative for any business, and Accenture’s move to combine Cloud Sherpas with its substantial cloud business validates this, and shows further proof of Google’s incredible momentum in this market.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed but we expect this was a good exit for Cloud Sherpas, which had more than 1,100 employees and had raised more than $63 million in venture investment.
Cloud Sherpas helps companies move from traditional software to cloud-only alternatives, and it made its name helping companies move from Microsoft Office to Google Apps (now called Google for Work), earning an award from Google as the best Google for Work Partner four times.
It then started helping companies implement Salesforce and ServiceNow products, earning high status as partners from both of those companies.
You might not know Accenture if you're not familiar with enterprise tech, but it's a huge and influential companies — other big companies and government agencies often hire Accenture to help set up and run their computer systems, and the company has more than 300,000 employees and earned about $3 billion on $31 billion in sales last year.
Accenture will be using Cloud Sherpas to launch a new cloud business practice called the Accenture Cloud First Applications team.
This team will help companies roll out cloud-only services including Google for Work, NetSuite, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Workday, and so on. Companies are stampeding into the cloud these days, and these newer apps are taking the place of software from old enterprise giants like Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP — particularly at young companies.
Google sees this exit as a big validation for Google's ability to build a big ecosystem of partners to sell and support its enterprise products. That's a relatively new phenom for the search giant.
Google for Work president Amit Singh emailed us this statement about the deal:
We’ve always believed the cloud can be transformative for any business, and Accenture’s move to combine Cloud Sherpas with its substantial cloud business validates this, and shows further proof of Google’s incredible momentum in this market.
read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-excited-about-accenture-cloud-sherpas-acquisition-2015-9
Friday, September 11, 2015
KBC Advanced Wins 3-year $8.5 Mln Consulting Contract From Middle East Oil Firm
KBC Advanced Technologies Plc. (KBC.L), a consultancy and software provider to the hydrocarbon industry, announced Friday the award of a three-year, $8.5 million consulting contract from a major Middle Eastern client.
Under the deal, KBC would assist the client with margin improvement and workforce capability development across three refineries. The award, which was subject to competitive bidding, includes provision for a further $2.4 million of optional services.
KBC had conducted profit improvement programmes for this client in the late 1990's. The company said the latest award is in addition to its current consulting engagement in the country, which is to assess the feasibility of investing in a new petrochemical complex.
Kevin Smith, KBC's Chief Commercial Officer, said, "Despite the current uncertainty in the oil markets, many of our clients continue to invest in the downstream oil sector and we look forward to helping them extract the best value from their downstream operations."
read more: http://www.rttnews.com/2551511/kbc-advanced-wins-3-year-8-5-mln-consulting-contract-from-middle-east-oil-firm.aspx
Under the deal, KBC would assist the client with margin improvement and workforce capability development across three refineries. The award, which was subject to competitive bidding, includes provision for a further $2.4 million of optional services.
KBC had conducted profit improvement programmes for this client in the late 1990's. The company said the latest award is in addition to its current consulting engagement in the country, which is to assess the feasibility of investing in a new petrochemical complex.
Kevin Smith, KBC's Chief Commercial Officer, said, "Despite the current uncertainty in the oil markets, many of our clients continue to invest in the downstream oil sector and we look forward to helping them extract the best value from their downstream operations."
read more: http://www.rttnews.com/2551511/kbc-advanced-wins-3-year-8-5-mln-consulting-contract-from-middle-east-oil-firm.aspx
Friday, September 4, 2015
The Most Prestigious Consulting Firms In 2015
Vault.com, the career website, has released a ranking of the most prestigious consulting firms. A little like the Oscars, which turns to the movie industry to tally its votes, Vault’s list comes from a survey of consultants who are asked to rank their peers and competitors. Vault ran its survey for six weeks in March and April and gathered votes from 9,000 consultants at 65 North American firms.
Vault does a number of other consulting firm rankings (best firms for work/life balance, for benefits, for compensation) , where it gives questionnaires to people in management positions and those managers distribute the questionnaires to employees.
For the prestige ranking, consultants were not allowed to vote for their own firms, and they were asked only to rate firms with which they were familiar. They rated each firm on a scale of 1 (least prestigious) to 10. Vault has been running the survey for 14 years, and every year McKinsey has come out on top. In fact, the top four are unchanged from last year: McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bain and Deloitte Consulting.
Fifth place shifted this year. In 2014 Booz & Company was in that slot, but in the spring of last year, accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers bought it and gave it the infelicitous name “Strategy&.” Suddenly the firm lost its name recognition, says Vault’s Phil Stott, who’s in charge of the ranking. The Booz name was confusing even before the acquisition. In 1914 Booz & Company was founded and grew into government consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton (where Edward Snowden was doing contract work for the NSA before he leaked classified data). In 2008 its corporate consulting business, Booz & Company, spun off and in 2008, the Carlyle Group acquired it. Confused yet? In fifth place this year: Booz Allen Hamilton, up from sixth last year. Strategy& sank to 19th.
Why is prestige important in the consulting business? For job seekers, having McKinsey or Boston Consulting on a résumé can open up opportunities, as The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal would on a journalist’s CV. Also people simply care about prestige. Says Stott, “For many people, their career defines them,” says Stott. “They want to work for the most prestigious firms because of that.”
The list is dominated by huge firms with workforces in the thousands and multiple worldwide offices. An exception: the Bridgespan Group, located on Boston’s Copley Place. The firm has 158 employees and its focus is the nonprofit sector. It spun off from Bain in 1999 but kept its ties to the firm. Bain consultants can take a leave and work six to 12 months at Bridgespan.
read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2015/09/03/the-most-prestigious-consulting-firms-2/
Vault does a number of other consulting firm rankings (best firms for work/life balance, for benefits, for compensation) , where it gives questionnaires to people in management positions and those managers distribute the questionnaires to employees.
For the prestige ranking, consultants were not allowed to vote for their own firms, and they were asked only to rate firms with which they were familiar. They rated each firm on a scale of 1 (least prestigious) to 10. Vault has been running the survey for 14 years, and every year McKinsey has come out on top. In fact, the top four are unchanged from last year: McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bain and Deloitte Consulting.
Fifth place shifted this year. In 2014 Booz & Company was in that slot, but in the spring of last year, accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers bought it and gave it the infelicitous name “Strategy&.” Suddenly the firm lost its name recognition, says Vault’s Phil Stott, who’s in charge of the ranking. The Booz name was confusing even before the acquisition. In 1914 Booz & Company was founded and grew into government consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton (where Edward Snowden was doing contract work for the NSA before he leaked classified data). In 2008 its corporate consulting business, Booz & Company, spun off and in 2008, the Carlyle Group acquired it. Confused yet? In fifth place this year: Booz Allen Hamilton, up from sixth last year. Strategy& sank to 19th.
Why is prestige important in the consulting business? For job seekers, having McKinsey or Boston Consulting on a résumé can open up opportunities, as The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal would on a journalist’s CV. Also people simply care about prestige. Says Stott, “For many people, their career defines them,” says Stott. “They want to work for the most prestigious firms because of that.”
The list is dominated by huge firms with workforces in the thousands and multiple worldwide offices. An exception: the Bridgespan Group, located on Boston’s Copley Place. The firm has 158 employees and its focus is the nonprofit sector. It spun off from Bain in 1999 but kept its ties to the firm. Bain consultants can take a leave and work six to 12 months at Bridgespan.
read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2015/09/03/the-most-prestigious-consulting-firms-2/
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Wall Street's top cop just blacklisted a Washington consulting firm
Promontory Financial Group, the influential Washington, D.C. consulting firm, was fined $15 million by New York regulators for sanitizing a report on Standard Chartered's violation of US sanctions on Iran.
While it was investigating Standard Chartered, the New York State Department of Financial Services relied on reports produced by Promontory.
Those reports included testimony that "lacked credibility," the regulator has found. Standard Chartered was Promontory's client, the DFS explained, and so the consultant changed language in the report for the bank's benefit. From the report:
There are numerous instances where Promontory, at the direction of the Bank or its counsel, or at its own initiative, made changes to “soften” and “tone down” the language used in its reports, avoid additional questions from regulators, omit red flag terms or otherwise make the reports more favorable to the Bank.
In addition to the fine, the regulator is also banning Promontory from having access to confidential information.
Accordingly, the Superintendent has determined that the ends of justice and the public advantage would not be served by providing Promontory with access to confidential supervisory information. The Department intends to deny all such requests until further notice.
Promontory was founded by an ex-regulator in 2001 and has since grown to include dozens of people formerly employed by Washington agencies responsible for overseeing Wall Street.
Founder Eugene Ludwig has poached top names from bank boards and from D.C. regulators including the Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve to advise banks on regulatory matters, among other issues.
It's not the first time DFS has smacked down a consultant for not disclosing enough information. Deloitte LLP also paid a fine in 2013 after accusations it watered down a separate report on Standard Chartered and PricewaterhouseCoopers paid $25 million in fines after it reportedly sanitized documents involving Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-streets-top-cop-just-blacklisted-a-washington-consulting-firm-2015-8
While it was investigating Standard Chartered, the New York State Department of Financial Services relied on reports produced by Promontory.
Those reports included testimony that "lacked credibility," the regulator has found. Standard Chartered was Promontory's client, the DFS explained, and so the consultant changed language in the report for the bank's benefit. From the report:
There are numerous instances where Promontory, at the direction of the Bank or its counsel, or at its own initiative, made changes to “soften” and “tone down” the language used in its reports, avoid additional questions from regulators, omit red flag terms or otherwise make the reports more favorable to the Bank.
In addition to the fine, the regulator is also banning Promontory from having access to confidential information.
Accordingly, the Superintendent has determined that the ends of justice and the public advantage would not be served by providing Promontory with access to confidential supervisory information. The Department intends to deny all such requests until further notice.
Promontory was founded by an ex-regulator in 2001 and has since grown to include dozens of people formerly employed by Washington agencies responsible for overseeing Wall Street.
Founder Eugene Ludwig has poached top names from bank boards and from D.C. regulators including the Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve to advise banks on regulatory matters, among other issues.
It's not the first time DFS has smacked down a consultant for not disclosing enough information. Deloitte LLP also paid a fine in 2013 after accusations it watered down a separate report on Standard Chartered and PricewaterhouseCoopers paid $25 million in fines after it reportedly sanitized documents involving Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-streets-top-cop-just-blacklisted-a-washington-consulting-firm-2015-8
Friday, August 14, 2015
Three questions to ask about reverse mortgages
OKLAHOMA CITY – One retirement planning resource that has gained
interest in recent years is the reverse mortgage, which allows you to
convert part of a home’s equity into cash without paying additional
monthly bills. If you’re 62 or older and want money to pay off your
mortgage or to help pay for other expenses, you might consider a reverse
mortgage. The Oklahoma Society of CPAs offers three questions to answer
in order to decide if a reverse mortgage is right for you.
1. What is a reverse mortgage? A reverse mortgage is a type of home loan that allows you to convert a portion of your home’s equity into cash. Reverse mortgages take part of the home’s equity and converts it into payments — a type of advanced payment on home equity where money received is usually tax-free. Generally, the money doesn’t have to be repaid, as long as you live in the home. However, you or your estate must repay the loan when you move to a new home or pass away.
2. What kind of reverse mortgage can I get?
•Single-purpose reverse mortgages: This is the least expensive option and most homeowners with low or moderate income can qualify. The loan can only be used for one purpose, which is specified by the lender (i.e., home repairs). Single-purpose reverse mortgages are offered by some state and local government agencies, as well as non-profit organizations, but they’re not available everywhere. Check with your financial advisor to see what options are available in your state.
•Proprietary reverse mortgages: Also known as private company reverse mortgages, proprietary reverse mortgages are backed by companies that develop them, not federally insured and typically designed for borrowers with higher home values. If you own a higher-valued home, you may receive a higher loan advance and qualify for more funds with this type of loan.
•Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs): These are federally-insured and can be used for any purpose — from supplementing retirement income to covering daily living expenses, to preventing foreclosure on your home. These loans tend to be the most popular and are backed by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
3. Is a reverse mortgage right for me? There are pros and cons of a reverse mortgage, and only you can determine the right decision. Because there isn’t a specific income requirement on reverse mortgages, you are likely to pay higher fees and interest rates with these loans. Reverse mortgages can make leaving a home to an heir difficult because the loan must be repaid once you die. This usually means selling the home or using inheritance to pay off the loan. In many cases, a reverse mortgage isn’t worthwhile because of the drawbacks, but there are exceptions.
However, you might want to explore a reverse mortgage if you need cash for retirement expenses. These loans can help ease financial strains, especially if a large portion of money is locked into a home.
read more: http://www.claremoreprogress.com/news/three-questions-to-ask-about-reverse-mortgages/article_accbeac2-4201-11e5-ae46-a334f4305b36.html
1. What is a reverse mortgage? A reverse mortgage is a type of home loan that allows you to convert a portion of your home’s equity into cash. Reverse mortgages take part of the home’s equity and converts it into payments — a type of advanced payment on home equity where money received is usually tax-free. Generally, the money doesn’t have to be repaid, as long as you live in the home. However, you or your estate must repay the loan when you move to a new home or pass away.
2. What kind of reverse mortgage can I get?
•Single-purpose reverse mortgages: This is the least expensive option and most homeowners with low or moderate income can qualify. The loan can only be used for one purpose, which is specified by the lender (i.e., home repairs). Single-purpose reverse mortgages are offered by some state and local government agencies, as well as non-profit organizations, but they’re not available everywhere. Check with your financial advisor to see what options are available in your state.
•Proprietary reverse mortgages: Also known as private company reverse mortgages, proprietary reverse mortgages are backed by companies that develop them, not federally insured and typically designed for borrowers with higher home values. If you own a higher-valued home, you may receive a higher loan advance and qualify for more funds with this type of loan.
•Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs): These are federally-insured and can be used for any purpose — from supplementing retirement income to covering daily living expenses, to preventing foreclosure on your home. These loans tend to be the most popular and are backed by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
3. Is a reverse mortgage right for me? There are pros and cons of a reverse mortgage, and only you can determine the right decision. Because there isn’t a specific income requirement on reverse mortgages, you are likely to pay higher fees and interest rates with these loans. Reverse mortgages can make leaving a home to an heir difficult because the loan must be repaid once you die. This usually means selling the home or using inheritance to pay off the loan. In many cases, a reverse mortgage isn’t worthwhile because of the drawbacks, but there are exceptions.
However, you might want to explore a reverse mortgage if you need cash for retirement expenses. These loans can help ease financial strains, especially if a large portion of money is locked into a home.
read more: http://www.claremoreprogress.com/news/three-questions-to-ask-about-reverse-mortgages/article_accbeac2-4201-11e5-ae46-a334f4305b36.html
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Why Risky Borrowers Still Aren’t Getting Mortgages
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the
Obama administration over the past year have tried mightily to expand
mortgage access for riskier borrowers.
But despite those efforts, there’s little evidence so far of borrowers with weaker credit making a strong return.
On Tuesday and Thursday, Freddie and Fannie released their quarterly earnings reports. Both companies said that the credit scores of loans that they back are actually higher year-to-date than they were last year. Freddie, for example, says that this year through June the weighted average credit score of loans it purchased from lenders was 751–on a scale of 300 to 850–up from 744 in 2014.
To be sure, mortgage rates dropped early this year, causing a boom in refinance activity. Borrowers who are refinancing tend to have higher credit scores and more home equity than people buying homes, which obscures the picture.
The percentage of mortgage borrowers backed by Fannie and Freddie with low credit scores or a low down payment has also risen since mid-2013, even though it has dropped recently with a change in the companies’ business mix.
Still, with such an abundance of anecdotes from lenders who say they’re making it easier to get a mortgage, you would expect there to be a more significant change.
So what’s going on?
Some lenders are still afraid of getting sued or of taking another hit to their reputations.
On Thursday, Fannie Mae CEO Timothy J. Mayopoulos said that Fannie and the FHFA have made great strides toward working with lenders to ease their concerns about being hit with penalties by Fannie years after they’ve made a loan.
Problem is, Fannie isn’t the only entity that lenders have to answer to. In the past few years, lenders have been under scrutiny from the Justice Department, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and dozens of state attorneys general and lawmakers for alleged mistakes and abuses before, during and after the financial crisis. Some lenders think the scrutiny is overzealous and have pulled back from making certain loans as a result.
“When I meet with lenders, it’s very clear that there’s great concern about the legal and regulatory enforcement from any number of players at the federal and state level. It’s not something that we at Fannie Mae control,” Mr. Mayopoulos said. He said that the actions have had a “substantial effect on the mindsets of lenders, at least as they express it to me.”
Many borrowers with mortgage-eligible but poor credit don’t know they could qualify.
Even though some lenders have said that they’re expanding mortgage access, some borrowers have had it beaten into their heads over the last few years that it’s hard to get a mortgage. Those perceptions are hard to change, even if the reality has.
read more: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/08/10/why-risky-borrowers-still-arent-getting-mortgages/
But despite those efforts, there’s little evidence so far of borrowers with weaker credit making a strong return.
On Tuesday and Thursday, Freddie and Fannie released their quarterly earnings reports. Both companies said that the credit scores of loans that they back are actually higher year-to-date than they were last year. Freddie, for example, says that this year through June the weighted average credit score of loans it purchased from lenders was 751–on a scale of 300 to 850–up from 744 in 2014.
To be sure, mortgage rates dropped early this year, causing a boom in refinance activity. Borrowers who are refinancing tend to have higher credit scores and more home equity than people buying homes, which obscures the picture.
The percentage of mortgage borrowers backed by Fannie and Freddie with low credit scores or a low down payment has also risen since mid-2013, even though it has dropped recently with a change in the companies’ business mix.
Still, with such an abundance of anecdotes from lenders who say they’re making it easier to get a mortgage, you would expect there to be a more significant change.
So what’s going on?
Some lenders are still afraid of getting sued or of taking another hit to their reputations.
On Thursday, Fannie Mae CEO Timothy J. Mayopoulos said that Fannie and the FHFA have made great strides toward working with lenders to ease their concerns about being hit with penalties by Fannie years after they’ve made a loan.
Problem is, Fannie isn’t the only entity that lenders have to answer to. In the past few years, lenders have been under scrutiny from the Justice Department, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and dozens of state attorneys general and lawmakers for alleged mistakes and abuses before, during and after the financial crisis. Some lenders think the scrutiny is overzealous and have pulled back from making certain loans as a result.
“When I meet with lenders, it’s very clear that there’s great concern about the legal and regulatory enforcement from any number of players at the federal and state level. It’s not something that we at Fannie Mae control,” Mr. Mayopoulos said. He said that the actions have had a “substantial effect on the mindsets of lenders, at least as they express it to me.”
Many borrowers with mortgage-eligible but poor credit don’t know they could qualify.
Even though some lenders have said that they’re expanding mortgage access, some borrowers have had it beaten into their heads over the last few years that it’s hard to get a mortgage. Those perceptions are hard to change, even if the reality has.
read more: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/08/10/why-risky-borrowers-still-arent-getting-mortgages/
Thursday, August 6, 2015
N.Y. State Suspends Promontory From Some Consulting Work
New York’s banking regulator blocked consulting firm Promontory Financial Group from taking some assignments with banks the state oversees, setting up a potential showdown in court between the two sides.
The New York Department of Financial Services said Promontory, one of the financial industry’s most prominent consultants, was too close to its client, Standard Chartered PLC. The state regulators alleged the firm watered down its compliance reports on the U.K. bank. As a result, the department said it would indefinitely cut off Promontory’s access to confidential department information it needs for some assignments, thus suspending the firm from some future consulting work.
Promontory vowed to fight the department’s move and could file a request in court within days to put a hold on the action, people familiar with the matter said. “We will litigate the matter and defend our firm against this regulatory overreach,” Promontory said.
That would be a rare legal challenge to the authority of the state regulator, which has waged a high-profile battle against what it sees as conflicts of interest at consulting firms such as Promontory in their work for banks.
Promontory, based in Washington, was founded in 2001 by Eugene Ludwig, a former U.S. comptroller of the currency. The company positions itself as a “bank doctor” to help lenders with their compliance before they get in trouble with the government. The firm has hired a number of former regulators, including Mary Schapiro, the former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, who worked at Promontory in 2013-14 and is still vice chairman of the firm’s advisory board.
Standard Chartered has agreed to pay nearly $1 billion in multiple settlements in recent years with New York’s bank supervisor and other regulators over its handling of transactions that originated in countries such as Iran, Libya and Sudan that were subject to U.S. economic sanctions.
Promontory was hired before those settlements to prepare reports to regulators about some of the bank’s conduct, and the New York regulator said the firm earned $54.5 million in revenue as a result. According to the regulator, Promontory improperly altered and toned down its findings.
Both at the bank’s request and on its own, Promontory softened language and removed red flags that would have highlighted the bank’s misconduct, the state regulator said. In one case, the department said, the bank’s counsel asked for language in a Promontory report to be made “more bland.” In another, the bank’s counsel allegedly told Promontory to replace “potential violations” with a more ambiguous and innocuous phrase.
“[N]o question the bank is going to have a big problem in trying to present some of these figures…and our report can go a long way toward softening the blow…,” a Promontory senior analyst wrote in January 2011, according to the New York regulator.
see more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/n-y-state-to-suspend-promontory-from-some-consulting-work-1438611686
Monday, August 3, 2015
Italian consulting market grows marginally to 1.1 billion
The Italian consulting market has grown last year, yet with a mere 0.4%, bringing the market value of Italy’s management advisory landscape to just under €1.1 billion. The outlook for 2015 and beyond remains challenging.
Over the past years the consulting markets of Southern Europe countries, including Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, have been impacted severely by of the financial crisis. In Italy’s case, at the height of the crisis years (2008 – 2010) its consultancy industry contracted by an estimated 5% to 10% per year. By 2012, the Italian consulting industry was according to data from Source Information Services (Source) worth €1.11 billion, comparable to the size of the Spanish consultancy market.
On the back of a recovering economy Italy’s advisory business returned to growth in 2013, growing 0.6%, and new data from Source reveals that in 2014 the market has been able maintain the positive momentum, although growth continued to flat-line. Last year the industry grew by 0.4% to €1.06 billion, which equates to roughly one-fourth the size of the French consulting market and one-sixth the size of the UK consulting market. Growth is constrained primarily by the lacklustre state of the Italian economy, which has created “unhealthy buying conditions for clients” say the analysts, and spend on consulting is therefore suffering.
Industry and functional areas
Financial services is keeping the market afloat – the sector grew by 2.7% to €335 million, in a large part following the need for regulatory compliance due to both domestic legislation as well as European regulatory burden (e.g. ECB stress tests). The largest beneficiaries of the increase in financial services work have been the Big Four firms, which according to Source have a combined revenue of €412 million, making them the runaway leaders in terms of market share. Looking ahead, banking is forecasted to remain a growth driver, explains Danilo Viviani, President of Gruppo Coreconsulting, an Italian consulting firm with six offices across the country. “Banks had a lot of requirements to meet around regulation, which impacted demand for anything else. Italian banks have improved their stability now, so we think that demand will improve.”
From a functional perspective the financial management and risk service line experienced the best levels of growth in 2014, expanding 2% to €290 million. The analysts state that this was largely due to regulatory compliance work, and a growing interest in cyber-security as Italian clients recognise that they are not immune to threats from hackers. However, operational improvement, which is the biggest service line in Italy, suffered a poor year, shrinking by 2.4% to €301 million. This was due to the fact that cost reduction and process improvement opportunities have been largely exhausted, and large-scale transformation programmes are few and far between.
read more: http://www.consultancy.uk/news/2390/italian-consulting-market-grows-marginally-to-11-billion
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Why 3% Down Mortgages Alone Won't Revive Housing
In the world of mortgage financing there is stuff that's seen and stuff that's not. Lowering down payment requirements from 5% to 3% will surely help some prospective buyers. However, in a world with roughly 4% interest rates and average sales prices that remain 11% below their 2005 peak, down payments are not the only issue to solve.
The government-sponsored enterprises have begun to accept loans with 3% down, but they're not just any old 3% loan. The GSEs want something more, and that "something" is 18% mortgage insurance coverage.
Combine the 3% down payment and the 18% insurance requirement, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are following long-time industry standards by requiring at least a 20% cushion in case something goes wrong.
And while mortgage insurance is a burden, the bigger obstacle to focus on, according to a RealtyTrac home affordability analysis, is non-household debt.
In 92% of the counties analyzed, payments on a median-priced home required less than 43% of median household income, which is the maximum debt-to-income ratio allowed for a qualified mortgage by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Add in the typical student loan debt and car payment, and less than half — 48% — of U.S. housing markets are affordable for median-income earners using the 43% DTI.
Additionally, the standards for 3% loans is hardly straight-forward, meaning they are not for everyone.
For instance, Fannie Mae's MyCommunityMortgage program is only available if at least one borrower is a first-time home buyer who has completed pre-purchase education and counseling. The loan must have a fixed rate and be secured with a one-unit principal residence — meaning that duplexes, triplexes and quads are off limits. Manufactured housing is also ineligible. However, gifts can be used to bulk-up reserves, a new wrinkle. The program can also be used to refinance existing Fannie Mae loans and cash-out refinancing is also allowed.
read more: www.nationalmortgagenews.com/news/origination/why-3-down-mortgages-alone-wont-revive-housing-1057171-1.html
Thursday, July 23, 2015
County health official sent $500,000 to psychic palm reader for consulting, AG says
CALHOUN COUNTY, MI -- A Calhoun County health official is facing criminal charges after he allegedly sent more than $500,000 to a psychic palm reader for "health consulting" services.
Ervin Brinker, 68, of Delton, has been charged with two counts of Medicaid fraud conspiracy and one count of embezzlement by a public officer, Attorney General Bill Schuette announced in a Wednesday press release.
Brinker was the CEO of Summit Pointe in Battle Creek until he was terminated in February. Summit Pointe is a community mental health authority, established by the Calhoun County Board of Commissioners.
Summit Pointe records show a total of $510,000 was dispersed in two separate contracts to pay a "health care consultant" in Key West, Fla. between May 2011 and November 2012, according to the news release.
An investigation by the Attorney General's office revealed that Brinker allegedly sent the money to a Key West psychic palm reader and her husband. Brinker signed the fraudulent contracts without consulting other employees, the AG's office alleges.
The state of Michigan contracts with Summit Pointe to provide mental and behavioral health services to Medicaid consumers in the counties of Barry, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren.
Brinker was arraigned Wednesday before Judge Richard Ball in Lansings' 54B District Court. He was released on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond. He is next due in court on Aug. 12.
Summit Pointe issued a statement Wednesday in response to the charges.
"When our Board was informed of employee concerns about irregularities in contracting and expenditures, we engaged Fraser Trebilcock as independent counsel to conduct a careful, external investigation. What we found through that process increasingly disappointed and alarmed us as a Board, and among a series of other necessary actions, we contacted the appropriate authorities. We are very appreciative of the efforts of the Attorney General...and we are relieved that this difficult chapter is finally over," said Trae Allman, Summit Pointe Board Chair.
Friday, July 17, 2015
IBM Should Spin Off Its Legacy Business Of Installing Software And Consulting Services
Summary
- Installing software on premise and offering software as a service on the cloud are two incompatible businesses for IBM.
- A separation of the two helps IBM both salvage the declining legacy software business and further promote the rising cloud business.
- Having two different software operations is the natural solution, given that eventually software products will be different for on-site installation and on-the-cloud access.
- A spin off would benefit shareholders with fairer valuation on the legacy business and potentially some uncovered value for the rest of the IBM.
IBM (NYSE:IBM) has in the past been known for taking initiatives to adapt to changing technology and business environments, most notably the divestiture of its early PC operation and recent sale of its older server business. Over time, IBM has built itself into a more focused provider of software, consulting, system and data analytics. But within its narrower business realms, technological changes continue to bring new challenges. One that's in the forefront now is the shift in business software use from on-site installation with follow-on consulting services to off-site cloud subscription services via the Internet.
IBM is making strides with its own cloud offerings to tailor to the changing needs of many business clients, now preferring to purchase software with ease and flexibility on the cloud. However, the company continues to retain its old system of selling licensed-based software under this new business scheme with no real compatibility between the two. This will eventually come as a great concern for the company when its own history of many innovations at different times demands at last a similar action amid the current technological change.
see more: http://seekingalpha.com/article/3331135-ibm-should-spin-off-its-legacy-business-of-installing-software-and-consulting-services
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Five Signs You Really Should Be Consulting
There is a certain kind of person who can take so much of the
corporate or institutional world and no more. These people get signals
from the universe that tell them “That’s it – you’re done.”
They reach a critical point after which they can’t deal with the bureaucracy any more.
They have to strike out on their own as entrepreneurs. Many of these people become consultants.
Sometimes the cubicle becomes too small and the endless corporate rules pinch and chafe too much. You get tired of pushing a rock uphill and you say “I’m going to get a business card and start peddling my knowledge for anyone who needs it.”
There are big advantages to hanging out a consulting shingle. Right here is where you may have expected me to add “but it’s not for everybody!”
I don’t agree with that sentiment. I have seen dyed-in-the-wool corporate Joes and Sallies become consultants and thrive in the entrepreneurial world.
When you ask these new consultants “Why did you hesitate to go out on your own?” they say “Because I’d heard for years that consulting is not for everybody.”
That’s hogwash! A hundred years ago most of our ancestors were entrepreneurs. Some of them were farmers and some of them had small businesses.
see more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2015/07/15/five-signs-you-really-should-be-consulting/
They reach a critical point after which they can’t deal with the bureaucracy any more.
They have to strike out on their own as entrepreneurs. Many of these people become consultants.
Sometimes the cubicle becomes too small and the endless corporate rules pinch and chafe too much. You get tired of pushing a rock uphill and you say “I’m going to get a business card and start peddling my knowledge for anyone who needs it.”
There are big advantages to hanging out a consulting shingle. Right here is where you may have expected me to add “but it’s not for everybody!”
I don’t agree with that sentiment. I have seen dyed-in-the-wool corporate Joes and Sallies become consultants and thrive in the entrepreneurial world.
When you ask these new consultants “Why did you hesitate to go out on your own?” they say “Because I’d heard for years that consulting is not for everybody.”
That’s hogwash! A hundred years ago most of our ancestors were entrepreneurs. Some of them were farmers and some of them had small businesses.
see more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2015/07/15/five-signs-you-really-should-be-consulting/
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
HUD clarifies rule on reverse mortgages
The Department of Housing and Urban Development's recently issued a Mortgagee Letter covering non-borrowing spouses on home equity conversion mortgages (HECM's) with case numbers issued prior to Aug. 4, 2014, and it's good news for one non-borrowing spouse who had contacted Bankrate last year.
When the woman and her husband originally got a reverse mortgage, she wasn't 62, so she couldn't be named on the deed or the note if her husband was going to be able to get a reverse mortgage. She wrote me concerned about whether the couple would have to refinance to provide a way to keep her home should her husband die before her or need to move out of the home for health reasons.
Foreclosures shouldn't have happened
What she was worried about was the non-borrower spouse faced a financial crisis when the borrowing spouse died or hadn't lived in the home for at least 12 months. If the spouse didn't have the ability to pay off the mortgage at the lower of 95% of the appraised value of the house or the mortgage balance, they faced foreclosure.
In 2011, the courts established that HUD had violated the law by triggering payment of the loan while the non-borrowing spouse was still in the house. The case, championed by the AARP Foundation, applied to two specific cases, but HUD was instructed to provide clarification and guidance for all non-borrowing spouses.
New rules for old loans
After a couple of missteps and four years of waiting, Mortgagee Letter 2015-15, titled, Mortgagee Optional Election Assignment for Home Equity Conversion Mortgages(HECMs) with an Federal Housing Administration case number assigned prior to Aug. 4, 2014. To oversimplify, it allows the lender to pursue a Mortgagee Optional Election (MOE) Assignment, which assigns the loan to HUD on the death of the borrower versus the lender pursuing a foreclosure.
Obviously, an 18-page letter can't be distilled into a sentence, and non-borrowing spouses need to know what's required to stay in the home. Meeting with a real estate attorney to discuss the requirements can provide a level of comfort to the non-borrowing spouse that he or she won't be forced out of the home.
New reverse mortgages, with case numbers issued after Aug. 4, 2014, consider the age of the non-borrowing spouse when sizing up and qualifying for a reverse mortgage.
Read more: http://www.bankrate.com/financing/senior-living/hud-clarifies-rule-on-reverse-mortgages/
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