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/

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

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

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

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