Technology consulting

By Fiona Czerniawska.

You should never say never, but it’s tempting. For all their occasional moments of robotic behaviour (the cool, analytical brain, the steely gaze, the Terminator-like tendency to say, “I’ll be back”), the best strategy consultants aren’t machines but perceptive human beings capable of taking into account the emotional context that surrounds a difficult decision and its execution, as much as the facts.

But parts of the strategy consulting process could be automated.

By B.J. Richards.

The management consultant and the computer nerd. Hardly the same species, it’s almost as though they are of two different worlds. One is slick, well-manicured, and effortlessly works the room in a suit that cost more than my rent. The other spends long, solitary nights hopped up on Mountain Dew, furiously tapping away at a keyboard, clad in a Cheeto-stained hoodie.

Could they ever learn to get along, to join forces for the common good? Perhaps if the fate of the world hung in the balance. How about the fate of the Benelux consulting market?

Like consulting firms in most markets, those in the Benelux region are facing a dire shortage of consultants with the digital skills they need to grow. Unable to hire, acquire, or train techy consultants as quickly as the market demands, some are taking a drastic step: They’re admitting they won’t always be able to find the consulting skills and the digital skills they need in the same person, and they’re restructuring their talent strategies accordingly.

By Fiona Czerniawska.

The following forms part one of a series of articles that we are publishing based on our on-going research into how clients see consulting firms. To view the second article in this series, please click here.

Digital transformation represents a massive opportunity for technology consulting firms, but why does our research suggest, again and again, that these firms are missing out?

Our new suite of reports, brand perception summaries for individual consulting firms, suggests the answer lies in clients’ heads.

Let’s take IBM as an example. It has a predictably strong reputation for the quality of its technology consulting work: 66% of executives who know the firm by repute (what we call indirect clients) describe quality as high or very high (the average is 49%), and only a very small percentage say anything that is outright negative. Equally, because IBM is so well-known, there’s little difference when we look at actual clients (or what we call direct clients): everyone knows what IBM does, and does well.