The Boutique role in the Ecosystem
Management Consultant Michael Ryan explains why he believes that the rise of Interim & Boutique Consulting Firms will help the Big 4 Global Management Consulting Firms provided they build this 'threat' into their Strategy.
For background and by way of introduction I have been first of all an 'Inhouse' Project Manager at Whitbread and Argos for 10 years. Then a Management Consultant for Deloitte and Logica for 7 years and finally an independent, 'Interim' with Boutique offerings since 2012. It is a wide range of experiences from all sides of the Table which leads me to my conclusion above in the opening paragraph.
For the second time this week I have been stuck at the Airport scrolling through LinkedIn Articles and this time the theme was the Consulting Market. Paraphrasing, they can be neatly summed up as:
"The Big Firms are dinosaurs who never deliver what the Client wants, whilst relieving them of many ￡Ms, before making way to a competitor who does exactly that all over again."
"The Rise of the Interim is the saviour of mankind or at least the ability to deliver outcome focussed results."
"Boutiques are vastly more cost effective, hit the ground running and generally are the David in the Goliath arrangement."
All of the above Articles are buttressed with lists of arguments to support whichever side of the above argument you fell on. So pretty much I am right you are wrong, basically, each side championing their particular view of the Market with well thought out supporting debating points worthy of the Oxford Union.
Not one suggests a Collaboration...interesting. Now if you are the Client pay close attention because each one will go on site and predicate their success on you guessed it, your total collaboration...if they are late or overbudget its your fault.
Over the years I have hired Big Firm Consultants, been a Consultant, Program Assured Big Firm Consultants and done the same as appropriate with Interims. I have been the 'Client' and I have sat the other side of that chasm and attempted to sell you something. I have seen high performance in all 3 instances, Clients have great people, Big Firms have great people and some Interims are top notch. Equally the converse is true in each instance.
I came to Consulting late, I was 35 and cest la vie, had formed a style and opinion of my own at that stage so I was not destined to be a Big 4 Partner. However, I found the experience to be most insightful and I learned an awful lot. Don't believe me? How many Books, Magazines, Websites, Newsletters, Podcasts, Film making, Events, Conference speeches would I have created or delivered if they hadn't taught me something?
So I always 'kind of make a but face' when someone starts listing the demerits of Big Firms, listing the 'failures' and saying their finished and the games up. If that was the case and The Interim was winning then a particular FTSE level transformation role last week, which shall remain nameless, would not have attracted 1K applicants. That is an awful lot of Interims currently perched on the world famous 'Bench'. Now I do believe that Recruitment Firms contribute massively to the problem but that is another Article.
I suspect that as this year has seen the worst Interim Market in living memory that maybe there is a bit of dysfunction here to and Clients are not dumping the Big Firms and rushing out to the currently available top class 1K and going 'oi mate come in here and fix this will you please? As I said I will come back to this topic.
What is a Boutique Firm anyway? What is the criteria? Is it 2, 5, 10 or more Associates. They are always Associates as most people can't scale a Consulting offering unless you are a Bank Manager. Congrats and hat tip to those who have by the way. Kudos.
So let us say for the purposes of this conversation that an Interim (1) or a Boutique (>1 but <20) is an awful lot smaller in scale and capability than a Big Firm. I think anything greater than that, where you actually have your Consultants on the payroll, has probably gone beyond Boutique but I am happy to be corrected.
In the Blue corner we now have the Big Firm and in the Red Corner we have the Boutique and in the middle beset by marketing blurb, just looking for a result, we have the Client.
The Big Firms will reinvent themselves and correct their current difficulties and still be here when you are I are retired. Why, because the scale they have in the first place equips them to respond to challenges better than anyone else. They may go through a cultural or leadership evolution whilst that happens (think Man Utd) but they will accomplish it. Why? Because 1K Interims can't afford to sit on the Bench indefinitely and then the Market will have a correction as the Economist say.
In my experience the Businesses that get the best out of Big Firms deploy former Big 4 Consultants as Gamekeepers. If you don't have that level of experience facing off to any large Consultancy they will run rings around you and yes you will be late and over budget, but that I am really sorry to tell you, is your own...
Don't expect to 'manage' experienced, well drilled Consulting teams with anything less than a Director of your own Business and then preferably one who has sat the other side of the Table. As you are not going to learn how to play this particular game over night and you will not successfully learn it on the job so go find someone who knows how to play it and you will get your moneys worth. Program Assurance is the future, click here for more:
So what is in it for the Big Firm I hear you ask?
Survival? (No - Goliath doesn't need David)
Market Share? (Yes)
Collaboration? (The real win I think, if you get David to advise Goliath)
They could continue to plough their own furrow but they possess the scale, expertise and experience that for all the blurb the smaller Firms cannot call upon across a wide client base. They do however require a Bridge to the Client to enable this scale and expertise to be most effectively deployed.
There is only one major failing of a Big Firm that I have seen since I worked for one, worked later with several, Program Assured several more for Clients and have been supported by as the Client and that is their Consultants lack direct operational experience. They will never work in or manage the operational Finance teams and this is a blind spot in their ability to more effectively transform them.
In their shoes I would look at the Interim / Boutique 'threat' as an opportunity to address that and many more high value collaboration opportunities. (Reach out for the list)
From a Client perspective and this part is CRUCIAL, so pin it on the whiteboard in work, never deploy only one Consultancy/Interim/Boutique on any major program. You need a second opinion.
It has been an interesting week all round and it is the anniversary of leading my home town into the Guinness Book of Records so I shall remember this as Ireland beat England at the Aviva tonight.
Enjoy the game folks,
Cheers,