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Accenture reports record third quarter results on consulting comeback     Accenture said its quarterly net revenues were the highest for any quarter in the company's history, while its quarterly profit more than doubled, due in part to an increase in consulting work and a one-time gain.    For the third quarter of fiscal 2005, ended May 31, 2005, net revenues rose 11 percent to $4.08 billion.    The company reported     its highest-ever net revenues from both consulting and outsourcing and achieved US dollar growth across all three of its geographic regions and all five of its operating groups.    Consulting net revenues were $2.50 billion, or 61 percent of net revenues, an increase of 7 percent in US dollars and 4 percent in local currency over     the third quarter last year. Year-to-date, consulting net revenues were $7.18 billion, an increase of 11 percent over the same period last year.    Outsourcing accounted for $1.58 billion, or 39 percent of net revenues, an increase of 16 percent in US dollars over the same period last year.    However, in new bookings consulting     showed a bigger increase than outsourcing. New bookings totalled $3.96 billion, with consulting increasing 18 percent year-over-year to $2.53 billion and outsourcing increasing 15 percent year-over-year to $1.43 billion.    "Our pipeline continues to expand, and we are seeing solid momentum in all business metrics," William Green, Accenture's CEO, said.     "Looking ahead, we are confident that we will achieve our financial objectives for the year," he added.    For the fourth quarter, Accenture expects net revenues of $3.80 billion to $3.90 billion and net earnings per share to be 34 cents to 37 cents, largely in line with analysts' views.

How to get a slice of the online action – according to McKinsey     We all know that the dotcom boom is back; Google's market cap tops $80bn while simultaneously putting the once mighty TV advertising business into decline.    Radio and press advertising are being hammered. Dotcom acquisitions are back in vogue and hardly a quarter goes by without some announcement about how internet retailers’ sales are booming.    But can we really believe it?    Well now it's been finally confirmed by the ultimate authority – McKinsey. McKinsey says that U.S. Internet retailing has grown in   US Retailers' Online Sales ($bn)   31 63 95 1998 8 2004 90 Source: McKinsey   working online,” McKinsey’s research yielded several lessons:    Firstly, as ever, a lot depends on your margin. If it’s thin then you have to be an “efficiency machine” as McKinsey calls it. Products such as books, CDs and second hand items fall into this category. The downside of this business is that you have to invest in fixed cost items such as brand marketing, innovative technology and automated processes to survive, which necessitates a high annual turnover - $750m – to break even.    Alternatively, if you have the margin, then     you can become a “Niche leader,” as McKinsey calls it. A niche leader has the margin to build product specific web sites and invest in customer specific marketing programs. The result is a much better sales pitch to these customer segments in comparison to the efficiency sites at the expense of a much higher cost per sale.    If you also have a store then another option becomes available. You can become a “Traffic driver”. These are the companies that use their web site to drive traffic to their stores. Although they sell     product over the web, these companies primary objective is to get customers to their sites where impromptu buying will drive up their total yield on the marketing spend.    Of course with every rule there is an exception and McKinsey highlights that some firms have been able to become “Triple plays”. These firms sell both high margin and low margin product both on and off line. However, their Web sites still have a unique role in providing accessibility, sku or product information, and updates about special pricing and events.     just seven years from $8 billion to $90 billion. However what’s really interesting is that the mighty consulting firm goes on to tell us how we or our clients can get a slice of the action.    In its study, “Retailing: What's

PA Makes Technology Edge Pay     For most consulting firms a technology practice would be an expensive luxury that would struggle to perform in a world dominated by big systems integration.    Being paid by clients to develop intellectual property, which you can then capitalise through ventures, is for most firms just a dream.    Not for PA Consulting it would appear.    The whole world woke up to PA’s R&D focus when it sold its drug delivery technology company Meridica, to Pfizer last year for $125m. However it now seems that this was no     one off. In recent months, PA has made a lot more money out of its technology. First of all came the announcement that its Ubinetics business was generating revenues of £24m. Then came the news that they were selling its Test and Measurement division for £46m and finally we learnt last month that they are billing the British Government £35.5k a day to advise on the technology behind ID cards. Is PA really, as it believes, in the “sweet spot of strategy and business consulting” where they know enough about technology to     create solutions that really work?    Part of the answer lies in the decision made in the last century to start PA Ventures. This policy change put them gave them a vehicle through which they could raise capital and hire staff to capitalise on the firms IP. However it also, over time, trained the senior management in the difficult art of venture building.    Another part of the answer lies in the firm’s choice of project. By focussing on niche markets where new technologies can deliver against unmet needs, the company is able to play     to its strengths: brain power, flexibility and deep understanding of technology rather than its weakness available capital.    One example of how this process works is in the life sciences area, where PA has taken its own line on the use of RFID chips and barcodes to counter drug counterfeiting. Rather than attempt to use RFID to track the entire supply chain, PA has created a system where drugs are given unique identifiers and registered with a PA database. Then these drugs are dispensed, in the pharmacy or     hospital, and scanned using PA-designed technology, to confirm their authenticity. This system also facilitates other opportunities such as manufacture recalls or avoidance of dispensing errors. The technology is being developed by a venture subsidiary, Aegate.    PA has clearly made technology pay and should be interesting for any consultant looking to combine their technological prowess with a bit of business venturing.

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