| | By Mick James
Last time we looked
at A.T. Kearney, the
venerable consulting
firm was entering a new
phase of its existence
after finally completing
the long-drawn out
process of buying itself
back from EDS.
Now, with that major
distraction out of the
way, the firm is
re-establishing it own
identity – and with some
success, according to
Mark Page, a vice
president of A.T.
Kearney in the UK.
“So far it’s gone
better than plan,” he
says. “But that may be
partly a tribute to our
conservative planning.”
What Kearney has seen
is an upsurge in
utilisation.
“People being busy
has a tremendous impact
on a consultancy firm –
when everybody’s busy
they might be working
more but it improves
morale no end,” he says.
“People are also not
tied up in internal
discussions or wondering
where they might be in
six months time –
that’s really kicked
in, in terms of the top
line.”
While Page
acknowledges that
Kearney may have
benefited from the
“tailwind” driving the
whole market at the
moment, he attributes
most of the upswing to
Kearney’s renewed focus
as an independent
entity.
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“We also focused hard
late last year on
improving our cost
structure to be in line
with or better than our
competitors,” he says.
Looking back at the
first months of
independence, Page says:
“We haven’t opened the
champagne yet, but it
all feels well on track.
So far this year we
haven’t had a single
person leave the UK
business, which is a
unique circumstance for
us.”
This is despite what
he describes as a “wave
of headhunting”
unleashed by the Big
Four. Kearney itself has
made some additions to
its roster which has
taken it to 185 partners
compared to 173 at the
time of the MBO.
Although the firm has
begun looking at more
junior recruitment,
activity has mainly been
to fill pressing gaps at
the senior level rather
than join the current
feeding frenzy for mid
to senior-level
consultants
“It’s always very
interesting to review
outside talent but it’s
not always easy for
people to make the
move,” says Page. “It’s
hard to judge how well
even a genuinely good
consultant will do in a
different environment.
We also feel that the
people who’ve made the
journey with us are the
ones we should stick
with and that we should | |
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| | only very selectively
promote over their
heads.”
In terms of market
positioning, Page feels
that Kearney is very
much in a “sweet spot”
where operations meet
strategy, and where
there is a gap between
the pure strategy houses
and the major process
and IT consultancies.
These issues are
firmly in the mind of
client top management,”
he says. “Say you need
to get growth going in
your mature countries –
is that because of
problems with your sales
force processes or your
distribution strategy –
you can no longer
distinguish between
strategy and
operations.”
Where Kearney rarely
ventures is in taking
over the management of
actual implementation.
“The vast majority of
clients don’t want us to
be doing the
implementation, that’s
their role,” he says.
“In experience what
clients want is the
ability to project
manage, to direct, to
coach them on the change
process.”
“Client pull” is also
bringing Kearney more
into ensuring the
success of outsourcing
and offshoring projects.
“Everybody knows they
need to make these
outsourcing deals work,
everybody recognises the
need to do much more
robust diagnostic work | |
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contract negotiation and
implementation. Clients
want someone who can
work at senior
management level, and
who understands how
their business works,
not just financially but
from a process point of
view.”
At the moment Kearney
is keeping itself busy
working mainly within
its existing client
base, although major new
wins have started to
come, notably in the US.
“Our clients all say
they are cutting their
consultancy budgets,”
says Page, “but we’ve
managed to maintain and
grow share. We’re always
pleased with our
performance in
competitive bids; we
have a higher win rate
than most.”
A key focus for
growth for the firm will
be extending its
existing footprint into
new geographies such as
the Middle East and
India.
“We need to grow to
remain competitive,”
says Page. “We opened in
India at the right time,
for example. If we
weren’t there today, our
ability to provide
service to our
multinational clients
who are now operating
there would be limited.”
As well as looking at
growing sectors like
healthcare Page also
says there’s a lot of
work to be done
cross-fertilising | |
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| | between sectors.
“It’s interesting to
see how you can move
from one to the other,”
he says.” For example,
from other government
work to healthcare –
there are natural flows
across the boundaries,
just as our media work
is important for
broadband telecoms
clients.”
The other side of the
growth coin is to have
attractive career
prospects for staff.
“It doesn’t have to
be 20% per cent per
annum to achieve that,”
says Page. “It can be
high single digits –
we’re not looking
suddenly to treble in
size.”
Kearney may not be
targeting explosive
growth, but that’s in
line with its sober
attitude to the market.
Nor is it going over the
top in terms of blowing
its own trumpet, but in
terms of timing and
market positioning it
seems to have got it
right. And if strategy
is the art of being in
the right place at the
right time, it deserves
to be seen as master of
the art.
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