| | By Mick James
Ever since the big
accounting firms moved
into the advisory space
there’s been debate about
large corporate entities
which launch into the
consultancy market. There
seem to be two dangers:
one that the consultants
will be perceived as
“pre-sales”, steering
clients towards the main
product or service. The
other is that the
consultancy will lead a
semi-detached life,
raising questions about
whether it should be in
the portfolio at all.
There is a third way:
that the organisation
becomes consultancy-led,
where the consultancy arm
is neither servant nor
side-line, but actually
begins to direct the
focus of the organisation
based on a deeper
understanding of the
business needs of
customers. This
necessitates a more
radical transformation of
the business than simply
hiring a few consultants
but the potential rewards
are enormous.
One organisation that
seems to be following
this path is BT. I’ve
long seen BT as one of
the sleeping giants of
consultancy. As a large
firm that owned the
medium-sized, but
well-respected
consultancy Syntegra, BT
could be seen as falling
into the “semi-detached”
category. But there was
also a wealth of
consulting resource
within the main BT
organisation, albeit
fragmented – a cursory
inspection of the
organisational chart | |
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| | revealed at least six
offerings, and that was
only those parts of the
business that actively
branded themselves as
consultancy.
Now consultancy is
emerging from the shadows
at BT as the company not
only unites all its
offerings under the BT
banner but embarks on an
ambitious growth
programme. What’s
particularly interesting
is how this new force
interacts with the rest
of BT. Graham Hughes,
technical design
authority within BT’s
Global Services, expands
on the point: “The
changing face of BT means
that there’s more of a
focus on doing what’s
right for the customer
rather than taking an
account led or
research-based approach.
It’s no longer about
building out a network
and expecting customers
to come and buy. Most
research is now based on
customer requests.”
This is also
expressing itself in
partnerships such as the
work BT is doing with HP
at the Bank of Ireland,
jointly developing
propositions for the
market. Consultancy will
thus be at the forefront
of transforming the
perception of BT from
being a traditional,
consumer-focused telecoms
company into a leading
provider of business
solutions.
Emmanuelle Roger was a
consultant with Syntegra
before it was integrated
into the Global Services
division, and now has
responsibility for the
consulting career | |
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| | development programme at
BT. She explains how the
changes have impacted on
consultants pursuing a
career within BT:
“Syntegra was always a
consulting led and
customer-focused
organisation but we’re
even more customer
focused now.” While
Syntegra formerly went to
market with its own sales
force, now BT’s
consultancy offering is
part of a flexible
resource pool without a
dedicated channel to
market.
“For us it’s an
opportunity to develop
new relationships with
new people, and pursue
bigger opportunities such
as the recent health
contracts,” she says.
“The ultimate goal for
consultancy is to work at
the thought leadership
level, to tell clients
what they need to do to
keep ahead.”
This means that
consultants at BT are
working in a much broader
context than ever before:
“Consultancy does take a
number of forms,” says
Beverley Tighe, a
consultant with BT’s
Global Services division.
“One of the benefits of
working at BT is variety:
people in BT need to be
flexible and adaptable –
we need people who can
turn their hands to
different roles.”
The transformation of
BT can be seen most
clearly in the area of
graduate recruitment.
There’s tremendous growth
taking place in
professional services
roles including
management consultancy,
project management, | |
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| | technical design and
other consultancy
offerings. These services
will now provide nearly
half of all the new
graduate roles at BT for
2005/2006, illustrating
just how much resource is
being invested in the
growth of the consulting
business. With strategic
partners such as
Microsoft and Vodafone,
major contract wins and
the intention to grow
globally through
acquisition, BT can now
go head to head with
established consulting
brands in its efforts to
attract the best new
graduates.
In terms of career
development, BT always
had an impressive record
as a training
organisation – and that
is carried through to its
career development
programme for
consultants. This is a
highly structured,
18-month programme for
both external and
internal candidates which
aims to equip them with
all the basic consultancy
skills during three
phases of on the job
learning – BT promises
all its graduate recruits
“a real job from day
one”.
“If recruits don’t
have specific consultancy
experience it doesn’t put
us off,” says Jo Stamp,
who started as a
recruitment specialist
with the old Syntegra
business but has since
moved into a consultancy
role with BT.
“In fact it can be an
advantage: someone who’d
done their graduate
training in another area
but had all the core | |
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| | qualities – networking,
resilience,
communications skills –
might perhaps be a little
bit more rounded than
someone who just wanted
to be a consultant.”
Can a telecoms firm
become a global force in
consultancy? I can
imagine people asking the
same question about
accountancy firms a
couple of decades ago.
When the audit firms made
their play they succeeded
because they were close
to what was then the
“nervous system” of the
organisation, the rapidly
automating finance
system.
Haven’t communications
networks usurped that
role? I’m very excited by
the idea that a
high-level conversation
about a business issue in
a bank could directly
lead to a group of
boffins developing, say a
new approach to network
security. I often advise
people who are
considering a first move
into consultancy to look
beyond the usual suspects
and check out firms like
BT who can combine the
security of a large
organisation with the
opportunity of a growing
consultancy. I think
there are three things to
look for, which I might
as well express as a TLA
– the ABC of ambition,
brand and clients – at
the moment BT seems
well-placed on all three
counts and is certainly a
consultancy to watch out
for in 2006 and beyond.
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