| | By Mick James
By now everyone has
become reconciled to the
idea that there’s a
tough year ahead but how
tough is the big
question. In the private
sector, consultancy
budgets are very much
viewed as “discretionary
spend” but, at least in
the short-term,
companies are going to
need to do a lot of work
that they will struggle
to manage without
assistance. In the
public sector the issues
are even more complex.
On the one hand, the
Government clearly sees
public spending as
having an important role
in softening the effects
of the recession,
particularly where
projects can be brought
forward. On the other
hand, consultancy
spending is under
tighter scrutiny than
ever, both from within
government and also from
the opposition parties,
who have never shown the
slightest hesitation in
using consultancy
spending as a stick to
batter the Government
with.
It’s something that’s
concerned Kieran White
of White Consultants
Limited (WCL), a
consultancy majoring in
complex change,
performance improvement
and programme management
that does 90% of its
business with the public
sector.
“It all looks a bit
worrying, and we
wondered if we needed to | |
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| | change our story,” he
says. “But we’re OK with
stuff that’s already set
in stone.”
White believes that
in many ways a smaller
consultancy such as WCL,
with 31 full-time staff
and 14 associates, is
better placed than the
“big boys”.
“There’s been a move
on the public sector
from long-term projects
to short-term, 20 day
assignments,” he says.
“The bigger boys doing
the big projects, which
are a bit more visible,
a bit more emotional –
maybe they are more
vulnerable. That said,
I’ve yet to hear of any
of the big firms
announcing redundancy
rounds.”
Even though firms
like WCL are under
increasing scrutiny to
justify their use by the
public sector, White
believes this is good
for the industry as a
whole and that most
firms will come out of
it stronger.
Nor is he worried
about a catastrophic
collapse in spending if
the government changes.
“That’s nonsense –
the first thing that a
new government would do
is to introduce new
policies and if you’re
trying to make that
happen, you need
consultants round you,”
he says. In fact, this
is where WCL has
positioned a major part | |
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“The interesting
thing about central
government is that
they’re in the business
of change, always
putting out new thoughts
and trying to influence
new views,” he says.
“Every year there’s a
new challenge.”
But the firm has also
made significant headway
in the traditionally
more operational and
more intractable area of
local government.
“When we started,
local government offered
the most commercial
excitement, with the
thought that what you
did for one you could
replicate in 39 other
clients,” he says. “In
reality we haven’t seen
a lot of movement in
that area.”
Cost of sale is a big
issue with local
government, given its
geographical spread and
the large number of
local consultants.
“There are a lot of
ex-professionals who’ve
reinvented themselves as
consultants and are
going back at £350 a day
to the people they used
to work for,” he says.
“As a management
consultancy you do look
expensive, but it’s all
about the level of
support they get when
they use management
consultancy as opposed
to expert consultancy.
The big thing is the
team – you might only
have one person working
in your organisation but | |
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| | they have access to the
whole of that company.”
White says he is also
sometimes frustrated by
clients’ automatic
preference for whoever
has the most experience
of their particular
area.
“Particularly in
health and education,
it’s very hard to get
new people in,” he says.
“You have to do it on
the back of another team
member and as people
join consultancy to get
wider experience those
people aren’t always too
pleased.”
But broadening his
people’s experience is
important for White, as
it forms a vital part of
achieving the firm’s
long-term goals. The
firm has just got to the
stage where it can
recruit junior
consultants and give
them the attention they
deserve, and is
beginning to impose a
more structured approach
in a firm which
nevertheless still has a
very laissez-faire and
entrepreneurial culture.
”Our strategy is to
try and create a
management team that can
run the company so the
founding members can
take more of a back
seat,” he says. “That
means we’re going to
keep recruiting to our
plan, holding our nerve
and hoping that more and
more great people turn
up.” | |
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| | of its offerings,
delivery chain
efficiency.
“The biggest
challenge for people in
government is trying to
deliver change,
understanding what
levers you need to
pull,” says White. “The
government tends to
focus on infrastructure,
you see very little on
the demand side. When
you ask people in
government what their
delivery chain looks
like, and then map it
onto what people on the
front line say, there’s
an amazing mismatch.”
Demand-led change is
a major plank of WCL’s
proposition, which White
says is founded on “good
solid programme
management”, with a
strong emphasis on the
personal and
psychological issues.
“We have our own view
and our own methodology,
which is all about
engaging with as many
people as possible from
the outset,” he says.
WCL derives about
half its public sector
turnover from central
government, which White
sees as an unending
source of change.
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