| As the “war for talent” engulfs the consultancy industry, Mick James talks to Vipul Kapadia, director and co-founder of Qedis, to find out how smaller firms are arming themselves for the battle. |
| A case of David and Goliath? |
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| | By Mick James
One of the themes we
come back to constantly
in Top-Consultant is the
growth of
highly-focused, start-up
consultancies. Over the
past two years these
ambitious young firms
have benefited hugely
from the large numbers
of experienced
consultants “in the
channel” who had either
left big firms or were
overdue a job change.
With a general boom
in consulting and the
entry or re-entry of so
many players in the
market things are not so
easy, and a war for
talent seems to be
breaking out,
particularly in the
middle layers. So how
are the smaller firms
reacting?
A while back we
talked to Qedis, a
start-up formed by
ex-Arthur Andersen
consultants. Last time
we spoke, the firm had
already made the
decision to move outside
the “gene pool” of
contacts and personal
networks and also to not
only hire experienced
consultants but grow its
own.
Director and
co-founder Vipul
Kapadia, agrees that
changing conditions have
“put a constraint back | |
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| | whose other members are
North Highland in
America and French
consultancy Oresys.
Kapadia is particularly
proud of the fact that
Qedis has been selected
as the UK member firm
although it is much
smaller than the other
two.
“They always wanted
at least 100-strong
firms,” he said. “They
looked for other
candidates but they
couldn’t work with them
– they couldn’t get
along. For us, it gives
us opportunities from US
companies, and also the
ability to deliver
international projects
for our existing
clients.”
As we have noted
before, Qedis is an
organisation with a
strong focus on its
internal culture, and
growth opportunities are
also evaluated from an
internal viewpoint.
“Joining an
international network
means more travel and
more interesting work
for people,” says
Kapadia. “We want them
to be looking at their
careers from the
perspective of the next
10 years rather than the
next two or three.”
One of the things
that Kapadia believes
distinguishes Qedis from | |
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| | the big consultancy
firms is its efforts to
make its people more
“community-minded”.
“We’ve also
established an associate
network of very capable
people,” he says. “They
also bring with them
their expertise, so your
own folk can learn from
them – it’s good for
them to be in the
presence of people who
are a bit more
experienced.”
While developing its
staff is key for Qedis,
the firm wants to avoid
creating an “up-or-out”
culture.
“When you’re trying
to build a consulting
organisation with young
people you’ve got to
give them a development
path that works for
them,” he says. “It’s
not about having rigid
career paths – people
move at different speeds
and you have to
recognise people for
their qualities.”
Kapadia foresees a
rosy future for Qedis,
particularly as its
focus on Chief
Information Officers as
a key locus for change
in organisations has
been endorsed by the
wider consulting
industry.
“Two years ago when
we said we would focus
on the CIO everyone | |
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| | thought we were crazy,”
he said. “Now everyone
is focusing on the CIO –
it’s a legitimate place
to be.”
This doesn’t make
Qedis an IT consultancy,
more one that delivers
programmes with a
“technology twist”,
Kapadia says.
“Technology is the
foundation of the modern
enterprise, but
technology can become an
inhibitor of change.
Technology platforms are
now so complex that
whenever you change
anything the technical
implications are
horrendous – it stops
the organisation from
innovating.”
It’s encouraging to
see small consultancies
like Qedis not only
offering alternative
career paths for
consultants but also
helping to refresh
industry thinking. While
big firms always pay
lip-service to the need
for constant renewal and
change, it’s always
helpful for these
lumbering dinosaurs to
have a few mammals on
tap ready to steal their
eggs.
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| | in the market” but they
haven’t stopped the firm
from reaching its
current size of six
directors and
approaching 40 staff.
Kapadia and his
colleagues have long
been aware that as the
firm reached certain
milestones further
growth would be a
challenge.
“Now we’ve reached
the “business as usual”
stage, we’re looking at
ways to make it more
sustainable,” he says.
“We’re looking for the
next generation of
leaders to build on the
foundation of what we’ve
done. We believe it’s
always good to have some
healthy paranoia to give
ourselves the chance of
getting to the next
level.”
Qedis is now looking
at new vectors for
growth, one of the key
ones being building out
its international
network. Its chosen path
has been to join
Highland, an
international network | |
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