| | By Mick James
In many ways, David
Bailey, the incoming MCA
president, has the ideal
CV for the job. Formerly
at Andersen Consulting,
the financial services
expert left to co-found
his own consultancy,
Impact Plus, and
therefore has experience
of both ends of the
spectrum of firms that
make up the MCA.
He’s also taking over
the presidency when the
MCA is on a roll:
“The MCA has gone
from strength to
strength recently, we’re
now just short of 60
members,” he says. “If
you go back three years
there were less than
40.”
Bailey is
particularly proud that
this increase carried on
even during the
difficult times at the
beginning of the decade:
“What really
attracted people was
that the MCA got the
value proposition
sorted,” he says. “It’s
no longer a nice,
networking, gentleman’s
club. We’re far more the
voice of the industry,
lobbying in Whitehall
and Brussels and to
industry.”
The increase in MCA
membership means the
association now
represents about 60-65 | |
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| | internationally-branded
firms are viable once
more, and the MCA can
justifiably claim to
broadly reflect the
make-up of the industry
in terms of size. The
major strategy firms
remain, as ever, major
hold-outs, but this may
change as the MCA
continues to grow.
Building an
organisation like the
MCA requires a
combination of sticks
and carrots, and the MCA
has not only a strong
set of standards to hold
members to, but a number
of benefits to offer
them.
“We have a group
which makes sure we
deliver value to
members,” says Bailey.
“One way we do this is
to supply them with ever
more information, such
as the salary survey
which comes out at the
end of March each year.
With 60 firms supplying
data of salaries at
different grades it’s
easy to work out where
you are and what
salaries you need to be
offering. At Impact Plus
we worked out that that
report alone was worth
about £5000 to us.”
The MCA also runs a
referral service:
“We get quite a lot
of requests from people
out there who want some | |
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| | consultancy advice and
sometimes these are from
very big firms,” says
Bailey. These requests
are hand-sifted by
senior MCA staff to
create shortlists which
not only answer the
client’s needs but give
a fair crack of the whip
to the membership.
It may not be a major
route to market, but
it’s an example of the
way the MCA has worked
down the years to reach
out to clients as well.
“Developing the
client environment is
one of our major
priorities this year,”
says Bailey. By this he
means not only building
on initiatives such as
supplying advice on best
practice in employing
consultants, but also
reaching out to clients
to help the MCA assess
the capabilities of its
membership.
“We want to audit
firms, but the question
is what to audit them
against?” says Bailey.
“If you want to audit
projects, you have to
get clients’ cooperation
as well.”
This approach already
forms the basis of the
MCA’s annual best
management practice
awards, which have
always been seen as a
joint award to both
consultant and client.
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Perhaps the biggest
change in the MCA in
recent years has been
the steady growth of its
influence in the
“corridors of power”.
Areas where the MCA
has had a major voice
include the development
of the controversial EU
Services Directive, and
also speaking up for
consultancy in the
development of the
government’s S-Cat
procurement scheme.
“We’ve put a lot of
time and effort into
locking into the right
places in Whitehall,”
says Bailey. “That gives
you credibility and in
turn people are more and
more interested in what
you have to say. We’ve
also put a lot of effort
and focus into looking
at the objectives of the
MCA. It used to be
possible for people to
ignore us--now we’re
invited to the table to
debate things alongside
the CBI.”
All views expressed
in this article are
those of Mick James and
do not necessarily
reflect the views of
Top-Consultant.com and
Consulting-Times.com
Contact Mick with
your views or
suggestions at:
mick.james@top-consultan
t.com | |
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| | per cent of the industry
which Bailey believes
may be nearing the
“jumping-off point”:
“It’s not the case
that if you’re not in
the club you’ve got a
problem, but I can see
one day that clients
might ask if you are a
member of the MCA and if
not, why not,” he says.
“Once we get more than
70 per cent of the
industry people will
really have to sit up
and take notice.”
The key to the MCA’s
growth has come from
attracting smaller and
medium sized firms.
Given that the
consultancy industry has
generally been polarised
between a few very large
firms and a large number
of much smaller firms,
there may in the past
have been fears that the
association was simply
the big boys’ club. Not
only has the MCA
successfully countered
this in its recruitment
drive, the industry
itself has changed. For
the time being at least,
medium sized, | |
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