| | By Mick James
Somewhere in the
mounds of free stuff
I've acquired down the
years from the IT and
consultancy industry is
a cuddly fish given to
me by Atos Consulting. I
don't normally spend too
much time puzzling on
the significance of
these things, otherwise
I'd still be trying to
work out the teddy bear
Cognos gave me 20 years
ago. But after a recent
conversation with Paula
Sussex, the new head of
Atos Consulting, I found
myself quite
independently thinking
of fish.
Not the specific Atos
fish (since you ask,
it's a "surgeon fish"
which "represents the
qualities and values of
Atos Origin: agility,
efficiency, precision,
and responsiveness") but
more the pilot fish,
those small fish that
somehow manage to
co-exist with great big
sharks and the like,
never getting eaten by
them but apparently
living in a symbiotic
relationship to the
benefit of both.
It's an apt metaphor,
I think, for the
position of consulting
groups within larger IT
and outsourcing
operations. How they
maintain their identity,
and create value on both
sides, is an endless
source of fascination
for me.
Sussex, who took over
in January, is clear
that her strategy | |
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| | close an opportunity or
we can help define it,"
says Sussex. "Where
others fail is that they
don't have the right mix
– you can't add value
unless you take in the
refreshed market
knowledge that comes
from consultancy work."
Getting this mix
right requires some
"guile and cunning" but
is really about
portfolio optimisation,
says Sussex.
"My CEO is adamant
that when we pitch
consultancy should be in
the mix," she says. "Our
business is on such a
scale that we are often
having CxO-level
discussions and I know
my consultants can make
all the difference in so
many situations."
This mixture of work
also keeps the
consultants "fresh and
sharp".
"After five years of
high-end consulting,
people are often very
happy to work on a scale
client," she says. "They
just want fulfilling
work in a team that's
going somewhere."
This might mean that
consultants are working
under the direction of
leaders from the
integration or
outsourcing side of the
business. This could be
a tricky mix in some
organisations, but
according to Sussex, it
works because of the
pragmatic,
non-hierarchical culture
that permeates Atos.
"The defining thing | |
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| | about the Atos culture
is that we are nicer
people to do business
with," she says. "People
rarely talk about it
because it can sound a
bit odd, but we go out
as one team, with an
open-minded view. The
'nice culture' means
people of very different
backgrounds blend really
well."
This ability to work
across the different
internal cultures is
what Sussex believes
will take Atos
Consulting from being
seen as a "KPMG-lite"
and allow it to build
presence in new areas by
working more closely
with the main business.
Alignment with systems
integration projects is
an obvious route and
Sussex is hoping to do
some "exciting ERP work"
in the near future, as
well as build on the
firm’s strength in the
public sector.
"I'd also like to do
something with
sustainability, where we
have a very strong
position and which sits
well with our other
service lines," says
Sussex. "A lot of niche
players have picked it
up but we are involved
in it up and down the
value chain."
Another area that
Sussex hopes to
capitalise on is Atos'
longstanding involvement
as systems integrator
for the Olympic Games.
"The work we do for
the Olympics permeates
everything we do," she | |
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| | says. "We're all getting
very excited about
Beijing and we're very
quickly building a
consultancy presence in
China."
Despite the current
economic turmoil, Sussex
is confident that
consulting can grow this
year, and is hoping to
attract new people who
are "early in their
careers but come with a
point of view".
"The market is
definitely there if you
listen carefully and
follow through – that's
something that
consultants are not
always good at," she
says.
Atos will be helped
by this, Sussex thinks,
in that it is not a
company that "noisily"
markets itself.
"We're not much of a
bragging culture, we're
not a shouting culture,"
she says. "We're quietly
delighted in our
customer satisfaction."
If 2008 goes
according to plan, it
will be a year of
expansion and
consolidation for Atos
Consulting, which will
bring it much more into
head-on competition, and
for higher stakes, with
arguably brasher and
more noisily aggressive
competitors. It will be
interesting to see how
clients react to this
intriguing alternative
voice in consultancy.
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