| | By Mick James
One of the big
debates in consultancy
has been the role of the
consultant within larger
organisations that have
bigger fish to
fry—normally in the
shape of big integration
or outsourcing deals.
Over the past year I’ve
met many consultants who
have left the bigger
consultancies because
they felt their role was
being redefined as
“pre-sales”.
Of course, the other
side of the coin is the
massive effect that
consultants can have in
the selling, structuring
and successful delivery
of just such deals.
Xansa, for example, is
celebrating a year of
remarkable success in
the public sector—in
2005 sales were up by
31%—this success has
been underpinned by a
45-string consultancy
team.
Now director of
government consultancy
Simon Cole wants to
build on this success by
adding another 50
consultants—mainly in
senior roles—to his team
in 2006.
“Consultants fall
into two groups, those
that just want to do a
good job as a
consultant, and those
that want a selling
role,” he says. “I want | |
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| | change programme.
Xansa’s public sector
thrust began with the
LSC and its other
flagship client, the
Office of National
Statistics. Now it is
expanding into other
government departments,
and also has a dedicated
team focused on local
government. Its joint
venture with the
National Health Service,
Shared Business
Services, has also gone
from strength to
strength, recently
signing up its 100th
trust for an initiative
that was originally
envisaged to cover
between 15 and 18.
Shared services—in HR
and financial
management—has proved to
be the “hot button” that
is opening doors for
Xansa in government.
”We’re using the NHS
venture as a model to
dangle in front of
government departments
and local authorities,”
says Coles. “It’s an
idea whose time has
come. Local authorities
and government
departments have come to
a point where they can’t
sweat their assets any
more and they have to do
something different.”
Coles believes that
while it may never be
politically acceptable
for government services
to go down the full | |
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| | outsourcing and
offshoring route,
attitudes are changing:
“A year ago people
would have said ‘don’t
even think about it’,
now they are saying ‘put
it in your proposal’,”
says Coles. “But
ultimately no
politician’s going to
export jobs.”
Xansa’s move into
government has been
freed by a willingness
on the client side to
consider suppliers
beyond the “usual
suspects” who have
dominated government
consultancy for so long.
”We’ve definitely
been helped by the
framework agreements,”
he says. “There’s
definitely been a very
real drive to create
space for
small-to-medium size
organisations. Coles
believes this has also
been a welcome change
for clients.
“People feel
comfortable with us:
we’re nice chaps to do
business with,” says
Coles, whose background
is with OSI Group, the
management support
consultancy that was
acquired as part of the
formation of Xansa.
“Management support,
that’s what Xansa does,”
he says.
While Xansa will
typically try to capture | |
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| | both the high-end and
the implementation work,
Coles acknowledges that
clients are now much
more assertive and
creative in the way they
structure projects: “The
buyers are much more
savvy, they’re asking
why aren’t you
partnering, are you sure
you have the strength in
depth?”. Xansa already
has successful
partnerships in place
with CSC and IBM. “Some
of the things clients
are asking for are so
large and diverse that
you’ve no option but to
partner,” says Coles.
He has also seen the
trend towards segmenting
consultancy projects.
“Increasingly the
consultant that gets
involved in the upfront
work can’t be involved
in delivering it,” he
says. “That’s
disappointing for us
because that’s what
we’re selling.”
However, he believes
that there is still a
strong opportunity for
consultants who want to
not just take an
entrepreneurial role but
see projects through to
completion.
“I think we’re
uniquely placed with
respect to shared
services,” he says. “We
consult, we deliver the
information systems and
the processes as well.” | |
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| | to increase the
proportion of those
entrepreneurial people
that want to develop the
business as well.”
Xansa goes to market
at two levels. The
initial “door-openers”
who go after the big
deals come from the
national sales group.
But consultants also
have what Coles
describes as “very
aggressive” targets.
“Add-on and sell on
work we expect the
consultants to sell,” he
says. “And when the
sales group get in the
door they take a
consultant with them.
From a consultancy point
of view, you don’t sell
to government—you create
an environment in which
they buy from you.”
Although Coles says
that Xansa does not do
“consultancy for
consultancy’s sake”, the
group does take on
high-value consulting
work. For example, in
the Learning & Skills
Council, one of Xansa's
flagship clients, Xansa
consultants are helping
to develop the internal | |
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