2009 Readers' Choice Survey: Consulting
In general, activity in the Consulting category slows down in times of economic hardship as consumer goods companies look to cut anything deemed extraneous, especially if it allows them to keep an internal full time employee. The good news, however, is that when the economy improves, many organizations will look to external consultants to bolster their depleted ranks and jumpstart projects that have been put on the back burner.
"This category, which nearly disappeared in the post-dot-com bubble, is suddenly relevant again," says Dana Stiffler, research director, AMR Research.
Projects that are considered vital or part of major strategic performance management initiatives, however, will continue forward at a slower pace. These projects often include trade effectiveness initiatives and other customer-facing improvements. IT consulting is also ongoing for those companies struggling to create lean IT organizations and adopt new technology approaches, like service-oriented architectures and virtualization. Stiffler predicts that IT consulting in the area of Enterprise Resource Planning will especially lag as upgrade activity slows, but she expects global rollouts to continue to completion.
Many consulting firms use the downtime to retrench and provide research and thought leadership to guide the industry through this difficult time. Once the economy begins to improve, experts predict changes in offerings and tactics from service providers. Resurgence in efficiency and optimization consulting offerings is already well underway.
"In consulting overall, buyers are looking for consultants and advisors that have execution capability, not just the ability to make recommendations," says Stiffler. "Green consulting, which was booming all over the place 2007-early 2008, will be placed on a back burner."
And as the dust clears from this financial crisis, Stiffler also expects new regulations to create massive windfalls for consultants and accountants, a la Sarbanes Oxley. Not only will there be specific financial compliance-related projects, but changes to business processes already in place will create major opportunities for strategic business consulting. Additional technology implementations will follow, once the processes themselves are overhauled.
BREAKOUT FAVORITES
Customer Experience: Clarkston Consulting
"Clarkston Consulting provided a tremendous balance of subject matter expertise, industry knowledge and experience, all of which were critical to our project. They clearly differentiated themselves from other consulting firms as evidenced by the trust they created and the value they delivered."
-- Dan Sullivan, SVP, Chief Financial & Operating Officer, Heineken
SMB Market: IBM
"Earlier this year, we participated in IBM's 2008 Enterprise of the Future global study. We were able to share our best practices and approaches in bringing innovation to the shelf and benchmark that against their client base. IBM's ability to understand retail and consumer trends has helped us with our go-to-market approach."
-- Eric Lauterbach, VP Business Development, Attune Foods
| Top 10 |
| 1. IBM |
| 2. Accenture |
| 3. Deloitte |
| 4. Clarkston Consulting |
| 5. Hitachi Consulting |
| 6. Booz & Company |
| 7. Capgemini |
| 8. HP |
| 9. BearingPoint |
| 10. Perficient |
Projects that are considered vital or part of major strategic performance management initiatives, however, will continue forward at a slower pace. These projects often include trade effectiveness initiatives and other customer-facing improvements. IT consulting is also ongoing for those companies struggling to create lean IT organizations and adopt new technology approaches, like service-oriented architectures and virtualization. Stiffler predicts that IT consulting in the area of Enterprise Resource Planning will especially lag as upgrade activity slows, but she expects global rollouts to continue to completion.
Many consulting firms use the downtime to retrench and provide research and thought leadership to guide the industry through this difficult time. Once the economy begins to improve, experts predict changes in offerings and tactics from service providers. Resurgence in efficiency and optimization consulting offerings is already well underway. "In consulting overall, buyers are looking for consultants and advisors that have execution capability, not just the ability to make recommendations," says Stiffler. "Green consulting, which was booming all over the place 2007-early 2008, will be placed on a back burner."
And as the dust clears from this financial crisis, Stiffler also expects new regulations to create massive windfalls for consultants and accountants, a la Sarbanes Oxley. Not only will there be specific financial compliance-related projects, but changes to business processes already in place will create major opportunities for strategic business consulting. Additional technology implementations will follow, once the processes themselves are overhauled.
BREAKOUT FAVORITES
Customer Experience: Clarkston Consulting
"Clarkston Consulting provided a tremendous balance of subject matter expertise, industry knowledge and experience, all of which were critical to our project. They clearly differentiated themselves from other consulting firms as evidenced by the trust they created and the value they delivered."
-- Dan Sullivan, SVP, Chief Financial & Operating Officer, Heineken
SMB Market: IBM
"Earlier this year, we participated in IBM's 2008 Enterprise of the Future global study. We were able to share our best practices and approaches in bringing innovation to the shelf and benchmark that against their client base. IBM's ability to understand retail and consumer trends has helped us with our go-to-market approach."
-- Eric Lauterbach, VP Business Development, Attune Foods