amsterdam keynote june 2007

Balancing productivity, client service, staff retention, growth and profitability

Amsterdam, June 2007

April 12, 2023 1© ParkWood Advisors LLC, 2005

All Rights Reserved

30+ years in technology 20+ years in consulting Published author (four books) and

columnist (CIO Insight) World’s top 25 most influential

consultants (2003) Computerworld 100 Leaders in IT

(2005) Retired head of Innovation and

Strategy at Ernst & Young LLP (September 2001)

Retired CTO of Capgemini (July 2005)

© ParkWood Advisors LLC, 2005 All Rights Reserved 2

[email protected]+1 847 235 1791www.parkwoodadvisorsonline.com

April 12, 2023

ParkWood Advisors LLC, 2007. All rights reserved.Reproduction or translation of any part of this work, beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without the permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to John Parkinson, at the address given above.

This presentation is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard of the subject matter covered. It is made available with the understanding that the intent is not to render legal, investment, accounting or other professional advisory services.

If investment advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

© ParkWood Advisors LLC, 2005 All Rights Reserved 3April 12, 2023

What (some) clients are telling us…. Observations from a graduating MBA

class…. Questions we need to answer Some ideas to consider Conversation

April 12, 2023 4© ParkWood Advisors LLC, 2005 All

Rights Reserved

“Some people, if they don’t already know, you can’t tell them”

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All Rights Reserved 5

Work our way, in our organizational culture: Adapt to us, don’t make us adapt to you

We hired you for your knowledge of best practices and heuristics – so where are they?

We hired you for your experience – stop sending us people to be trained

I want you to bring me new ideas – but I want ideas that will work

Treat your people better: There’s something wrong when we treat them better than you do



“Applying six sigma to the weather is a waste

of time…”



Few MBAs actually achieve the broad view of what’s needed by an “experienced” advisor

Sure, they’re smart, but what do they actually know?

The most interesting action is believed to be in emerging markets

“Consulting looks interesting until you realize that you’ll never really implement anything”

“I don’t want to wait a decade to have an impact”



“In theory, theory and practice are the

same. In practice, they’re different”



Is this just noise in the system or are we seeing a fundamental shift in both demand and supply in the global management consulting marketplace?



“I don’t know what it is but you need a new one”

What will recruits and experienced entrants expect from our firms in the next five years?

How will expectations change? What about "Global Sourcing"? How do we ensure quality of resources

when they are thousands of miles away and from very different cultural backgrounds?



What's new in what our clients are asking for in services and capabilities?

Are the buyers changing and if so how? How do clients want to engage and contract

with their external advisors? What will all the "client relationship"

process look like in the future? How do we associate “price” and “value”?



If work will not necessarily be performed where the client is located (or even where we are located), how does this impact:◦ The structure of the firm? ◦ The culture of the firm?◦ Supervision of the work? ◦ Quality assurance? ◦ Risk management?



Are we correctly aligned with our clients expectations for capability and service?

Can we serve both "best of breed" and "one stop shop" demands?

What's the right approach to business partnering and collaboration?



What skills should we be attracting or developing?

What should we be doing to improve/defend/share our intellectual capital?



How should we think about structuring the firm to deliver against all these changes? ◦ Ownership?◦ People? ◦ Pricing? ◦ Sales model? ◦ Delivery model? ◦ Relationship model?



"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get

there."



Educating clients: ◦ How we make money◦ What “mutual success” looks like

The network model for sourcing New career options: what can we do to stay

in touch? New competitors: what can we learn from

others?



One size does not fit all?

We are uncovering better ways of delivering practical advice by active participation in improving our clients performance and helping others develop and execute ideas.

Through this work we have come to value:◦ Individuals and interactions over processes and tools◦ Working processes over comprehensive documentation◦ Customer collaboration over contract negotiation◦ Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more

© ParkWood Advisors LLC, 2005All Rights Reserved 19April 12, 2023



Advisory services

Process outsourcing

Project-based

consulting

A diverging spectrum of A diverging spectrum of practice?practice?

“Expert” front officeResearch back officeWork in the client’s cultureEffectiveness paradigmRetainer relationshipReward for businessresults

“Delivery” front officeExpert back officeWork with the client’s cultureAdaptive, template-driven work processBalance effective and efficientCost + relationshipReward for projectresults

“Service” front officeSix-sigma back officeConnect to the client’s cultureManage interfacesEfficiency paradigmPrice relationshipReward for customersatisfaction

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