Consulting Network » Pwc http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:39:53 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Strategy Consulting Landscape http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/strategy-consulting-landscape/2289/?utm_source=subscriber&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/strategy-consulting-landscape/2289/#comments Thu, 25 Nov 2010 18:45:43 +0000 Anand Rao http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/?p=2289 The strategy consulting landscape has evolved significantly over the past few months. Today, consulting firms are experimenting with different delivery models to supply their skills and resources – forging alliances new markets, joint ventures for market leadership etc.

Earlier in 2010, AON went about acquiring Hewitt Associates for about $4.9 billion to strengthen its human resource base. Consultancy firms – Booz & Co. and AT Kearney were involved in merger talks, which eventually didn’t take place. Going by the annual revenues of these two firms the merger would have placed them third in strategy consulting – behind McKinsey & Co. and BCG. After a successful deal structure with Bearing Point’s North American arm, Deloitte was most recently involved in advanced merger talks with Germany’s Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. This deal fell apart on Wednesday 23rd Nov, sighting Roland Berger’s plan to remain independent – gaining a close to 100% majority voting from its partners, as reported by Financial Times. A successful deal between these two firms would have challenged some of the big names in the strategy consulting landscape, clearly creating a global strategy leadership with annual revenues close to $3 billion.

A traditional forecast model cannot predict the future M&A’s as consulting firms are slowly, but steadily coming out of recession. It would however be interesting to see how firms will be looking to adapt from focusing on deals to enjoying a more transformational relationship. For some consulting firms, this means to return to their traditional consulting roots; while for others, the challenge would be to focus on diversification without compromising their reputation and cost base. Success for consulting firms lies in understanding their position within the strategy consulting landscape, and the specific threats and opportunities this brings.

You may also follow this article on author’s blog: http://experiencesspeak.blogspot.com/2010/11/overview-of-current-strategy-consulting.html


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]]> http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/strategy-consulting-landscape/2289/feed/ 0 India’s department of posts (DoP) shortlists Accenture, EY , KPMG, McKinsey and PwC for 1bn Contract http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/india%e2%80%99s-department-of-posts-dop-shortlists-accenture-ey-kpmg-mckinsey-and-pwc-for-1bn-contract/1237/?utm_source=subscriber&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/india%e2%80%99s-department-of-posts-dop-shortlists-accenture-ey-kpmg-mckinsey-and-pwc-for-1bn-contract/1237/#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 05:23:18 +0000 Knowledge Seeker http://consultingnetwork.co.in/?p=1237 India’s department of posts (DoP) is set to spend up to $1 billion on its IT-led business revamp over the next five years. DoP has already short-listed Accenture, Ernst &Young , KPMG, McKinsey and PwC as potential consultants for the project, DOP will be announcing one of the above mentioned consulting biggies as the partner for selecting a tech vendor and also defining the scope of 3-5 year IT revamp by end of this month. DoP will select different vendors for system integration, software , data centres and network management.

ET reports “DoP’s IT revamp is a classic example of old, legacy systems and software applications being unable to cope with rising operational pressures and newer business models. The department has been using software applications such as Meghdoot developed in-house for over a decade. With the government seeking to evolve DoP as a well diversified services provider offering postal, insurance and financial solutions across remote parts of the country, there is a need to upgrade the systems”.


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]]> http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/india%e2%80%99s-department-of-posts-dop-shortlists-accenture-ey-kpmg-mckinsey-and-pwc-for-1bn-contract/1237/feed/ 0 Bharti may rope in EY for the MTN deal http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/bharti-may-rope-in-ey-for-the-mtn-deal/953/?utm_source=subscriber&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/bharti-may-rope-in-ey-for-the-mtn-deal/953/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:54:01 +0000 Knowledge Seeker http://consultingnetwork.co.in/?p=953 Media sources indicate that Bharti Airtel may rope in  Ernst & Young (E&Y) to do a due diligence on South African telecom major MTN, the company with which it is in talks for a complex mutual acquisition of equity to form one of the top telecom conglomerates of the world

MTN is speculated to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to do a due diligence on Bharti Airtel’s books.

E&Y is likely to be the sole due diligence advisor for Bharti, India’s largest private sector telecom company. Both E&Y and PwC will get access to virtual data rooms and the due diligence is expected to take up to a month.

E&Y had also advised Reliance Communications, when the Anil Ambani-owned Telco was in talks for a merger with MTN last year. At present, E&Y is Bharti Airtel’s auditor.

On Wednesday, MTN held an annual general meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, but a top company official told that the deal with Bharti was not on the agenda.

MTN holds a 49% stake in MTN Irancell, which has a customer base of over 16 million and whose network cover more than 60% of Iran’s geographical area. Iran is also one of the largest markets for MTN. Bharti shareholders are concerned about the political risk and whether or not the deal will be dilutive, the report said.

With large-scale public protests against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian government has come down heavily on telecom companies and the media. Analysts say that MTN’s revenues from Iran are likely to witness a sharp dip in the current quarter.


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]]> http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/bharti-may-rope-in-ey-for-the-mtn-deal/953/feed/ 0 Indian Consulting Market: An Insight into the Factors Restricting Growth http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/indian-consulting-market-an-insight-into-the-factors-restricting-growth/857/?utm_source=subscriber&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/indian-consulting-market-an-insight-into-the-factors-restricting-growth/857/#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:13:51 +0000 Ashwin T Ananthakrishnan http://consultingnetwork.co.in/?p=857 The Indian Consulting Industry has been experiencing a resurgence in the last few years. This industry has been making rapid strides in the Indian market over the last decade and has witnessed a significant increase in the number of new entrants in this field. The solitary objective of the participants in this market has been to gain maximum market share in this highly consolidated and  competitive environment, primarily by capitalizing on the apposite factors driving it.

The Asia-Pacific (APAC) consulting industry generated revenues worth $33.5 billion approximately in the year 2008 and registered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 4.1 percent from 2007. The market is further expected to experience steady growth and is anticipated to generate revenues of approximately $39.2 billion by the end of 2012. Japan has dominated the APAC market by contributing the maximum revenues with a share of nearly 67.2 percent. Out of the APAC total market, India’s contribution stands at $1.81 billion approximately with a share of approximately 5.4 percent of the total APAC market size. Information Technology (IT) including e-commerce, telecommunications and so on followed by Corporate Strategy, Outsourcing Services, Human Resource Management, and Operations Management have been some of the prominent business divisions in the consulting market. The below graph (Figure 1) portrays the percentage split of the total APAC revenue across difference business units:


Why Consulting?

The necessity of moving ahead in the competitive structure or chain and gaining optimum market share in today’s highly competitive markets has made companies across verticals opt for third-party consulting and advisory services. This has made consulting an indispensable function for companies these days. The differentiating factor that each company puts forward in order to achieve competitive edge over their rivals has been one of the important factors of success for all the companies, specifically in the Indian market, and this is impossible with out the knowledge of market trends and behaviors. Moreover,  the fact that this success can be achieved only by implementing the right strategies from time to time and by taking pertinent decisions considering the market scenarios they cater to have prompted companies to subscribe for the products and services offered by consulting firms. The primary reason behind this urge is because consulting firms interact or are involved with the all the market participants or industries participants on a regular basis and are very well informed about the market happenings in each of the sectors. This continuous market tracking service coupled with technical industry know-how facilitates consulting firms to help clients take the right decision at the right time as well as relieve them from the pressures like ‘time-to-market’ a new product or production planning or in fact any challenges in any business divisions. In a nutshell, need for the appropriate market facts, the urge for companies to face the market trends by applying third party & unbiased thoughts, the call for a complete 360 degree view of the market that each company participate in, and the requirement to take apt decisions by companies to outpace competition are some of the factors that drive the growth of this industry.

Challenges Faced by Emerging & Boutique Consulting Firms

Acquiring the right set of talent challenges the firm in matching the client’s requirements:

Providing meaningful insights with optimum clarity and offering strategic advisory solutions on diverse subjects based on the analysis done are the two important aspects of consulting. These are also the two essential factors that each company looks out from the consulting firms. Even though, delivering all these factors together bind a consulting firm’s success, this can only be achieved by having the right set of manpower and appropriate pool of talent. Acquiring the right set of people to match every client’s broad range of requirements has been one of the challenges that smaller consulting firms in the Indian market face. This challenge has resulted in a change in the trend of hiring manpower in consulting organizations of late. Previously, consulting firms were primarily looking at hiring specific industry expert or any individual market expert. Even though some firms continue to sustain this model of hiring, most of the emerging firms in the country focus at hiring individuals who are flexible and those who can analyze any market or industry at a given period of time. This trend is expected to crystallize in a few years down the line. The reason for the same is two fold. One, the firms can leverage on their mixed pool of talent and assign any projects to any one individual or more and secondly, this facilitates the firm to considerably cut costs of engaging a single market expert.

This factor is even more risky for smaller and boutique consulting firms compared to the established ones, as they are much smaller in terms of their size, operations, and financial capabilities. Although, these firms offer only niche market services compared to other traditional firms, some of these boutique firms also face powerlessness to train their new employees due to the lack of proper resources, which restrains the firm’s growth further.

Increasing rate of attrition affects the organizational growth:

One other challenge that Indian consulting firms, both established as well as emerging ones face is the increasing rate of attrition. This can be associated with multiple reasons like the increasing growth opportunities in the market for consultants, attractive compensation packages, or correspondingly the cost cutting measures that companies adopt, and also on the cost- benefit ratio from the companies stand-point although the latter is applied only during acute market crisis. However, better remuneration packages on offer and better career prospects available are the two most common factors that consultants give importance to. Apart from these two factors, other common reasons range from dissatisfaction of their job role to the simple reason of lack of post-graduate sponsorships available with in the firms they work. All together, a suitable work-life balance, greater leadership roles in front, with better remuneration and benefits are some of the common factors which consultants expect in each company and with consulting becoming more mainstream today, the rate of attrition in this industry is expected to gradually slow down in a few years down the line. The impact of this factor is comparatively low on established firms because they have the best set of experienced consultants who can act as a back-up in case of an emergency situation. However, the impact is pretty severe on smaller firms as they are small in size and operations and also due the fact the time taken for smaller firms to replace a consultant with a new one is longer compared to the bigger firms. The below table shows the common reasons for attrition and what companies should do to retain talent:

Common reasons for attrition

What companies should do to retain talent?

Poor Pay

Better Organization Management

Poor Career Development

Career Development

Better Opportunities Else Where

Flexible Benefits

Poor Projects

Salary/Bonus/Incentives

Office Politics

Extended Ownership

Poor Management

Profit Sharing

Better Offers

Support Structure

Work/life Balance

Better Management Leadership

Source: Top-Consultant.com

Maintaining long-term relationships with clients affects the long-term existence of the firm:

Maintaining long-term relationships with existing clients is one other key challenge that the small and emerging consulting firms face. This is largely due to the fact that the Indian consulting market is more or less a buyers market. More than convincing the companies to sign-up proposals, factors such as cost-benefit ratios, value added services and so on play a pivotal role. Numerous market participants and increasing market entrants with a variety of project deliverables have leveraged organizations by giving them the option to choose the right consulting firm for the right price for a project. However, this factor should be perceived on a different notion when it comes to a proposal with bigger and established consulting firms who are the pioneers of this Industry and who have proven success record in delivering results.

Highly competitive market influence firms in gaining market share:

Smaller and emerging firms also face the challenge of gaining market share. Regional consulting firms have lesser market share compared to the bigger established firms who always top the competitive chain, even in the Indian market. Like wise, global players such as Bain & Co., McKinsey & Co., Boston Consulting Group and so on dominate the market for strategy consulting with nearly three-fourth of the market share in their hands, leaving the rest to the smaller and emerging firms. On a related note, most of the above mentioned business divisions are being monopolized by the big guns there by leaving very little scope for the smaller and emerging consulting firms. However, a noticeable trend in the recent years is that the smaller and niche firms are gradually taken seriously than the bigger ones. Of late, companies have started experimenting with niche firms by working with them on smaller regional projects but at the same time partner with the trusted bigger ones for the larger and other global projects. Nevertheless choosing the right consulting firm largely depends on the bids or request for proposals (RFP) that companies put forward and the proposals they receive from these consulting firms. While attracting new clients will always be an easy task for the established consulting firms due to their proven success and credibility, this factor acts as a major barrier on emerging firms as developing and converting a relationship into a business deal is comparatively tricky for these firms owing to their poor strategic alliances, lesser corporate experience and so on.

Off shoring/Outsourcing to India acts as a challenge as well as driver:

Off shoring back-end functions to India has obviously been a market driver, not only for the consulting industry but for the country as a whole. However, from a consulting firm’s perspective, though this factor helps expansion and globalization, some companies feel that it restrains the company development and growth in the outsourced regions primarily because of cultural differences and other barriers related to work. Professional dissimilarity, differences in attitude, adjusting to time zones, accent’s, and differences in a person’s commitment to work have been some of the factors that American & European counterparts consider as challenges, when it comes to off shoring work to India. And these are also some of the challenges that small and emerging consulting firms in India face, due to which the company brand name and public perception is most likely to be hampered. However, this can be overcome if the firm acquires the right set of people, train them on flexibility and motivate them to work better.

‘Market’ as a Challenge affects routine businesses:

One of the other challenging factors which impact consulting firms, smaller ones especially is the volatile market conditions they experience. Even though this factor affects both the established as well as smaller emerging firms, the former have the capability to sustain and overcome the market downfall in a better efficient way due to their long-term existence and familiarity of the market, than the latter. One such situation to be quoted is the recent sub-prime crisis which more or less created a win-win situation for both bigger and smaller firms with respect to acquiring new projects, i.e., it created a situation where in the boutique firms could possibly capitalize on the market conditions to win a project over the bigger ones, primarily because of their reduced pricing and other cost saving offerings. However, a fact is that, such situations are real good opportunities for the boutique firms to prove their capability and credibility but in general most of the companies, totter in such situations.

Threat of Substitutes impacts new business development:

‘Threat of substitutes’ is one other key challenge that smaller and boutique firms face. Although the penetration rate of new entrants entering the market has been moderate for now, companies still has a lot of options when it comes to the RFP process for projects. Apart from the presence of big four consulting firms, there are numerous smaller and emerging firms in India who are yet to prove their credibility and who offer services at a reduced price compared to the others. Coupled with the reduced pricing, every new entrant into this market is coming up with differentiated consulting models and methodologies for attracting new businesses, and this again acts as a threat to the other firms. Existence of numerous firms, differentiated offerings, reduced pricing and so on has impacted the smaller firms in India by hampering the customer loyalty and also by making this market, a highly price sensitive one.

Conclusion

Although, factors like globalization, off shoring and outsourcing have made India a suitable destination for various companies, creating vast employment opportunities for the increased pool of talent, the regional smaller and emerging firms still face a lot of challenges such as the ones highlighted above. The firms catering to the Indian market alone are on a rough terrain compared to the bigger established firms who have global roots. This is primarily because global firms who are eminent and well-known have a better probability of converting proposals into projects compared to the emerging firms with in India who are yet to prove their credibility and offerings. However, the growing level of uncertainty in today’s market, increasing competition, consolidation, the scope for various business’ in India and so on will drive the growth and is expected to make the Indian consulting industry’s future, a promising one.

Ashwin T Ananthakrishnan can be reached at ashwin.ananth@gmail.com


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]]> http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/indian-consulting-market-an-insight-into-the-factors-restricting-growth/857/feed/ 1 Recession and the Big 4 – How are they dealing with it ? http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/recession-and-big-4-how-are-they-dealing-with-it/835/?utm_source=subscriber&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/recession-and-big-4-how-are-they-dealing-with-it/835/#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 06:08:37 +0000 Mohit http://consultingnetwork.co.in/?p=835 Recession has affected almost all of the industries in India. Big 4 firms  despite their might have been having a tough time dealing with the recession.

One chain of thought argues that big 4 firms should, to some extent, be sheltered from the current crisis. Their type of client, the large private and public multinational company, will invariably have a legal requirement for an audit. This type of client is usually large enough to withstand economic downturns so audit fees from such companies should, in general, remain stable.

However, a large chunk of the revenue for the big 4 firms come from the non audit services such as risk advisory, transaction advisory etc. On one hand transaction advisory services are facing a major crisis since the number of transactions in the Indian markets have gone down significantly, on the other hand, other advisory services under the risk advisory/business advisory umbrella are not selling, since most of the client are postponing their decision to hire big 4’s or for that matter any consulting firm for such services. Many of these services are being considered a luxury  by prospective clients in these recessionary times.

PwC has been affected even further due to their alleged involvement in the Satyam scandal, many of the PwC clients are reportedly seeking services of other big 4 biggies, Deloitte and KPMG are speculated to have grabbed a number of PwC clients.

Most of the big 4 firms have frozen or deferred hiring and are adopting a “wait-and-watch” policy.

However, there is always an opportunity in adversity, from a human resource prospective, the recession provides big 4 firms an opportunity to build their brand equity and tackle high attrition problem by supporting their employees in these tough times and passing on the least amount of pain on them. Employee oriented moves during recessionary times could help big 4 firms to build their brand and attract quality talent in the long run.  However, how big 4 firms respond to the human resource aspect in this recession will only become clear in the coming months.

Most of the Big 4 firms have stepped up their business development activities and are aggressively pursing prospective clients. These may be classified as challenging times for the big 4 firms, but at the same time recession is forcing many big 4 employees to hone their existing skills and acquire new skills.

To summarize, there is unrest in the sea, and how will the big fish respond? This question will only be answered in time.

Views presented in this article are those of the author and author alone and in no way reflect the views of the author’s employer or any connected parties.

You can reach the author on mohit.kant@consultingnetwork.co.in or contactus@consultingnetwork.co.in


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]]> http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/recession-and-big-4-how-are-they-dealing-with-it/835/feed/ 0 The Big 4 Life in India – Life at Big Consulting Firms http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/the-big-4-life-in-india-life-at-eykpmgdeloitte-and-pwc/749/?utm_source=subscriber&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/the-big-4-life-in-india-life-at-eykpmgdeloitte-and-pwc/749/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 17:42:09 +0000 Mohit http://consultingnetwork.co.in/?p=749 Big 4 accounting firms are amongst the most coveted and renowned firms in India. Approximately 50 – 55 percent of the workforce comprises of charted accountants, 35-40 percent being occupied by MBA’s and Engineer’s and remaining by other specialized degree holders.

Getting Hired

Getting into a Big 4 firm in India is a difficult task. Barely 3-5 percent of the hiring in Big 4’s is done through company’s website and job portal’s, most of the hiring is done through internal referral programs and external consultants

Tips on getting your resume noticed
1. Route your resume through an internal employee, higher the designation of the employee, more the chances of your resume being noticed.
2. Don’t clog your resume with excess clutter. Be to the point and precise. Focus on highlighting your leadership and teaming skills
3. Keep track of the financial cycles being followed in the big 4 firms, for example EY follows a July to July financial cycle. Hiring during the month of May and June is relatively less owing to budgetary constraints at the end of the year as compared to hiring in July, August where most teams are looking to filling in vacant spots.

Figuring out the Hierarchy

Though the basic hierarchy structure among the big 4 in India is pretty much the same, one may start as an intern and go upto the partner level. However, there are subtle differences.

For example, if you compare the hierarchy structure in EY and KPMG then you would realize that there is no Assistant Manager level in EY.

Not understanding the hierarchy structure before interviewing process can often lead to an individual being hired at the wrong level.

Service Lines

The services provided by the big 4 firms can be divided into

  • Statutory Audits & Tax Advisory
  • Internal Auditing
  • Transaction Advisory
  • Business Advisory
  • Other niche consulting Area’s

It is imperative for new MBA’s to decide their area of interest prior to an interview. It is difficult to switch service lines at a later stage.

Working Culture

Though each big 4 claims to have an individualistic work culture, the enormity of these firms and the prominent trend of employees switching between the big 4 firms has led to development of what can be called as the big 4 culture, some of the key characteristics of the big 4 culture are

1. Working Hours - One can expect a typical working day of approximately 12-13 hours a day. However, the lengths of your  stay in office or at the client site is totally dependent on your engagement team and manager and work load.
2. Trainings form an integral part of the Big 4 culture, you can end up clocking approximately 10 -15 hours of training each month. These training comprise of both technical and soft skill’s trainings
3. Quality and risk management practices also take up a major portion of your time at big 4 firms, you could spend a significant number of your working hour’s filling up forms and taking approvals.
4. Individual vs. the Team – There is a strong focus on teaming at all of the big 4’s, however, individualistic traits such as taking up the ownership, making decisions is also encouraged.

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]]> http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/the-big-4-life-in-india-life-at-eykpmgdeloitte-and-pwc/749/feed/ 50 PwC establishes an advisory board – Attempt at an Image Makeover http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/pwc-establishes-an-advisory-board-attempt-at-an-image-makeover/706/?utm_source=subscriber&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/pwc-establishes-an-advisory-board-attempt-at-an-image-makeover/706/#comments Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:23:44 +0000 Knowledge Seeker http://consultingnetwork.co.in/?p=706 In an attempt at image makeover post the Satyam fiasco, Price Waterhouse India on Wednesday announced the establishment of an advisory board to address the concerns of various stakeholders. Price Waterhouse is the auditing arm of international consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in India. Four of its auditors are under the scanner for their role in the Rs 7,000-crore Satyam fraud case.
Former cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra has been appointed chairman of the board, which will advise PW on how the organisation can meet the “expectations of its external stakeholders”. Chandra is an independent director on the boards of some big companies, including TCS. “The advisory board is aimed at inducting the voice of external stakeholders so that Price Waterhouse can reflect these matters in its strategic decision-making. It is not a statutory body and has no executive powers,” the company said.
VK Shunglu, a former comptroller and auditor general of India, and BB Tandon, former chief election commissioner, have been appointed members on the advisory board. PW said a third member would be appointed shortly. A senior PwC partner from Singapore, Gautam Banerjee, will also join the advisory board.
Last month, the ICAI had said that PW named four of its partners — P Shiva Prasad, C H Ravindranath, Srinivas Talluri and S Gopalakrishnan —answerable in the Satyam scam case. The Andhra Pradesh police has already arrested Gopalakrishnan and Talluri.
An ICAI employee, who did not wish to be identified, said the exercise was mere eyewash to sidetrack the entire issue. He added the advisory board members could not bring any value unless they are given some powers. While ICAI president Uttam Prakash Agarwal could not be contacted as he was out of the country, its vice-president Amarjit Chopra refused a comment saying, “It’s their internal matter.”

Source: mydigitalfc


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]]> http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/pwc-establishes-an-advisory-board-attempt-at-an-image-makeover/706/feed/ 0 Wipro sets up consulting R&D arm/Sizes up its Competition http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/wipro-sets-up-consulting-rd-armsizes-up-its-competition/578/?utm_source=subscriber&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/wipro-sets-up-consulting-rd-armsizes-up-its-competition/578/#comments Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:24:55 +0000 Knowledge Seeker http://consultingnetwork.co.in/?p=578

Technology major Wipro is planning a deep plunge into the global consulting market with the idea of competing with true-blue global consulting brands and IT consulting firms.

In preparation for this move, the company has carried out an in-depth study on select consulting majors including Ernst & Young, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, McKinsey and Bain & Company to understand what made them stay different in the consulting world.

Anurag Srivastava, head of Wipro Consulting Services (WCS) said, “The objective of the study was to gather a holistic understanding of the consulting business. We want to create differentiation in the global markets through innovation-driven consulting. Consulting will be the front-end service for most of our large business deals.”

Wipro has also set up a dedicated research and development arm, Global Research Centre, to support its initiatives in the consulting space. The R&D facility will seek to enhance the business value to clients through innovation. The company believes that consulting will work as a powerful tool during times of recession to gain customer confidence.

Wipro employs over 1,200 consulting professionals and 7% of them will now be part of the R&D team. The team will track 12 industry verticals. The research activity starts with profiling the customer, moves on to analysing industrial trends, followed by providing a macro-economic snapshot and culminating in a viable business strategy.

The job of the R&D team is to lay seeds of innovation. It will play a key role in bridging the divide between ideators and front-end workers.

“The researchers will work in tandem with consulting professionals, so that customers are increasingly benefited,” Srivastava said. “Consulting will have a significant impact on our IT/BPO revenues. It will transform us from an outsourcing player to a transformational partner.”

Sourced from Indiatimes


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]]> http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/wipro-sets-up-consulting-rd-armsizes-up-its-competition/578/feed/ 0 PwC bruised not battered, says CEO http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/pwc-bruised-not-battered-says-ceo/525/?utm_source=subscriber&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/pwc-bruised-not-battered-says-ceo/525/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:31:28 +0000 Knowledge Seeker http://consultingnetwork.co.in/?p=525

Auditing and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) maintains that it did not play any role in the alleged financial irregularities of  fraud-mauled Satyam Computer Services Limited, but is looking back at “significant lessons” from the controversy linked to accusations that its  partners rubber-stamped doctored accounts in the company.

It does not expect any major loss of client base in the country.

 “Our partners were not complacent. We did not create the fraud. We were misled,” Samuel A. Di Piazza, Jr. global CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers told Hindustan Times in an exclusive interview.

Di Piazza, who was in India to meet with clients and employees, said the firm has strengthened its internal processes and plans to bring in partners from its international affiliates to carry out the audit of its clients in India.

“One of the most significant lessons we have learnt is that auditors should maintain a level of scepticism. Our relationship with clients is based on trust, but we must look at things that appear sceptical,” Di Piazza said.

He said most of the clients continue to repose faith in PwC’s quality of services, but there were some who have raised some uncomfortable questions after the Satyam controversy came to light. Pricewaterhouse, the auditing arm of PwC, were the statutory auditors for Satyam.

Two of the firm’s partners S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri have been arrested on charges of alleged involvement of doctoring of Satyam books.

“India continues to remain one of the most critical and significant markets for us,” Di Piazza said.

Business from India, he said, continues remain the fastest growing for the firm in the entire world clocking “high double-digit growth” rates.  “It (the Satyam controversy) has happened. Fortunately it is an isolated case. We do not see any systemic problem,” he said.

This was Di Piazza’s second visit to India in less than two months.

Sourced from Hindustan Times


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