Boxwood, the award-winning management consultancy firm, has again won the MCA Award for Change Management in the Private Sector for its work with the property company Grosvenor Britain & Ireland. This is the second year running Boxwood has won this category and this latest win marks the consultancy’s third MCA award in succession.

Boxwood was engaged to help Grosvenor plan and implement the Fast Forward programme – a radical programme of change focused primarily on the team managing its 300-year old London estate which comprises some of the most sought after property in the world.

The programme objective was a bold and challenging one – to transform the business into a more dynamic organisation, and in the process deliver significantly better results for its customers, employees and shareholders.

Boxwood’s work exceeded expectations – and delivered exactly the step change Grosvenor had sought to achieve. Perhaps more importantly, the programme succeeded in promoting a culture of continuous improvement.

Grosvenor Britain & Ireland significantly improved its performance as a result of theFast Forward programme, which improved management of the London estate. Revenue profit in 2011 more than doubled from £8.0m to £16.4m.

Chris Wakerley MBE, Managing Director of Boxwood, said “Winning the MCA Award for delivering significant transformational change once was fantastic, to win it twice in consecutive years is true recognition of the quality of Boxwood’s work. We pride ourselves in the partnerships we form with the businesses we work with, and the ability to deliver performance enhancing, sustainable results. We were very fortunate to have in Grosvenor such a high calibre partner, with really strong leadership and fantastic people in the joint team.”

Source:  www.top-consultant.com

Transformation specialists Moorhouse have appointed Nick Woodward as sector lead for energy and utilities. Nick comes with over 20 years experience of leading and growing transformation consultancy businesses and delivering out of the ordinary transformations for clients across sectors and at national, regional and international scale – having worked for Fujitsu, PA Consulting and Logica. His role will involve engaging with and delivering business critical change projects for clients in the energy and utilities sectors.

Nick comments: “It is a pleasure to be joining a company with Moorhouse’s track record and ambitions and very exciting to be leading the energy and utilities work. Creating a low carbon future against a back drop of regulatory reforms, price reviews, massive deployments of new technology and global competition for both natural resources and capital make these very interesting times indeed. Times when it is essential for businesses to remain agile and responsive to change.”

Stephen Vinall, Moorhouse Managing Director, adds: “I am delighted to be able to bring someone into the team with such a wealth of experience and knowledge and track record of outstanding delivery for clients. Nick is already driving things forward within our team and with clients.”

Nick formally joined Moorhouse in February 2012. He is a chartered engineer with a BSc in applied physics, an MSc in Artificial Intelligence and an MBA from the University of Western Australia.

Source: www.top-consultant.com

David Ellis has been a partner at BDO since 2004. He is recognised for his deep technical and consulting expertise across reward, expatriate tax and employment tax: all highly relevant skill sets needed to advise corporates on effective remuneration strategies. He has a wide network of contacts in the corporate marketplace and is a frequent commentator on industry issues.

Before joining BDO, Ellis spent eight years at Ernst and Young. Prior to that he qualified as a solicitor at Richards Butler, a city law firm.

KPMG’s UK Reward Practice specialises in advising corporates on how to most effectively pay their executives.

Mike Linter, head of People Services Tax at KPMG in the UK, commented: “We have huge ambitions for our reward practice and indeed for our people services tax practice and I fully expect that David will play a pivotal role in our pursuit of them.”

Ellis remarked: “KPMG has clearly committed to growing its reward practice and I am very excited about the opportunity to spearhead this initiative. The macro-economic, tax and regulatory environment is creating huge demand for advice on effective, long term, remuneration strategies. The trend away from cash bonuses towards long term equity reward, the differential between income tax and capital gains tax rates and the scrutiny over executive compensation packages present major challenges for businesses in designing pay packages.”

Source:  www.top-consultant.com

Deloitte, the business advisory firm, has launched the Deloitte UK Centre for Health Solutions – a new research hub for the healthcare and life sciences industry, led by Karen Taylor OBE, the former Director of Health Value for Money at the National Audit Office.

The Centre will provide insights for the firm’s healthcare and life sciences clients, helping Deloitte’s aim to become the market leading adviser. It will actively promote an environment that encourages and supports innovation in health solutions, driving independent and objective research analysis into the most complex industry issues; creating and publishing evidence-based insights and points of view.

Simon Hammett, UK and EMEA healthcare and life sciences leader at Deloitte, comments: “The Centre is a significant investment by the firm and a key enabler of our strategy to develop the capabilities of the healthcare and life sciences practice in the UK and on the international stage.

“The Centre will cover a broad health and life sciences agenda, from pharmaceuticals and medical innovation, healthcare management and reform, to the patient and healthcare consumer. It will contribute to both a private and public sector perspective, placing Deloitte at the forefront of industry debate.”

Rebecca George OBE, UK public sector health practice leader, adds: “At this time of great change and challenge for the NHS, the Centre will provide evidence-based analysis across organisational, regional and institutional boundaries. It will provide insight into the delivery of complex services in a fast changing environment which will help me and my teams deliver even more effective and targeted services.”

The Centre, comprising a team of researchers, led by Karen Taylor OBE, and assisted by Dr Karen Young, senior research manager, will work collaboratively with Deloitte’s industry practitioners, and the firm’s wider research teams.

Karen Taylor OBE, Deloitte UK Centre for Health Solutions research director, says: “The environment in which healthcare and life sciences operate has never been more challenging, both financially and in terms of balancing the supply of and demand for services. With significant changes afoot in the healthcare sector, there will be numerous opportunities and challenges in the sector, particularly in light of the challenging financial climate.

“Against this background, I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead such an exciting and ambitious initiative, at a pivotal and challenging time in the development of new science and innovation within the healthcare and life sciences industry.

“I am a strong advocate of action based on evidence. The Centre, aims to identify solutions that involve new business models, new incentives, and accelerated use of new technology, such as information technologies, and which shift the focus of healthcare from providers to consumers. We will focus our research to provide a balanced, evidence-based view that will present insights, identify solutions and intelligence that influences policy makers, informs our clients and, importantly, benefits the end user, the patient.”

Source: www.top-consultant.com

The MCA awards have rolled around again and I have to say this is an event that goes from strength to strength. I’ve always enjoyed the MCA (and the IMC/IBC/IC) awards ceremonies, but I have to say this event seemed to represent a coming of age. Rather than a gathering of a slightly surreptitious clique, it felt just like any other awards industry bash—no need to apologise or explain, just an industry coming together to celebrate what it can achieve when working at its best.

This was a large and well-attended ceremony—which is good for two reasons: firstly because it reflects a high level of confidence in the industry, and secondly because it means that the event will have been a commercial success and hopefully reach even greater heights next year.

What was particularly gratifying were the numbers of clients who had turned out in support of their consultants, and the levels of enthusiasm—and competition this inspired in the room.

Certainly the master of ceremonies, Steve Punt, looked a little bemused at all the cheering and clapping. He probably wasn’t expecting to have to exert so much crowd control over a room full of management consultants. I’d like to think he was also surprised by the diversity and quality of the projects and individual consultants that won prizes. There’s not really room here to list all the winners, which you can find on the MCA website, but that the two overall awards represented on the one hand clearing mines in Afghanistan (PA with Ministry of Defence) and on the other delivering the Olympic Games (Deloitte with London 2012) pretty much spells it out.

As far as entrants went, the Big Four were slightly better represented than before, and there was a considerable overlap between the nominees this year and last, which suggests that some firms have really latched on to the value of the awards, while others don’t really get it at all.

This is ridiculous: it must be the case that every firm in the MCA has done at least one project in the past year that is worthy of an award (even if everything else was so-so). Otherwise, you’d have to ask how they were staying in business (let alone justifying their membership of the MCA). So if you put aside total professional incompetence, the only explanation for not getting an entry in must be either a crippling lack of self-esteem or the usual consultancy inefficiency about managing one’s internal affairs.

The MCA has for some years now wisely cast the bulk of its awards around client stories. Stories are the best way possible to communicate what consultancy does and why it is so valuable. Most clients only have a vague idea what consultants actually do: get a consultant to explain it to them in his or her own words and they’re likely to end up even more confused. Tell them a successful business story and they’ll get it instantly.

So every consultancy that can’t put an award entry together at the drop of a hat needs to be asking itself why it isn’t able to tell its clients exciting and compelling stories about what it does and why it’s important—and also to wonder what it is telling them instead.

So there’s really no loss in spending some time to articulate the value that you believe you have brought to clients recently—and then checking to see that they are on the same page. Even if you don’t get within sniffing distance of an award, you will have gained immense self-knowledge and some useful marketing collateral. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that your entry will be lost in the crowd—trust me, they will make the event bigger if member enthusiasm continues to grow.

For those that are lucky enough to get nominated, you also get a nice dinner and the chance to participate in a genuine industry-wide event, of which there are precious few in consulting. I left before the fun part of the evening got away, so I trust everyone behaved themselves, although, frankly, if the night had ended up in a mass brawl with police called that would have been a result as well.

What’s most important tough is that each year that rolls by, the MCA’s “back catalogue” of top quality consultancy projects grows and grows, ready to be rolled out at a moments notice whenever some blowhard demands to know what good consultants have ever done.

This year the plan is to extend the reach of the awards with a series of “meet the winners” events, which will give clients and the world at large even more insight into what makes for winning consultancy work. So full marks to the MCA, and congratulations to all the winners, hopefully I will meet and talk wit some of you over the coming year.

 All views expressed in this article are those of Mick James and do not necessarily reflect the views of Top-Consultant.com and Consultant-News.com.

Source:  www.top-consultant.com

Leading global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal has started a Valuation Services practice led by Managing Director John O’Neill. Bryan Marsal, co-CEO of A&M, stated: “Adding valuation services fits our strategy of growing a global full service advisory firm focused on solving complex problems for our clients. We have recruited John to run this business because of his great experience in running professional service firm divisions within global organizations.”

O’Neill is spearheading the growth and development of this practice, and is now joined by Neil Beaton, who joins A&M as a Managing Director along with a team of his former colleagues.

“Neil Beaton is a consummate valuation services professional with more than two decades of experience. He has a proven track record of serving clients in a wide array of matters. He’s a great client service professional and a terrific problem solver. Neil will shortly be joined by others in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York,” said O’Neill.

Stated Beaton: “A&M’s entrepreneurial culture, with its bias toward problem solving and results for clients, makes this the right move at the right time in my career. This distinctive platform will greatly enhance my ability to serve long-standing and new clients.”

Beaton, based in Seattle, brings particular expertise in the valuation of early-stage, venture-backed companies, and has written and spoken extensively on valuation techniques for companies with complex capital structures. He has valued companies in most major industry groups, including manufacturing, utilities, telecommunications, oil and gas, transportation, wholesale, retail and service industries both domestically and internationally. Prior to joining A&M, Beaton was a partner with Grant Thornton LLP for over nine years, during which time he was the National Partner-in-charge of Valuation Services.

Based in New York, O’Neill’s past work has focused on M&A, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, bankruptcy, debt workout and cross-border transactions, and he brings industry expertise in asset management, real estate, retail and distribution, consumer products and manufacturing. Prior to joining A&M, O’Neill was a senior partner with Ernst & Young, where he served as the US leader of the firm’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Tax practice and as the firm’s Americas director of Private Equity. Prior to that, O’Neill spent 25 years at Arthur Andersen where he led the firm’s private equity practice.

Source:  www.top-consultant.com

KPMG Europe LLP’s Information Protection and Business Resilience practice was awarded the Information Security Consultancy of the Year by SC Magazine, following the ceremony which was held in London this week. This is the second year running that KPMG has won the award.

KPMG were judged to be successful by a team of judges from the information security industry, and were also highly commended for the Information Security Project of the Year category for I-4 (https://i4online.com), which is the leading information security forum for large global businesses.

Malcolm Marshall, KPMG’s UK and global head of Information Protection and Business Resilience said: “I am absolutely delighted that KPMG’s rapidly growing Information Protection and Business Resilience business has been recognised by SC Magazine and its judges, both for our work as a Consultancy and with I-4 which helps many of the world’s leading organisations to improve their protection against increasing cyber security threats. It is great testimony to the strength and experience of our team that has delivered an outstanding service to both our clients and members of I-4.

“With over 650 security consultants across Europe and 1,700 globally, KPMG is the first choice for security consultancy for many of the world’s leading companies. Faced with a rapidly changing set of threats from increasingly sophisticated and determined adversaries, many companies are choosing KPMG for their track record in delivering rapid improvements in security.”

Source:  www.top-consultant.com

Atos, the international information technology services company, announced 2012 first quarter revenue of EUR 2.163 billion, representing an organic growth of 2.4 % compared to the first quarter of 2011.

Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO, said: “The first quarter showed a good start of the year confirming an expected solid year 2012. Revenue again grew more than 2% thanks to our strategy following the acquisition of SIS to focus on strengthening our recurring activities. As we committed, the Group is cash positive for the first time since its creation. I am also glad that we finalized the alliance with EMC and VMware to create Canopy, which positions Atos as one of the leading global players in cloud services.”

Atos reiterated its previous forecast that it expects a slight revenue organic growth and an operating margin rate to 6.5% of revenue compared to 4.8% for proforma 12 months 2011.

Representing 46% of Atos, Managed Services revenue was EUR 995 million, up +3.9% compared to the first quarter of 2011. Growth was driven by several geographies including Germany (+6%), North America (+7%), Central & Eastern Europe (+10%) and the UK (+3%). In Benelux and Iberia, revenue was almost stable despite the continued tough market conditions. Revenue in France was down -6 per cent year-on-year but returned to growth sequentially compared to the third and the fourth quarter of 2011. Following the acquisition of SIS, the Service Line has been able to grow by signing multi-year contracts with new customers.

In Systems Integration, representing 25% of Atos, revenue was stable compared to the first quarter of 2011 at EUR 536 million. The start of the year was better than anticipated. The activity grew in Germany, North America, North & South Western Europe and Latin America. Revenue in Benelux showed a further decline due to the continued difficult market conditions. In France, as planned, actions initiated last year to turnaround and to improve the situation are now being implemented.

Representing 22% of Atos, Hi-Tech Transactional Services & Specialized Businesses (HTTS & SB) revenue was EUR 474 million, up 2.9% year-on-year. HTTS business grew by 5.7% mainly driven by e-CS revenues at +14.9%.

For Consulting & Technology Services, which represent 7% of Atos, revenue was stable compared to the first quarter of 2011 at EUR 158 million. In Consulting, utilization rate was 72% compared to 70% for full year 2011 and stable at 84% for Technology Services. The increased activity in Technology Services in France (9%) mainly for Public Sector, and in Consulting in the UK, offset the decline of the Service Line in the Netherlands (down 8%) in Financial Services and Manufacturing sectors.

For the third quarter in a row, the growth was driven by most of the GBUs, and in Europe primarily by the Northern, Central and Eastern geographies.

In Germany, revenue was EUR 418 million, representing a growth of 6.1%. Managed Services strong growth came from the ramp-up of new contracts signed in 2011 and higher business volumes in the Manufacturing sector. In Systems Integration, revenue grew by 4.9% with additional projects which more than compensated the phase out of the Application Management contract with a large German Bank.

In the United Kingdom & Ireland, revenue was EUR 390 million, up 5.8% compared to the first quarter of 2011. Managed Services was up 3.1% due to increased volumes and to the start of delivering new deals won in the fourth quarter of 2011. Systems Integration grew 1.3%. HTTS & SB grew 10.2% due to higher project revenue and volumes notably in the Transport sector.

In Benelux, revenue in the first quarter was EUR 248 million, down 5.2%. In Managed Services, the activity was almost flat compared to the same period last year, thanks to Financial Services in the Netherlands and new clients in Belgium. Difficult market conditions, price pressure and lower volumes continued to affect both Systems Integration and Consulting & Technology Services. The GBU remains focused on margin protection by improving workforce management.

Revenue in France was EUR 255 million, representing an organic decline limited to 1.6% year-on-year, following 6% in the third quarter of 2011 and 4% in the fourth quarter of 2011. In Managed Services, the activity was stabilized compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 thanks to increased business in Energy & Utilities and stable volumes in Financial Services. Technology Services grew by 9% year-on-year with an improved utilization rate above of 84%. In Systems Integration, revenue was down in Manufacturing (automotive industry) and with mobile phone operators.

Revenue for Atos Worldline was EUR 226 million up 1.8% year-on-year. Payment activities were stable due to lesser volume growth in the credit card business in Belgium. eCS was up 8.9% with additional project revenue and hardware sales in France. Financial Market division was stable year-on-year.

In North America (NAM) revenue was EUR 134 million, up 8.4%. Managed Services revenue was up 6.6% following stronger activity with large manufacturing companies. Systems Integration reported a solid growth thanks to an increase of business in Financial Services.

In Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) revenue was EUR 130 million, up 1.2%. Managed Services revenue increased 9.7% thanks to higher volumes in several countries including Turkey and Czech Republic. Systems Integration was down 9.0%. The decline was due in part to less discretionary spending in the Public sector in several countries. It was also due to a one-time hardware sale in Austria in the first quarter of 2011.

In North & South West Europe (N&SWE) revenue was EUR 99 million, up 5.5%. The GBU had a strong growth both in Managed Services and Systems Integration, respectively up 9.2% and 15.2%. The increase materialized primarily in the Manufacturing sector and overcompensated less hardware revenue in the Civil & National Security business compared to the same quarter last year.

In Iberia, revenue was EUR 82 million, down 4.2%. While Systems Integration, thanks to the Telco sector, and Managed Services reported stable revenue, Consulting & Technology Services suffered from the economic conditions mainly in Public Sector and Financial Services.

In Other Business Units, revenue was EUR 181 million, up 2.7% compared to the first quarter of 2011.

Source:  www.top-consultant.com

KPMG has been recognised with two awards by the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) in the annual ceremony which recognises and celebrates excellence in management consultancy.

KPMG picked up its first award in the ‘Operational Performance in the Private Sector’ category, for work undertaken on behalf of Nationwide. KPMG’s team was recognised for the way in which they helped reduce Nationwide’s costs substantially whilst driving up customer satisfaction. In a major cost optimisation programme the joint KPMG/Nationwide team were also noted as radical in the way they addressed every aspect of the business.

KPMG also won the ‘Technology’ award for the way in which the firm created a ‘mission critical’ computer system designed to manage the planning and co-ordination of national police resources, during this summer’s sporting events.

Commenting on the wins, Mark Hutchinson, KPMG’s UK Head of Management Consulting, says: “I would like to congratulate all those at KPMG whose excellent work has been recognized at this year’s MCA awards. They have rightly been cited as exemplars to the industry for developing creative and innovative solutions, working closely in partnership with our clients in addressing many of their most complex challenges.”

Adrian Harkin, Lead Partner for Nationwide at KPMG, says: “Nationwide is a huge UK institution with one in five people, nationally, banking with them. The chance to help them with their programme over the past 2 years has been the most rewarding programme of my career to date and I am delighted that we have made a significant difference to Nationwide and their customers, delivering massive efficiencies and savings.”

The judges also acknowledged KPMG’s capabilities by highly commending the firm in 2 other categories. These included ‘finance and management’ for KPMG’s work with the London Development Agency and ‘innovation’ in recognition of the firm’s work with Musgrave.

Now in their 15th year, the MCA Awards are the benchmark of quality within the industry, showing how clients and consultants can work together to achieve better results.

Source:   www.top-consultant.com

PA Consulting Group has won the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) Award for the best overall project for its work with the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD). PA also won the Innovation Award for this project at the ceremony in London on Thursday 19 April 2012, adding to PA’s long-running collection of MCA Awards.

The winning project involved PA working with the MOD to urgently develop a vital new capability to protect UK troops in Afghanistan from improvised explosive devices (IEDs), hidden below road surfaces. Working with the MOD and key industry partners, PA developed ‘Panama’, a ground-breaking unmanned vehicle-based explosive device detection system that has been saving lives in Afghanistan since early 2011.

The main challenge was to find a middle path between bespoke and off-the-shelf options. Complete off-the-shelf solutions existed but were manned, however customising an unmanned solution within the required timescale of under a year looked impossible. PA’s solution was to use obsolete ‘Snatch’ Land Rovers, 200 of which were awaiting disposal by the MOD, together with a proven IED detection system. The unmanned Panama keeps the crew out of harm’s way and is saving the lives of UK forces in Afghanistan. A route can now be searched for IEDs at least ten times faster. Panama took just eleven months to move from investment decision to operational use and will achieve £17M of savings.

Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Parker OBE, Senior Requirements Manager, Manoeuvre Support Team, UK MOD said of the project: “Together we have achieved results that many, both within and outside of the team, thought impossible at the outset. PA helped us to execute the role with confidence and convert scepticism amongst key stakeholders to commitment. Perhaps most importantly, PA has helped to make Panama a source of pride within the MOD as we continue to ensure we fully support the needs of our soldiers in Afghanistan.”

David Walters, defence expert at PA and responsible for delivering the assignment said: “This was an exciting and challenging programme, both for PA and the MOD. Working closely together, the joint team together delivered not only a key capability for the MOD and UK troops, but also demonstrated that through commitment and innovation, it is possible to change and significantly reduce acquisition timescales in defence at a time of intense scrutiny and pressure.”

Source:  www.top-consultant.com