Crimson & Co, a leading UK independent end-to-end supply chain consultancy, has continued its recruitment drive with the appointment of Jon Gibson as Principal. Gibson brings a wealth of experience and best practice in logistics to the company.

With over 20 years of experience in the field of logistics, working for companies such as Carlsberg, Shell, River Island and DHL, Gibson has worked on a range of projects, both on a global and local perspective, to improve logistics operations affecting the supply chain as a whole.

Gibson joins Crimson & Co from Shell, where he was part of the leadership team responsible for managing a transportation and storage budget of $1.9bn, across 40 countries. Prior to that, he was Distribution Director and a member of the executive committee at Carlsberg in the UK.

He began his career in supply chain consulting at PwC, where he spent eight years consulting on areas from strategy to implementation on international supply chain and change management issues. Throughout his career, Gibson has remained in the logistics field, gaining significant expertise in operational management and continuous improvement. He has led international teams, worked on operating boards, and acted as both a purchaser and provider of third party logistics.

“We are delighted to welcome Jon to the Crimson & Co team,” said Crimson & Co’s Managing Director, Richard Powell. “He brings with him an unrivalled depth of experience in a variety of sectors including retail, fast moving consumer goods and energy. We are forecasting double-digit growth and we’re pleased to be able to bring such an experienced logistics professional with a pragmatic attitude to implementation on board.”

Gibson comments, “I’m excited to join Crimson & Co to work on a wide range of supply chain projects and believe I can make a real impact. After working in-house for 12 years, I am looking forward to using that practical experience and expertise, alongside the project management and delivery skills previously gained at PwC, to grow the Crimson & Co brand. It’s great to be moving back into consulting in a year which I believe will be pivotal in cost cutting and driving efficiencies for many.

“I’ve watched Crimson & Co growing and been really impressed by the quality of work and the results that they have achieved for their clients. Crimson & Co is unique in its approach to the entire end-to-end supply chain and I’m keen to contribute to the progression of an already successful company.”

Source:  www.top-consultant.com

Capgemini has won a four-year global contract with Novozymes A/S, the Denmark-based bio-innovation specialized in industrial enzymes and microorganisms. Capgemini Procurement Services, a new division of Capgemini Business Process Outsourcing unit, will now manage Novozymes procurement services including Procure-to-Pay (P2P) on demand services and applications, leveraging its IBX on-demand technology platform. This deal, which will be globally rolled-out, will also include Capgemini’s consulting capabilities to increase the degree of utilisation of the P2P services.

Novozymes will use Capgemini’s on demand SAP/Supplier Relationship Management P2P technology throughout the whole procurement process. The P2P tool will be integrated into Novozymes’ procedures and will support the overall compliance project at Novozymes A/S called ‘Smart Consumption’. The aim of the project is to cover 90% of Novozymes A/S indirect spend through one channel. As part of this contract, the ‘IBX on demand platform’ will be used globally by Novozymes

Once the P2P solution has been globally rolled out, the solution aims to build a seamless end-to-end on-demand buying process covering the entire operational procurement cycle. As part of the contract, Capgemini will manage the entire electronic ordering process, invoice matching and eRequest, a simple request for Proposals solution incorporated with the Search Engine.

Novozymes A/S is significant as the first Danish IBX customer who is giving the responsibility for all its Supplier Relationship Management aspects to one provider, starting with P2P being rolled out globally. The aim is that through this solution Capgemini will help Novozymes reduce complexity, increase transparency in the purchasing process for indirect materials, increase efficiency and contract compliance and spend under management to achieve savings.

Leif Bohlin, Capgemini Procurement Services Lead, Outsourcing Services said: “We’re delighted to have been chosen by Novozymes for this long-term strategic contract. It expands our portfolio of clients for our new Procurement Services Unit and develops our global footprint in this innovative and fast-developing sector”.

The Capgemini Procurement Services unit is part of the Business Process Outsourcing practice. It was created following the acquisition of the on-demand purchasing solutions provider IBX which offers a software-as-a-service purchasing technology platform. Through this purchase Capgemini is able to deliver the industry’s first end-to-end solution for managing global sourcing strategies. This end-to-end BPO procurement solution includes a full suite of products and services, including business process outsourcing, software-as-a-service procurement platform and an established global supplier network with more than 20,000 suppliers.

Source:  Top-Consultant

A new Sourceforconsulting.com report released today, has found that public sector expenditure on consulting services has fallen by around 25 per cent in the last six months. However, the report also found that there is good news for consulting firms with demand from the financial services sector leaping by about 15 per cent.

The report, which surveys leading buyers of consultancy services that represent between a quarter and a third of the total UK consulting market, found that there were worrying signs across the wider consultancy buying community. The Source Index of Consultancy Demand – which measures buyers’ expectation about their expenditure over the next six months – slumped back a further four points to 70, just four points above where it was during the depths of the recession.

Fiona Czerniawska, Director of Sourceforconsulting.com said: “Many consulting firms will avoid feeling the pinch directly but few will avoid feeling the effects at all. Those which don’t work in the public sector may well find themselves fighting for market share in the sectors they do cover as surplus capacity in the market as a whole increases competition for work. More than ever, this is a time when having a clear – and where possible unique – service offering will serve consulting firms well.”

Strategy firms lose further ground

Strategy firms, who appeared to be eating into the market share of Big Four firms in Q2 of 2010 lost ground in the last few months. The report found a contraction of about 35 per cent in their share of the market, which now means that they account for just 10 per cent of clients’ overall expenditure. Big Four firms now account for about 37 per cent of the market.

Although strategy firms are losing market share, there has been a sudden resurgence in strategy consulting in financial services, which has more than doubled its share since Q2 of 2010. This suggests that:• Without the financial services sector, strategy consulting would be in serious trouble.• Strategy work isn’t being given to strategy firms.• The financial services sector is one step ahead of the rest of the market (where demand looks set to grow again) and is already preparing itself for a new phase in the economic cycle.

Uplift in global M&A boosts financing work…

Financing work, which includes due diligence and valuation, M&A deal structuring and transaction continues to perform extremely well in the financial services sector.

How buyers are paying for consulting services

After a brief resurgence, risk and reward contracts appear to have fallen away again, making way for a growth in fixed-price work. The report says that this isn’t entirely surprising: clients’ interest in risk-reward tends to grow as times get tougher and then cools quickly when they realise how tricky these types of arrangements can be in practice.

Fiona Czerniawska concluded: “Whilst consulting firms may have been buoyed by the upturn in financial services, when analysing what clients are saying, we would estimate growth of about 50 per cent in this sector is required to offset the future decline in public sector work.”

Source:  Top-Consultant

Under the terms of the agreement, upon the closing of the acquisition, Accenture will take ownership of these assets, which include Ariba’s category expertise, sourcing process expertise and strategic sourcing execution resources, strengthening Accenture’s position as a leading provider of sourcing and procurement consulting and outsourcing services.

Approximately 160 Ariba employees are expected to join Accenture upon the closing of the transaction. The acquisition, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close within Ariba’s quarter ended December. The purchase price is $51 million, $12 million of which is subject to escrow to be released based on the assignment and performance of certain assets.

“Ariba is a leader in spend management and this acquisition will extend and strengthen Accenture’s existing sourcing and procurement services by adding deeper category expertise, highly scalable global sourcing service delivery operations and proprietary sourcing databases, benchmarks and technologies,” said Mike Salvino, group chief executive, BPO, Accenture. “We continue to invest in our core BPO business by adding new capabilities that combine both our BPO and Management Consulting offerings to create value for the Ariba customer base and all of our clients.”

Ariba will retain its sourcing technology and the resources within its Global Services organization that are dedicated to software implementation and will continue to provide customers with services that enable them to maximize their use of Ariba’s solutions and the results that they deliver.

“In divesting our sourcing services and BPO assets and expanding our partner ecosystem to include world-class organizations like Accenture, Ariba can deliver on its strategy to provide companies with access to network-based solutions that allow them to more efficiently and effectively buy, sell and manage their cash,” said Kevin Costello, president, Ariba. “We remain committed to delivering innovative technologies – including sourcing applications – that enhance the entire commerce process.”

Source:  Top-Consultant

The Hovis Division of Premier Foods, the UK’s largest food producer, is targeting improved customer service and reduced waste following a transformation of its supply chain carried out in collaboration with Capgemini UK plc. The new solution, which is currently being rolled out across all 23 Hovis bakery sites, will provide traceability for every batch of bread baked across the entire end-to-end manufacturing and distribution supply chain. Premier Foods says that key benefits of the new solution, which will be fully implemented by the end of 2010, include better customer service, with improved accuracy of order fulfillment, and an improved visibility of supply chain performance. The nationwide rollout of the new solution has now started following a successful pilot programme involving three Hovis sites. The project to develop and prove the new supply chain solution was led by a team of Capgemini SAP and supply chain specialists working closely with Premier Foods’ staff , with SAP, who provide the core technology underpinning the solution, and with barcode scanning specialists Zetes. Phil McCallum, Director of IT and Infrastructure at Premier Foods, said: “The traceability solution we are implementing will deliver important benefits, including improved customer service and reduced waste. We have been pleased with the expertise Capgemini has provided in this transformational project.” Capgemini was selected to lead the supply chain project, which started last year, because of its long and successful relationship as a principal IT infrastructure partner to Premier Foods, and because of its expertise in SAP technology and supply chain best practice. Other factors included Capgemini’s capabilities in rapid application development and its provision of cost-effective solutions based on its global delivery model.

The solution automates many processes previously carried out manually, and utilises the inventory management, warehouse management, sales and distribution functionality of SAP, integrated with bar code scanning devices and software from Zetes to track the product off the production line and across the primary distribution supply chain, providing full visibility and control.

Anthoula Madden, Vice President for Consumer Products at Capgemini said: “This is a very important project for Premier Foods, introducing full track and trace capability across the Hovis sites. The benefits to the business are considerable and should result in improved customer satisfaction. Bringing together the right technical solution has required strong supply chain expertise and SAP capabilities. We have been working closely with Premier Foods, SAP and Zetes to make the solution work end-to-end in an integrated manner to deliver value to the client.”

Source: Top-Consultant