MITPS PGP19 Meeting

9
Agenda:
1. What is IT Consulting and how to classify it ?
2. Tech Consulting vis--vis Management Consulting
3. Sample Engagements in IT Consulting

Can you solve this PSU-related

problem ?
Keralas PSU behemoth KSRTC is in losses:
Among other things, it runs many loss-making bus routes
Route rationalization not possible for political/public-service reasons

No major organizational changes or big-bang investments

possible
What can you as an MITPS-ready manager do ?
Youll likely play the role of an IT Consultant
Youll need to design a strategy-aligned reasonably-priced solution

Clue: can an individual routes loss be reduced ?

Launchpad: Cognizants Livingston

interview
IT Services have been like selling rate cards: $60/hr
wins over $60.25
Consulting Work is given to the person with most
innovative answer
The Evolution/Retreat of Consulting:
Defining a problem, putting the organizations context is now
done internally
Generic Program Management has also been subsumed by
stub IT groups
So, business problem solutions have to be sold: e.g.
integrating banks IT

Consultancy Vs Company work

Different Shades of IT Consulting

Tech Strategy Consulting Vs Tech Implementation Consulting
Tech Strategy Consulting isnt the same as Strategy Consulting
Each consulting assignment is called an engagement
Strategy or Operations Consulting:
isnt Implementation Consulting

There are shades of Implementation Consulting (ie other than Tech)

Capgemini, E&Y, IBM, Accenture are mostly Tech Implementation
Gps
McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Roland Berger, Booz, AT-Kearney are S/O
Consult

What type of IT Consulting Firms

there are ?
Large, diversified IT Consulting firms with multiple lines
of practice
Specialized Consulting Firms that focus on a few
technologies/sectors
Technology Product Companies seeking to migrate to
Services
Tech arm of S/O Consultancies (eg Implementation Gp of
McKinsey)
IT Consultants come with strong education and
backgrounds in:
Technology, whether implementation, product development or

What else is basic about IT

Consulting ?
Bridging the Gap between technology staff and salespeople
Case Interviews, 2x2s based hiring many lateral, mid-career hires
Tech Certifications, Mentors, Internships and Externships
Strong problem-solvers, good team players, eager to help (the
clients)
Can identify and articulate the strategic implications of IT
Should combine strategic advice with implementation know-how
Effectiveness (Strategy) and Efficiency (Business Processes,
workflow)
Able to conceive-and-build reasonably priced end-to-end solution

Some peculiarities of IT Consulting

Consulting tends to become like glorified pre-sales
IT skillsets at non-IT consultancies: whether Strategy or Specialized
Consultants are the Predators in the IT Consulting foodchain:
Strategy->Design->Implementation->Integration->Management (S&M)

Strategy Consulting firms take up the upstream part of this chain

Tech Implementation Consultants take up the middle
BPOs, S&M groups take up the latter
As the fountainhead, the Strategy Consultant may be able to bundle

IT Consultancies can specialize: e.g. customization of 1 type of SW

Peculiarities (Contd.)
Large-Scale implementations of Enterprise SW are gone for good
But there are large, less specific (i.e. vague) consulting engagements
Capitalizing on this vagueness is why most innovative answer in room is key

Just as Y2K, Internet, e-commerce drove IT Consulting:

It is likely that peer-to-peer, POS-to-HQ, IoT projects will lead now

Need for actionable intelligence in all these cases means Analytic Consulting
The consulting engagement, in many cases, has its own sense of vagueness
The flavor of the technology changes, but a good architecture can help

The Cloud is changing consulting engagements substantially

Example e-commerce consulting

problem
The direct marketing division of a leading global retailer
was facing rapid growth and expansion into ecommerce. The division realized its existing technology
and processes would not support the future business;
the company needed help
What was additionally taken care of by the IT
Consultant:
Existing warehouse infrastructure was integrated with
Transitioning to new system was planned for earlier, and made
easier
A seamless switchover took place during the holiday season

Other such vague (yet not strategic)

requests
National Specialty retailer of womens clothing: Its product
tracking and decision-making information was housed across
multiple software packages, custom applications, and
standardized spreadsheets that were manually updated and
exchanged among functions and offices.
A Major US bank wanted to introduce an information
distribution and delivery infrastructure that would enhance its
competitive position in the financial services industry. To achieve
this goal, it needed to strengthen customer ties weakened by a
decade of consolidation and cost-cutting. In addition, it needed
to consolidate the customer data, which was currently housed in
more than 33 nonintegrated systems.

IT Consulting Outlook
When time are booming or gloomy, there is need for IT Consultants
Why Is This So ?

Then theres the behavior of product firms

And the economics and politics of full-time internal consultants

There are areas of IT Consulting bought about by mere regulations:

GRC
Security
Green IT

Newer hardware/technology to deal with: Data Centres, BYOD

BPOs rise and the IT Consultants offering non-IT Services (IBM, HP)

Properties of Consulting
Engagements
Average size is now just 1-3 months
However, there are follow-up engagements (esp. implementation)
Gradation in billable hours between Sr./Jr. Associates/Consultants
Of course, Client Must Always be Happy
But what about the troika of Champion-Patron-Hero ?

Analytics and People-Management components of an Engagement

Eventually, there will be Business Development among
responsibilities
SMEs or even big clients expect all the troubleshooting needed
Billing slightly unfavourable: results wanted now, cash only in 90
days

Important postscripts of IT
Consulting

People Power, Thought Leadership and Knowledge

Mgmt
like never before

Missing Piece of Agile: The why of working on SWD

Projects
Suitable Launchpad to either start an enterprise, or be
poached
Either by client, or by the sector, or by another consultancy

Big Risk:
PowerPoint may soon be the only computing skill youll need

Question for MBAs: Bringing In $1M IT Jobs Vs. $10M

M&A Jobs

Buzzword of the Day.

MECE
Mutually Exclusive but Collectively Exhaustive
A principle usually applied in information architecture
But also part of consultant frameworks for billing, work
assignment