53% OF COMPANIES SAY SHARED SERVICES
CENTERS MAKE COMPLIANCE EFFORTS
LESS EXPENSIVE, ACCORDING TO A
DELOITTE CONSULTING REPORT.
so, there’s plenty to be learned from
the survey, McCabe says.
The problem is coming from a variety of sources, he says, but the primary
problem is a failure on the client’s part
to make his or her expectations known.
“One of the main things that is a challenge to companies in meeting goals
is in working with their software
providers and IT service providers.
They aren’t setting expectations up
front.” He also says that unfortunately,
many clients simply expect a project
to fail, and in fact are surprised when
it goes according to plan.
TCS, McCabe says, would like to
see its research not only start a dialogue about what’s needed in the
industry, especially around issues
such as governance, but also set the
needed guidelines in the industry.
He says other firms would need to
work with TCS in establishing these
guidelines, but he is optimistic it can
be done. “I think it behooves all of us
in the industry if we are all focused on
providing the best for our customer,
[so] it behooves us to come up with this
industry standard,” he says, adding,
“Raising awareness of the issue is the
main thing that we want to do.”
—Jacqueline Durett
To that end, the consultancy identified capability gaps that had an impact on
revenue and developed a plan to build skill sets among employees. Robbins-Gioia used a five-phase plan that they developed and helped GTSI implement:
assess and prioritize, plan, build and pilot, execute and initialize, and control
and close-out.
The Result: Turnover at GTSI is down to just 15 percent. But that’s not the
firm’s most impressive result. That would be the 20 percent of new hires who
are actually rehires at the firm. And revenue gains have followed the human
capital ones: GTSI’s stock has more than doubled since Robbins-Gioia was
brought on board.
News Briefs
Oliver Wyman Acquires Celent
Oliver Wyman has acquired Celent, a research and consulting firm focused on the global financial services industry. Celent’s operations and staff in Boston, New
York, San Francisco, London, Paris, Milan, Tokyo and Bei-jing will become a separate unit in Oliver Wyman’s financial services practice. “Celent is a well-regarded firm
with a team of high-quality professionals,” said Alan McIn-tyre, a managing director for Oliver Wyman. “Its expertise in the strategic application of information technology
to the financial industry complements our existing work
in that area and will enhance our offering to clients.”
Thomas Group Unveils M&A offerings
Thomas Group, an Irving, Texas-based operational consulting firm, announced the launch of merger and acquisition offerings through an arrangement with Dallas-based M&A Partners. As part of the deal, M&A Partners assists companies
with corporate growth services such as mergers, acquisitions and corporate consolidation by providing the expertise, tools and proprietary software technology. By joining
forces, Thomas Group will expand the delivery of its suite
of business solutions with acquisition and integration services. “Through our union with M&A Partners, we now offer
clients technology and services that are vital to navigate
through a global corporate environment and the minefields
associated with growth through merger or acquisition,”
says Jim Taylor, president and CEO of the Thomas Group.
Accenture touts ‘predictive monitoring’
Accenture Technology Labs, the research and development
organization within Accenture, has developed a pilot program called “predictive monitoring” that determines equipment failures before they happen, and the firm said it will offer clients access to its predictive monitoring and diagnostic
center. Accenture cites a recent case study with a U.S.-based
coal company where predictive monitoring was used to collect data from 3,500 sensors, using 150 analytic models to
predict future faults, failures and sub-optimal performance
at two of the company’s plants. This result? A cost savings
to the company of about $5 million a year
One to One Leadership Signs Major League Soccer
One to One Leadership, a management consulting firm
based in Pelham, N. Y., is developing a leadership training
pilot program for Major League Soccer’s ticket sales executives, managers and emerging leaders with the hope
of rolling out the training to other league departments and
individual teams. One to One Leadership provides training to organizations—from sports and software to law
firms and financial services.
