cal measure and robust on-boarding processes together with a
mentorship program combine to reduce the client’s burden of orienting new resources, accelerating time to value.
Depending on the nature of the engagement, formal and
informal structures are developed in managing VAS. Often,
existing project resources, who are motivated by consulting firm
metrics, take on additional leadership roles in addition to delivering quality technical work on the engagement. Team leads are
generally created to mirror the client’s team lead structure and
to oversee the performance of the staff. Additional management
structures can be created to cover diverse program needs such
as project finance, resourcing, client development, training and
international coordination. This management structure is fundamental to delivering the VAS model.
How Clients Perceive VAS
A global Fortune 500 company abandoned its current staff augmentation model and awarded BearingPoint a significant, multi-year VAS contract. This company was in the process of
implementing its Global SAP design across divisions worldwide
and faced a number of business challenges:
• Inability of the implementation contractors to source resources in
the countries where the company operates.
• Lack of a single implementation contractor. Working with a number
of implementation contractors, there was no single point of contact
for the consultants from different companies working on the project.
• Lack of integration between the contractors on the project
and the client.
• Inability to communicate the client’s values and needs to the
implementation contractors without repeating the message
several times.
• Difficulty of maintaining consistency of staff across the multiple
implementation contractors. Different companies supplied different
levels of SAP and industry knowledge.
• Inability to measure implementation contractors’ performance
because resources were spread over the teams.
• The lack of uniform feedback from the implementation contractors.
Different companies supplied conflicting or negligible feedback to
the client.
• The inability to easily shift resources from one location to another.
BearingPoint was engaged to provide value-added sourcing
services to divisions worldwide over a multi-year period.
BearingPoint provided seasoned SAP professionals with specific industry knowledge to work alongside the clients’ experienced team members in support of their global program. The
company benefited from BearingPoint’s dedication to the program’s objectives. The consultants’ industry knowledge, technical and business knowledge, flexibility to respond to the
client’s needs, and ongoing commitment to providing knowledge transfer created a significant improvement to the client’s
With no end in sight to
the war for talent in the
IT industry, VAS is an
innovative approach to
delivering services in the
marketplace that create
real value to clients.
Global SAP design implementation. BearingPoint was able to
bring experienced SAP professionals on board at the right place,
at the right price, at the right time—and used the client’s template and methodology to achieve a uniform, global result.
With the VAS model, BearingPoint was able to make contributions to enhance design, configuration, business process re-engineering and end-user adoption successes. Beyond the strict
definition of the project, VAS translates into valuable knowledge transfer among team members by providing thought-lead-ership in the form of white papers, primary research and access
to internal subject matter experts. As a result, through
redesigned business processes, roles, responsibilities and metrics coupled with the SAP implementation positioned the client
to manage its manufacturing business worldwide.
Today, BearingPoint remains as the sole implementation
contractor, giving the company a single company dedicated to
the project, resulting in consistency across the project—from
resource planning to the work quality of each consultant.
Measurable Results
These value-added sourcing services increase the value of the
consulting relationship, improve client satisfaction, and often
lead to additional project work for the consulting team.
Depending upon the complexity of the program, it can take
as long as four months before new consultants reach proper levels of productivity, or even longer to become truly efficient.
Value-added sourcing services provided through teamwork and
collaboration encourage sharing and supporting each other. VAS
increased the “time to value” of new team members significantly and, with large-scale programs involving sizable teams,
clients also benefit from productivity and cost savings.
Ken Grodner and Donna Camp can be reached at ken.grodner
@ bearingpoint.com and donna.camp@bearingpoint.com.
E-mail story comments to consultingmag@kennedyinfo.com.
